South African internet major Naspers now owns over 17.7% stake in the online retailer Flipkart, reveals the latest financial report of the company.
In all, it has invested a total of around $292 million in Flipkart.
Flipkart had announced a fund raise of $210 Mn after acquiring India’s biggest fashion portal Myntra for around $300 million in May. Naspers had bought additional stake in Flipkart investing Rs 308.2 Cr or South African Rand 543 Mn. The round was led by Russia’s DST Global, with participation from other existing investors Tiger Global and Iconiq Capital.
During May 2014 the group invested a further R543m in cash in Flipkart. The group now has a 17,7% interest in Flipkart on a fully diluted basis.
Naspers had invested a about $100 Mn in Flipkart in August 2012 for a 10%. In the $360 Mn funding round which Flipkart had raised last year, it had invested around $140 Mn and raised stake to 16.7%.
The recent financial report also states that Naspers now owns complete 100% stake in redBus.
In June 2013 the group’s subsidiary MIH India Global Internet Limited (MIH India) acquired a 100% interest in redBus, an Indian online ticketing platform. The fair value of the total purchase consideration was R1bn in cash.
Earlier this month redBus’ founders Phanindra Sama and Charan Kumar Raju exited the company. Prakash Sangam, executive vice president at Infoedge India that runs jobs site Naukri, was appointed the new chief executive of the RedBus.
Naspers’ other investments in India include OLX.in. Naspers’ subsidiary, MIH India also operates eCommerce platforms under the ibibo brand including the online travel aggregator Goibibo, online shopping site Tradus.com and the payment gateway Payu.in. Recently, it had invested in Gurgaon-based B2B travel portal travelboutiqueonline.com.
