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Early and growth-stage venture capital firm Accel Partners has reportedly sold small amount of its stake in ecommerce giant Flipkart to Qatar Investment Authority for $100 Mn (about INR 650 Cr.); Flipkart’s is currently valued at around $15 Bn.
Accel is still the second-largest shareholder in the ecommerce platform, behind Tiger Global Management. Last year, the venture firm sold Flipkart’s shares worth more than $80 Mn to undisclosed buyers.
Earlier this year, Helion Venture had sold its entire stake of 0.2%, estimated to be worth about $22.5 Mn (INR 156 Cr.) in Flipkart. The investment firm got a stake in Flipkart by virtue of its investment in online electronics retailer LetsBuy, which was acquired by the ecommerce firm in 2012. Accel, which owned about a 20% stake in Flipkart then, raised a new fund of INR 1,890 Cr. about the same time.
Flipkart, in a recent regulatory filing, posted a loss of about INR 2,000 Cr. for the fiscal year ended March 2015. Currently, the company is backed by global VC/investment firms and such as Qatar Investment Authority and Steadview Capital, Tiger Global Management, GIC Pte. Ltd, Naspers and Morgan Stanley.
Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of the Arab nation, was one of five new investors which invested in Flipkart in December 2014 in a $700 Mn round at a valuation of $11 Bn.
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