Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart has put recent rumours to bed, confirming that it has raised $1.4 billion in new funding. This puts the company’s value at $11.6 billion and gives it some serious clout in its battle against Amazon and Alibaba.
The funding pulled in some big name investors – Microsoft, eBay, Tencent to name just a few. These new strategic investors join existing investors which include Tiger Global, Naspers and DST Global.
As part of the deal, Flipkart will also take control of eBay India, which will remain an independent ecommerce site. eBay and Flipkart have also signed a deal to cross-promote products between the services.
Flipkart is India’s leading ecommerce marketplace, with over 80 million products across 80 categories.
The Indian answer to Amazon has now raised $4.65 billion from investors according to Crunchbase, with its most recent round of funding seeing the company rake in $700 million in July 2015. Last month, Flipkart was reported to have raised $1 billion from investors, with a further billion promised down the line.
Although other deals remain uncertain, especially its rumoured merger with Snapdeal, the investment will serve the company well in grabbing a big share of the world’s fastest growing internet markets. Analysts at Forrester predict the value of online sales in India to hit $48 billion by 2020, with the country’s online population exploding in recent times. Not only will the investment give Flipkart the resources and development space to grab the lucrative online market in India, but big name investors may seek to lure more investment to the company.
Microsoft’s investment in Flipkart is its largest deal in India, with the investment following Flipkart’s move to the US giant’s Azure cloud just a few months ago. Tencent, meanwhile, seems to be making sure it is a player in every key market. The company recently backed Tesla, while also benefiting from Snap’s recent IPO.
“We are delighted that Tencent, eBay and Microsoft — all innovation powerhouses — have chosen to partner with us on their India journey. We have chosen these partners based on their long histories of pioneering industries, and the unique expertise and insights each of them bring to Flipkart,” said Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal
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“This deal reaffirms our resolve to hasten the transformation of commerce in India through technology.”
