Indian e-tailer Flipkart raises $150M in funding
Five-year-old Indian online retailer Flipkart has secured its finances for the next three years after it raised US$150 million from new investors such as Nasper and Iconiq Capital, as well as existing ones in Tiger Global and Accel Partners.
The Times of India reported on Saturday that South African media company Nasper, through its Indian arm MIH India, led the investment round when it committed US$90 million and, by doing so, becomes its second-largest shareholder after Tiger Global.
With the amount raised, this values the e-commerce company's value at around US$800 million and it will no longer be dependent on conducting an overseas initial public offering (IPO) to raise funds and continue operations, it added.
The funds will be used on expanding the company's supply chain capacity, launching new product categories, and growing its talent pool to keep it ahead of its competitors, the company stated.
"This round of funding would fuel our growth plans, and help us achieve our stated ambition of hitting US$1 billion in gross merchandise value by 2015," said Flipkart's co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal in the report.
The company had in February announced it bought local rival Letsbuy for an undisclosed sum in order to consolidate its position in the local e-commerce market, worth some US$10 billion, after the entry of Amazon via its new Web site Junglee.com.