General Atlantic denies Snapdeal interest - report

The Economic Times last week reported that General Atlantic was close to participating in an $80-100 million round of funding in the online retail site, alongside existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and Indo-US Venture Partners. However, Patricia Hedley, a managing director at the PE firm, told VCCircle the information was incorrect.

General Atlantic was last year said to be interested in rival online retailer Flipkart but talks stalled due to differences in valuation. Flipkart subsequently raised $150 million from existing investors Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management in its fourth round of funding in February.

Whereas Flipkart is often described as the Indian equivalent of Amazon, buying up inventory and distributing products to customers who place orders online, Snapdeal is more like eBay. It is a platform that connects retailers with consumers, brokering transactions but not directly participating in the flow of goods. Snapdeal started out as a deal voucher site before widening its scope to include other products.

IndoUS and Nexus committed $12 million to the company in January 2011, data from AVCJ Research show. A second round came six months later, the two VC firms returning with another $40 million in capital, this time supported by Bessemer.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Expansion
• India
• TMT
• Growth capital
• General Atlantic