Flipkart, the top online retailer in India, is in the news today.
A large investment from several tech companies is shining a spotlight on Flipkart. The online retailer is receiving $1.4 billion in funding from three tech companies. Tencent is investing $700 million, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) is investing $500 million and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is putting $200 toward the company.
The investment in Flipkart is sweetened further by an additional deal with eBay Inc. This deal has EBAY acquiring $200 million worth of the company stock. In exchange for this, Flipkart is obtaining the online retailer’s India division, reports Economic Times.
Here are a few things to know about Flipkart.
- It has raised a total of $4.6 billion.
- The online retailer is hoping to fend off Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) expansion into India.
- It’s current funding is close to matching the $5 billion investment AMZN is making in the country.
- The online retailer has been obtaining several brands over the years, including Jabong, Jeeves and others.
- It is also negotiating to acquire Snapdeal, which has SoftBank Group Corp (OTCMKTS:SFTBF) backing it as its largest investor.
- Following its most recent acquisition of funds, Flipkart is now valued at about $10 billion.
- This is a decrease over its previous value of $15.5 billion in 2015.
- Flipkart’s CEO is Kalyan Krishnamurthy, a former executive of eBay Inc.
- He took over the company last year and made several changes to its management.
- These changes allowed Flipkart to outsell Amazon.com, Inc. during the holidays shopping season, but only just barely.
You can follow these links to learn more about Flipkart.
