E-commerce giant Flipkart has raised $3.6 billion in a funding round led by GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Walmart. The e-retailer has also attracted investments from attracted investments from sovereign funds DisruptAD, Qatar Investment Authority, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, and private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc.-backed Antara Capital among others.
The latest capital push has increased Flipkart’s valuation to USD 37.6 billion as it plans to expand online shopping in India and take on rivals like Amazon, Reliance Industries (RIL) and the Tata Group.
Notably,this is the first time Flipkart is raising capital from extrenal invetsors and Japan’s SoftBank, which sold its roughly 20% stake in the e-commerce firm to Walmart in 2018, has returned as a shareholder. SoftBank had invested $2.5 billion in Flipkart and sold its stake to the US retailer for $4 billion.
This investment by leading global investors reflects the promise of digital commerce in India and their belief in Flipkart’s capabilities to maximise this potential for all stakeholders. As we serve our consumers, we will focus on accelerating growth for millions of small and medium Indian businesses, including kiranas,” Flipkart Group Chief Executive Officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy said.
Flipkart will continue to invest in new categories and leverage made-in-India technology to transform consumer experiences and develop a world-class supply chain, he added.
In July last year, Flipkart had announced a USD 1.2 billion (roughly Rs 9,048 crore) fundraising led by its majority shareholder Walmart that had valued the Bengaluru-based company at USD 24.9 billion (roughly Rs 1.87 lakh crore).
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Founded in 2007, the Flipkart Group includes Flipkart, fashion speciality site Myntra and Ekart (logistics and supply chain arm). The group is also a majority shareholder in the digital payments platform PhonePe.
