Carlyle, General Atlantic discuss $200m investment in Flipkart
The Carlyle Group and General Atlantic are in talks over a $150-200 million joint investment that would see them take a minority stake in Indian online retailer Flipkart.
The deal is being held up due to differing valuation expectations, Reuters reported, citing a source with knowledge of the deal. The company, set up in 2007 by two former Amazon software developers, has already raised $31 million from venture capital backers. It received $1 million from Accel Partners in 2009 and then Tiger Global put in $10 million in 2009 and another $20 million in 2010.
General Atlantic was first linked to Flipkart in September, when reports emerged that the company was in talks with global PE and VC firms with a view to raising $150 million. US venture firm NEA was tipped to commit $40-50 million.
Flipkart claims to be India's biggest online bookseller, with over 10 million titles distributed from warehouses in five cities. It has over 1,000 employees and sells around 200,000 books a year, offering a 10-15% discount on every purchase. Consumer goods including mobile phones, electronic appliances, music and movies can also be bought through the site.
The company generated $11 million in sales for the last fiscal year. It expects revenue to surpass $100 million this year and is targeting $1 billion by 2015. India's e-commerce market is expected to grow by 47% to more than INR460 billion ($9.2 billion) this year, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India.
More on South Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.