Binny Bansal (left) and Sachin Bansal are the two co-founders of India’s top homegrown ecommerce company Flipkart. Photo credit: Flipkart.
After months of speculation about an impending fund-raise, India’s homegrown ecommerce company Flipkart today announced an investment round of US$1.4 billion from Tencent, eBay, and Microsoft.
The latest capital infusion is the biggest round for 10-year-old Flipkart – it is also the largest ever round of funding raised by any Indian internet company. Post-funding, Flipkart is valued at US$11.6 billion, the company announced.
See: Opinion: How the latest $1.4b Flipkart funding changes the ecommerce game in India
The announcement comes in the backdrop of negotiations for Flipkart’s acquisition of the second biggest Indian ecommerce player, Snapdeal. The entry of Amazon and its pumping of US$5 billion into its Indian arm changed the ecommerce market. Snapdeal was the biggest loser as it saw its market share dwindle.
See: Snapdeal sale to Flipkart closer, but not a done deal yet: the real story
Flipkart’s peak valuation had crossed US$15 billion in 2015. It had a turbulent time last year and Kalyan Krishnamurthy rejoined Flipkart from Tiger Global as its CEO. Then CEO and co-founder Binny Bansal made way for Kalyan and moved into the Group CEO chair. His co-founder Sachin Bansal is the executive chairman of Flipkart.
The main investors in Flipkart before this funding round were Tiger Global Management, Naspers Group, Accel Partners, and DST Global.
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