The online food delivery platform, Zomato invested $100 million in Grofers about a month ago for a 9.3 per cent stake, valuing the online grocer at more than $1 billion.

“There are new private equity investors who are banking on the growth story of the online grocery delivery business. Alongside, Zomato is keen to strengthen its network in the grocery delivery space for which Grofers can play a vital role,” one of the two people said.

Zomato has already announced its interest in re-entering the grocery delivery market as customers choose to order online rather than visit crowded markets because of the pandemic. It had introduced a grocery delivery service during the nationwide lockdown last year but shut it down later. Rival Swiggy is already offering grocery delivery through its Instamart service.

A Grofers spokesperson said, “We don’t comment on speculation. Our focus at present is to do our best to serve consumers. At the same time, we continue to build technology that empowers the grocery ecosystem to make products more affordable and accessible for millions of Indian households.”

A query sent to Zomato remained unanswered. Grofers is also seeing increased interest from global investors amid soaring demand for online deliveries. Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank and New York-based Tiger Global hold 51 per cent and 19.2 per cent, respectively.