BigBasket Acquires Online Milk Delivery App DailyNinja

India’s largest online grocery startup has acquired milk delivery app DailyNinja as it looks to expand operations of subscription-based service.

DailyNinja, which currently caters to around 110,000 customers daily, will augment BigBasket’s reach through its own subscription-based platform bbdaily, the Alibaba-backed online grocer said in a statement.

BigBasket will now have access to DailyNinja’s network of 2,000 milkman partners across the country. The company, however, didn’t disclose the amount of the deal.

The BigBasket-DailyNinja merger comes at a time online grocers are struggling to meet the increased demand as India heads towards a complete lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

At present, bbdaily conducts about 160,000 deliveries, including fresh fruits and vegetables, bread, dairy and eggs and breakfast cereals, every day.

The online grocer said the merger would help DailyNinja grow its business twofold within a month by leveraging BigBasket’s supply chain capabilities. Also, DailyNinja’s customers can access bbdaily’s non-milk range, it said.

“Business with small traders is a key and growing part of BigBasket’s business,” Hari Menon, co-founder and chief executive of the company, said. “We also aim to improve delivery productivity and achieve break-even much sooner than planned,” he said.