India's largest homegrown e-commerce marketplace Flipkart on Monday announced that it has raised a total of USD 1.4 billion from Tencent, eBay and Microsoft, confirming the speculation floating around the biggest ever fund raise in the Indian startup ecosystem. Athough, it was speculated that Flipkart would raise USD 1.5 billion a little more than the reality.
This was a down round for the company as post the latest funding round, Flipkart will be valued at over USD 11.6 billion.
It was valued at USD 15.2 billion in May 2015, at its last funding round. The company has lost 23.6 percent in value since its last big funding round of USD 700 million in July of 2015.
"This is a landmark deal for Flipkart and for India as it endorses our tech prowess, our innovative mindset and the potential we have to disrupt traditional markets. It is a resounding acknowledgement that the homegrown tech ecosystem is indeed thriving and succeeding in solving genuine problems in people’s daily lives across all of India," said Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Founders of Flipkart.
"We are delighted that Tencent, eBay and Microsoft -- all innovation powerhouses -- have chosen to partner with us on their India journey. We have chosen these partners based on their long histories of pioneering industries, and the unique expertise and insights each of them bring to Flipkart. This deal reaffirms our resolve to hasten the transformation of commerce in India through technology", said the founders.
"This strategic partnership enables Tencent to participate in the exciting opportunities in e-commerce and payments in India. We look forward to helping Flipkart to deliver compelling experiences,” said Martin Lau, Tencent President.
One of the key turnaround after this deal is that the investment by eBay is accompanied by a strategic commercial agreement with Flipkart. In exchange for an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay is making a cash investment in and selling its India business to the company. eBay India will continue to operate as an independent entity as a part of Flipkart.
As an encouragement from the capital that the company has got from this huge funding, it had already announced to come back in online grocery market as well.
Flipkart is also reportedly in talks with Softbank, the largest stake holder of Snapdeal, to merge the Gurgaon-based e-commerce firm in itself. And, as the Snapdeal's shareholders meetings are going in advanced stage the merger could happen anytime soon in this month.
This was a down round for the company as post the latest funding round, Flipkart will be valued at over USD 11.6 billion.
It was valued at USD 15.2 billion in May 2015, at its last funding round. The company has lost 23.6 percent in value since its last big funding round of USD 700 million in July of 2015.
"This is a landmark deal for Flipkart and for India as it endorses our tech prowess, our innovative mindset and the potential we have to disrupt traditional markets. It is a resounding acknowledgement that the homegrown tech ecosystem is indeed thriving and succeeding in solving genuine problems in people’s daily lives across all of India," said Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Founders of Flipkart.
"We are delighted that Tencent, eBay and Microsoft -- all innovation powerhouses -- have chosen to partner with us on their India journey. We have chosen these partners based on their long histories of pioneering industries, and the unique expertise and insights each of them bring to Flipkart. This deal reaffirms our resolve to hasten the transformation of commerce in India through technology", said the founders.
"This strategic partnership enables Tencent to participate in the exciting opportunities in e-commerce and payments in India. We look forward to helping Flipkart to deliver compelling experiences,” said Martin Lau, Tencent President.
One of the key turnaround after this deal is that the investment by eBay is accompanied by a strategic commercial agreement with Flipkart. In exchange for an equity stake in Flipkart, eBay is making a cash investment in and selling its India business to the company. eBay India will continue to operate as an independent entity as a part of Flipkart.
As an encouragement from the capital that the company has got from this huge funding, it had already announced to come back in online grocery market as well.
Flipkart is also reportedly in talks with Softbank, the largest stake holder of Snapdeal, to merge the Gurgaon-based e-commerce firm in itself. And, as the Snapdeal's shareholders meetings are going in advanced stage the merger could happen anytime soon in this month.
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