The foundation of BigBasket was built on early failure and perseverance. In 1999, during the peak of the dot-com boom, five Bangalore entrepreneurs—Hari Menon, V.S. Sudhakar, Vipul Parekh, Abhinay Choudhari, and V.S. Ramesh—founded Fabmart, one of India's first online retail websites selling books, music, and groceries. When the dot-com crash wiped out internet ventures and digital payment adoption lagged, they pivoted Fabmart into Fabmall, a physical supermarket chain that was subsequently acquired by Aditya Birla Group and rebranded as 'More'. In 2011, recognizing that smartphone penetration, mobile payments, and consumer convenience were finally aligning, the original five founders reunited to solve the hardest problem in Indian retail: fresh grocery logistics. Pooling their personal savings, they established BigBasket in Bengaluru, choosing an inventory-led model that controlled supply directly from the farm to ensure uncompromised quality.