BigBasket said it has acquired micro-delivery startup DailyNinja to consolidate its subscription delivery business.
The deal is estimated to value Bengaluru-based DailyNinja at around Rs 48 crore in stock, people aware of the matter told ET requesting anonymity. The online grocery delivery startup had earlier acquired Pune-based RainCan and Bengaluru-based Morningcart for its morning delivery service, BBDaily.
While DailyNinja has around 1,10,000 daily transacting customers and a network of 2,000 milkman partners across India, BBDaily makes about 1,60,000 deliveries per day.
“Business with small traders is a key and growing part of BigBasket’s business,” said Hari Menon, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BigBasket. “We also aim to improve delivery productivity and achieve breakeven much sooner than planned.”
In November, ET reported that the hyperlocal milk delivery segment is expected to see further consolidation over the next 9-12 months, driven by poor economics, complex supply chain and longer gestation period to profitability.
DailyNinja counts Matrix Partners and Sequoia Capital as investors and has raised about $10 million.
Micro-delivery startups make early-morning deliveries, typically before 7 am, from a select set of grocery items and milk which are ordered before 11 pm the previous night. These items are left at a customer’s doorsteps — similar to what traditional milkmen do, without ringing the doorbell on most occasions.
However, in micro delivery specifically, the scale of operation density needs to be large to make unit economics viable. As of now, this is only possible in apartment complexes and areas where the household density is high.
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