Flipkart is in 'advanced talks' to invest in a new funding round in fresh produce e-grocery startup Ninjacart, founded in 2015 it is present in seven cities. This funding round is likely to value Ninjacart around $750-800 million from the $500 million currently, it said.

“The new funding is closing now other existing investors are also likely to participate," the report said further estimating that total investment'could even stretch over

$100 million'. Ninjacart made good business recovery over the past year, it added

This would be the startup's biggest funding from a leading e-commerce business and Flipkart parent Walmart is also going to invest. The investment came because Flipkart looks to strengthen its partnership with Ninjacart and expand to challenge Amazon India and Tata's BigBasket.

Earlier, Flipkart and Walmart jointly invested close to $30 million in Ninjacart in 2019. Besides its grocery sector expansion have risen up of Flipkart's online store Supermart and its 90-minute hyperlocal delivery service Flipkart Quick. Flipkart's grocery section as a whole serves 500-600 cities and competes with Amazon Fresh.

A second source said that Flipkart expanded to 500 cities before its Big Billion Days Sale and will continue to 'focus heavily on groceries' and Ninjacart would be 'crucial'for this expansion on the supply side.