Bigbasket joins hands with ImpactGuru to raise funds to feed families affected by COVID-19

Grocery delivery unicorn Bigbasket announced on Tuesday that it has initiated a campaign through ImpactGuru.com to raise funds for providing meals to families affected due to the nation-wide lockdown to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.

The funds will be routed to KVN Foundation, a not-for-profit social impact startup, to cover over 30 lakh meals as part of their ‘FeedMyCity’ initiative. The foundation aims to provide freshly cooked nutritious meals to needy families in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida, and Chennai.

Through the campaign, Bigbasket is looking at raising an amount of Rs 30 lakh to feed the affected families. ImpactGuru has also waived off its platform fees for this fundraiser.

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Abhinay Choudhari, Co-founder of Bigbasket, said:

“The first batch of groceries and essentials is on its way to FeedMyCity's kitchens. It is heartening to see donations coming in from people and these have helped the KVN Foundation serve meals to the famished. I thank Shadowfax, our delivery partner, for timely supply of groceries to the KVN kitchens. The generous contributions by everyone have made a difference to the lives of many.”

The KVN Foundation was started by entrepreneurs Juggy Marwaha, Executive MD of JLL India; K Ganesh, Founder of Growthstory; and Venkat K Narayana, CEO of Prestige Group. The trio conceptualised the solution and mobilised about 30 like-minded individuals in five cities through WhatsApp.

The extended lockdown has left about 70 percent of the nation’s population depending on daily wages with no income. Countless poor families have been affected and are forced to sleep hungry. KVN Foundation launched the 'Feed My City' initiative in Bengaluru on March 27, initially serving 500 meals per day to people who have lost their source of income due to the lockdown in the country. It is preparing meals in commercial kitchens, packing, and transporting them to specific locations where they are distributed while maintaining a safe social distance.

K Ganesh, who is also a promoter at Bigbasket, said, “This is a time when all of us need to come together in our individual capacities and join hands to help those who need it the most. This pandemic is a collective crisis, more so for the daily wage workers who have been rendered without work and therefore meals. This is what prompted us to start KVN Foundation and through this fundraiser by Bigbasket, we hope to reach out to more daily wage workers and provide them with nutritious meals. At a time like this, each contribution counts."

The initiative by KVN Foundation has seen a strong response from industry leaders, endorsements from celebrities on social media, and support from the municipal authorities of the cities they are serving. Earlier this month, digital payments platform Paytm announced its partnership with KVN Foundation to serve 75,000 meals per day to migrant workers and daily-wage earners across the five cities.