Southeast Asia ecommerce portal Lazada is reportedly in talks to buy online grocery provider Redmart. The acquisition amount is said to be around US$30 million to US$40 million, which if true, is in the low range given it raised US$26.7 million last year.
Redmart had apparently held unsuccessful talks with supermarket chain NTUC and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC. It also received a “lowball” offer from Amazon.
The startup had been in trouble for some time. While its revenue grew, its expenses increased at an even faster clip.
Lazada is controlled by Chinese online shopping Alibaba, which in April took a commanding stake in the Rocket Internet-born startup for US$1 billion.