Snapdeal raises $50 million funding from eBay and existing investors

E-commerce juggernaut eBay has led a $50 million financing round for Delhi-based Snapdeal, a popular and growing online marketplace, reports NextBigWhat, citing sources.

The round, which also reportedly saw prior backers including a Japan based financial institution along with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Venture and Indo-US Venture Partners. With this round, Snapdeal has raised $102 million of funding in total.

Founded in 2010 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Snapdeal originally focused on daily deals, but quickly turned its attention to a full-fledged online marketplace model when it noticed a growing need across India for a horizontal online one-stop shop.

Today, the company boasts 18 million registered users, handles transactions for 25,000 items per day and employs more than 1,500 employees.

According to the report eBay looked at around 40 companies in India to invest, and found good synergies with Snapdeal, especially owing to its marketplace model. The deal is one of the biggest investment raised by any ecommerce firm in last 8-10 months.

Snapdeal was looking raise up to $100 million in fresh funding. There were speculations that eBay is considering a minority investment in Snapdeal, and it was expected that eBay might initially acquire only a 5% stake valuing Snapdeal at around $300 million.

Snapdeal had raised $12 million Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital (formerly Indo US Venture Partners) in January 2011 and later it raised $40 million in series B funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, along with existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and IndoUS Venture Partners in July of the same year.

The race to conquer the Indian e-commerce has already begun, with global players like Amazon trying to enter the market. This was a strategic move for eBay to have a BIG presence in Indian ecommerce market before Amazon does. We won’t be surprised to see more players enter the market and many existing stores being acquired, merged or shut down.

What do you think about the acquisition? What’s do you think is in store for the Indian eCommerce sector ahead?