A pitch on a turbulent flight: How BigBasket got its Series A funding
06 November 2024
A turbulent flight turned out to be a blessing in disguise for K Ganesh, serial entrepreneur, investor, and promoter of online grocery platform, BigBasket, which is now part of the Tata Group.
BigBasket had just been launched in late 2011, with ambitions to disrupt online grocery delivery in India. While Flipkart had launched a few years ago in 2007, Amazon was yet to go live in the country then, leaving space for a vertical e-commerce player in the market. But investors didn't buy the idea.
Every pitch from Ganesh would be countered with the collapse of Webvan, an online grocery startup that went bust in 2001 in the aftermath of the dot-com crash in the US. Close to 8 or 9 venture funds turned down BigBasket when a flight and some turbulence changed its fortunes.
"I was travelling from Mumbai to Chennai and was seated next to Raja Kumar of Ascent Capital. It was a 1 hour, 45-minute flight, there was a lot of turbulence, so we were advised to wear out seatbelts throughout. So Raja had no choice but to sit beside me throughout and listen to BigBasket. Ascent is a private equity firm and wasn't an investor in e-commerce then," Ganesh told Moneycontrol.
A turbulent flight turned out to be a blessing in disguise for K Ganesh, serial entrepreneur, investor, and promoter of online grocery platform, BigBasket, which is now part of the Tata Group. BigBasket had just been launched in late 2011, with ambitions to disrupt online grocery delivery in India. While Flipkart had launched a few years ago in 2007, Amazon was yet to go live in the country then, leaving space for a vertical e-commerce player in the market. But investors didn't buy the idea. Every pitch from Ganesh would be countered with the collapse of Webvan, an online grocery startup that went bust in 2001 in the aftermath of the dot-com crash in the US. Close to 8 or 9 venture funds turned down BigBasket when a flight and some turbulence changed its fortunes. "I was travelling from Mumbai to Chennai and was seated next to Raja Kumar of Ascent Capital. It was a 1 hour, 45-minute flight, there was a lot of turbulence, so we were advised to wear out seatbelts throughout. So Raja had no choice but to sit beside me throughout and listen to BigBasket. Ascent is a private equity firm and wasn't an investor in e-commerce then," Ganesh told Moneycontrol.
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