Flipkart raises record $1 billion in fresh funding

www.mangaloretoday.com

Bangalore, July 29, 2014 (DHNS): India’s largest e-commerce firm, Flipkart, on Tuesday said it has raised $1 billion (over Rs 6,000 crore) in fresh funding from a consortium of investors, the largest so far in the fiercely competitive online shopping segment in the country.

The company has now raised a total of $1.7 billion over the past year. Company officials did not disclose the new holding pattern after the latest round of fundraising.

“The funds will be used to make long-term strategic investments in India, especially in mobile technology,” Flipkart co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal told reporters.

With the latest round of funding, Flipkart is valued at about $7 billion (around Rs 42,000 crore).

This round was led by existing investors Tiger Global Management and Naspers, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Accel Partners, DST Global, ICONIQ Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Sofina.

The Bangalore-based firm will use the funds to expand its online and mobile services, focusing on areas like R&D, enhancing customer experience and its seller base.
Flush with cash, Flipkart is also scouting for acquisitions, which can help it expand into newer technologies like wearables and robotics—a move that it believes will impact mobile commerce in days to come.

The focus at Flipkart is to continue to make shopping online simpler and more accessible through the use of technology, said Bansal.

“This funding will enable us to step up our investments for innovations in products and technologies, setting us up to become the mobile e-commerce company of the future. It will also help us further accelerate momentum and build our presence to become a technology powerhouse,” he added.

In May, Flipkart raised $210 million in funding, bringing in private equity firm DST Global on-board as an investor.

The Bangalore-based firm, founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, counts Accel Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Sofina and Vulcan Capital among its investors.

The home-grown e-retailer had acquired online fashion retailer Myntra in May in what was estimated to be a Rs 2,000-crore deal.