SoftBank leads funding of $200 mn+ in online grocer

Masayoshi Son isn’t losing his appetite for backing money-losing startups.

Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund is leading an investment round of more than $200 million in Grofers, the Indian online grocery startup said in a statement. Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital and new investor KTB joined SoftBank in the deal, which pushes the company’s valuation to almost $1 billion even as it competes against powerful rivals: Walmart Inc.-controlled Flipkart, Amazon.com Inc. and BigBasket, backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

The investment comes just after SoftBank-backed Uber Technologies Inc. flopped in its initial public offering, a sign that some investors are souring on tech startups with big dreams and bigger loses. Uber had a $3 billion operating loss last year on revenue of $11.3 billion.