Equity capital raised

BigBasket.com, the online grocery retailer, has raised $10 million equity capital from Ascent Capital in its first institutional round of funding. The portal is a venture of the team that founded FabMart.com in 1999 and then had been running the Fabmall-Trinethra offline chain of more than 200 grocery supermarkets stores in south India.

"We are delighted to work with the BigBasket team to establish a leading position in the grocery retail business in India, which is a $160 billion opportunity. As an early mover, with significant traction, and an experienced founding team, BigBasket has the potential to be the leader in the space. Having backed the same team in their Fabmart.com foray, we have complete confidence in their ability to deliver an unparalleled retail option for consumers’ grocery needs,” said Raj Kondur, Director, Ascent Capital.

BigBasket plans to expand to five cities by the end of this year.