Blinkit
Indian quick-commerce company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blink Commerce Private Limited, doing business as Blinkit (formerly Grofers), is an Indian quick-commerce company owned by Eternal Limited.[5][6][7] It was founded in December 2013 and is based in Gurgaon.[8][9]
| |
| Formerly | Grofers (2013–2021) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Q-commerce |
| Founded | December 2013 |
| Founders | Albinder Dhindsa Saurabh Kumar[1] |
| Headquarters | Gurgaon, Haryana, India |
Area served | India |
Key people | Albinder Dhindsa (CEO) |
| Products | Bistro |
| Services | Online grocer[2] |
| Revenue |  ₹5,206 crore (US$620 million) (FY25)[3] |
| Parent | Eternal Limited[4] |
| Website | www |
Customers of the company use a mobile app to order groceries and essentials online, which are sourced from the company's dark stores and delivered in 10 minutes.[10] Blinkit operates in 153 cities in India, as of March 2025.[11]
In 2022, Zomato Limited (now Eternal) acquired Blinkit for US$568 million in an all-stock deal.[12][13]
History
The company, originally named Grofers, was founded in December 2013 by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar,[14] who had first met each other while working for Cambridge Systematics during the late 2000s.[15] The startup piloted in Delhi NCR before expanding to other cities in India.[citation needed]
After seven years of operations as an online grocery delivery service,[16] Grofers introduced express grocery delivery in India in 2021, by building a dark store network. In June 2021, Zomato Limited (now Eternal) acquired a 9.3% stake in Grofers for $100 million.[17] In July 2021, Grofers was reportedly delivering groceries in 15 minutes in Gurgaon.[18] A month later, in August 2021, it introduced 10-minute delivery in 12 large cities.[19][20] By November 2021, the company was delivering 125,000 orders per day.[21]
On 13 December 2021, Grofers changed its brand name to Blinkit[22] in line with its vision to embrace quick-commerce.[23][24][25][26] By the end of 2021, the company had raised about US$630 million from investors including SoftBank, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital.[27][28][29]
In March 2022, the cash-strapped Blinkit fired 1,600 employees and ground staff, nearly 5% of its total workforce. Soon after, Zomato granted a US$150 million loan to Blinkit and entered talks to acquire it.[30][31] On 24 June 2022, Zomato announced that it would acquire Blinkit for US$568 million in an all-stock deal.[12] The acquisition was completed on 10 August 2022.[13][32]
Services
Blinkit primarily delivers groceries, fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, stationery, bakery items, personal care, baby and pet care products, snacks, and flowers, among others.[33]
Criticism
In August 2021, the company's 10-minute delivery service faced criticism with concerns raised over the safety of delivery partners. CEO Albinder Dhindsa, in a tweet, defended the mechanism behind express delivery and claimed that there had been zero accidents.[34][35]
In June 2022, a Bengaluru-based web development company called Blinkhit filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Blinkit.[36]
In April 2023, hundreds of Blinkit delivery partners in Delhi NCR, where about half of the company's dark stores were located, went on strike after a revision in payout structure resulted in lower earnings for them. This led to a temporary closure of many dark stores.[37]
In June 2024, the FSSAI conducted a raid on a Blinkit warehouse in Telangana, uncovering multiple food safety violations, including unhygienic storage and handling, expired food products, and packets suspected of infestation.[38][39]