Till date, Grofers has raised US$165 million from a slew of investors, including Tiger Global and SoftBank

Ashneer Grover, Chief Financial Officer at Grofers, a leading grocery delivery startup backed by the likes of SoftBank, has stepped down, amidst its ongoing merger talks with online grocery retailer BigBasket.com, says a Moneycontrol report.

As per his LinkedIn profile, Grover quit in August this year after a two-year stint with Grofers.

The Moneycontrol report added that Grover is currently on a break. He is already in talks with a company and will disclose his next move post-Diwali. “It is very preliminary but most likely it is now going to be in a business leadership role as against the role of a CFO. I would most probably be heading a business now,” he told the publication.

Grofers Co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa said that the company has already hired a new CFO, who will join on October 16. 

An IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Delhi alum, Grover joined Grofers in March 2015. Prior to this, he was Director (Corporate Development) at American Express. Previously, he was VP at Kotak Investment Banking.

Started in 2013 by Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar, Grofers is an on-demand delivery service connecting consumers with their local merchants. It partners with local merchants such as chemists, bakeries, grocery shops, organic food retailers and laundry services.

Grofers is one of the heavily-funded companies in the delivery space in India. Till date, it has raised US$165 million from a slew of investors, including Tiger Global and SoftBank. This included a US$120 million led by SoftBank in November 2015.

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The year 2016 was not so rosy for the company that it had to let go of significant number of employees, owing to an overall slowdown in the Indian startup ecosystem.

In April this year, several publications reported that Grofers is in merger talks with bigger rival BigBasket. Citing sources, a Mint report said that if materialised, the deal will also see SoftBank participating in a US$60-100 million funding round in the combined entity.

Bigbasket is the largest online grocer in India, with backing from several prominent names in the investment space. Last year, it raised US$150 million led by Abraaj Group, a leading investor operating in global growth markets, followed by a US$7 million venture debt from Trifecta Capital. BigBasket’s other backers include International Finance Corporation and Sands Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Helion Advisors, Zodius Capital and Ascent Capital.

 

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