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Walmart buys Mexican grocery delivery startup

Photo by Daniel Aguilar/Getty Images

Walmart announced an agreement to buy Cornershop, a grocery delivery startup operating in Mexico and Chile, for $225 million.

Why it's a big deal: This the latest indication that the retail giant believes its global future is digital. Just this year it: Bought India's Flipkart for $16 billion, plugged money into China's Dada-JD Daojia, had its Canadian unit sign a same-day delivery deal with Instacart and began cutting back on physical locations in Brazil and the UK.

ROI: Cornershop had raised over $20 million in VC funding from firms like Accel, Endeavor Global, Creandum, ALLVP, MT Network and Jackson Square Ventures.

Bottom line: "Picking up Cornershop—which enlists contractors to shop for and deliver orders to customers—gives Walmart an established delivery and distribution network in Latin America. Cornershop also allows shoppers to place bundled orders containing multiple stores’ products, which are delivered all at once." — Angela Shah, Xconomy

Walmart