Reliance to buy milk delivery firm Milkbasket to strengthen its e-commerce business
Reportedly Reliance Industries Ltd is in talks to buy online furniture retailer Urban Ladder and milk delivery firm Milkbasket to strengthen its e-commerce business, the Times of india newspaper reported on Monday. The oil-to-telecoms conglomerate's talks with Urban Ladder are at an advanced stage, the report said, citing four unnamed sources briefed on the matter. A deal could be pegged at around $30 million, it said, citing one of the sources. Representatives at reliance, Urban Ladder and Milkbasket did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The news comes as the COVID-19 pandemic forces many indians indoors, spurring a wave of online shopping, including for daily groceries such as milk. reliance, led by Asia’s richest man, mukesh ambani, launched an online grocery service JioMart in May, a move rivalling Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc’s flipkart in india, a key growth market for e-commerce.
Ambani has raised more than $20 billion in the past few months, including from data-facebook and Alphabet’s google, for Reliance’s wallet PLATFORM' target='_blank' title='digital-Latest Updates, Photos, Videos are a click away, CLICK NOW">digital arm, jio Platforms. The Times of india report said, citing a source that Milkbasket had held talks with amazon and Alibaba-backed online grocery retailer BigBasket, but the discussions did not result in a deal due to a mismatch in valuation expectations.
The news comes as the COVID-19 pandemic forces many indians indoors, spurring a wave of online shopping, including for daily groceries such as milk. reliance, led by Asia’s richest man, mukesh ambani, launched an online grocery service JioMart in May, a move rivalling Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc’s flipkart in india, a key growth market for e-commerce.
Ambani has raised more than $20 billion in the past few months, including from data-facebook and Alphabet’s google, for Reliance’s wallet PLATFORM' target='_blank' title='digital-Latest Updates, Photos, Videos are a click away, CLICK NOW">digital arm, jio Platforms. The Times of india report said, citing a source that Milkbasket had held talks with amazon and Alibaba-backed online grocery retailer BigBasket, but the discussions did not result in a deal due to a mismatch in valuation expectations.