Indian online retail giant Flipkart raises USD 3.6 billion.
The company, backed by Walmart, said it would use the funds to expand its business and make more investments in groceries, fashion, and delivery services. The company’s latest round of financing increased its value to $37.6 billion. The new estimate is more than twice that of US dealers.
Three years ago, the network paid a majority stake in Flipkart. Kalyan Krishnamurti, CEO of Flipkart, said that the new funds would support the company’s expansion plan: “By serving our customers, we will focus on accelerating the development of millions of Indian SMEs. We will continue to invest in new ones.”
Krishnamurti added a company statement that the latest financing round will be funded by Singapore’s GIC, the Canadian Pension Fund, the Planning, and Investment Commission, Japan’s Soft Bank, and Wal-Mart.
This transaction marks the return of Soft Bank. In the trade, approximately Flipkart sold 20% of its shares to Walmart. Other investors include sovereign wealth funds from Malaysia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi earlier this year.
In September, Reuters reported that Flipkart was preparing to go public. In 2018, Wal-Mart bought a 77% stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion and subsequently stated that it could go public within four years. Earlier this year-up to 50 billion US dollars.
However, after the deal with Wal-Mart, the company added more products to its online store, including groceries and furniture. Flipkart has also increased its storage capacity and is fighting competition from Amazon’s India branch and local competitor Reliance Industries, owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani.
Driven by the rapid spread of cheap smartphones and mobile devices, online startups in India sell everything from groceries to vacations, and the number has grown significantly. Several of the country’s most prominent digital startups have begun to sell shares on the stock market.
However, Zomato, India’s largest food delivery app, will launch the grocery delivery service soon. In December, the payment service PayTM is expected to be available at the end of the year.
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