Indian online marketplace Flipkart after raising $1 Bn in a recent financing round has closed yet another round between $500-600 Mn at a pre-money valuation of about $10 Bn, according to a new report.
Last month there were reports that Flipkart will be raising over $1.5 Bn in a new round.
According to a source close to the development, Tiger Global, Naspers and Yuri Milner’s DST Global, along with others, have invested $50-100 Mn each in this round along with participation of a new investor. However, some early investors in Flipkart may have not participated in this new round.
“Although there was a lot of interest from new investors, Flipkart was not keen on raising more money at this point. This new round is largely being done by the large existing investors,” said a source.
Related: Things To Learn From The Top Ecommerce Startup In India: Flipkart
Started with selling books, Flipkart now offers about 20 Mn products across 70+ categories including Books, Media, Consumer Electronics and Lifestyle with about 26 Mn registered users clocking over 6 Mn daily visits. Flipkart has already hit a $3 Bn revenue run rate.
This round makes the total funds raised by Flipkart to be around $2.3 Bn. Tiger Global which is the largest stakeholder in Flipkart, have invested about $700 Mn into it in the past four years.
On the other side, Flipkart’s competitor Snapdeal has recently closed $627 Mn in a round led by Softbank, taking the total funds raised by it to $1 Bn this year.
The news of Flipkart’s funding comes in at a time when Amazon has more than doubled its authorized share capital to INR 3,500 Cr. in November in the country, pointing out the fact that the company will continue to invest aggressively in India and is unlikely to be deterred by the pressure from its investors to cut spending, says Mint. According to documents with the Registrar of Companies, it had increased its authorized capital earlier this month. (The authorized capital is the maximum amount of share capital which is allowed by the company’s charter which can be changed with shareholders’ approval.)
While on one side Flipkart is able to get the investors interests and is managing to raise huge funds, but on the other side the online retailer had maintained to be in a negative spotlight for many other things such as the recent case of delivering empty boxes thrice to a customer instead of the ordered item.
Related: Now Amazon And Flipkart Look To Tap Into IRCTC’s Database Of 21 Mn Users
