India's Flipkart raises a record $1b from VC backers
Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart has raised $1 billion from new and existing backers in what is one of the biggest funding rounds raised by an e-commerce company globally and the single largest round by an internet company in the country.
The round was led by existing investors Tiger Global Management and South African media company Naspers. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Private, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, DST Global, Accel Partners, ICONIQ Capital and Sofina also took part.
This latest investment - which is larger than all of the company's previous rounds combined - values the company at around $7 billion. Flipkart has now raised over $1.75 billion over seven rounds.
The round comes as FlipKart vies with US e-commerce giants Amazon, eBay, and domestic rivals Snapdeal, for dominance of the India market. The company acquired fashion retailer Myntra for around $300 million in May, in a move that would give the company a much-needed advantage in the fast-growing fashion e-commerce segment.
Shortly before that it had raised $210 million in round led by Russia's DST Global - that round had value a company at $2.5 million. Prior to that it raised $360 million in a Series E round, the second tranche of which closed last October.
Set up in 2007 by two former Amazon software developers, Flipkart had originally started at book marketplace but soon moved into selling a broad range of products including electronics, apparel and sporting goods. It now claims to have 22 million registered users and hosts 3,000 merchants selling millions of products.
According to investment firm CLSA, India's e-commerce market is valued at $3.1 billion, excluding travel services and tickets. A recent report Technopak adivisor predicts that India's e-commerce market will grow to $56 billion by 2023.
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