Indiaâs largest e-commerce platform Flipkart.com has announced a $210 million investment led by DST Global, a global investment firm focusing on internet. Existing investors Tiger Global, Naspers, and Iconiq Capital also participated in this round.
This round takes the funding raised by Flipkart so far to $750 million.
âAs expected, our business is getting more and more efficient as we scale â so usage of these funds will be more towards capital expenditure than for supporting operating cash burn. We will continue to invest in our existing businesses and take bigger bets internally while looking at external opportunities,â Sachin Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Flipkart, told VCCircle.
âToday, we are the first choice in online shopping for millions of customers across the length and breadth of the country. We met our GMV run rate of $1 billion, a year before target, reinforcing our leadership position. The funding strengthens our capabilities to deliver on our next stage of growth,â said Binny Bansal, co-founder and COO, Flipkart.
âFlipkart is one of the fastest growing internet companies globally led by visionary founders. It is well placed to capitalise on the significant opportunity in the fast growing Indian ecommerce market,â said Yuri Milner, founder of DST Global.
Last week, Flipkart acquired Myntra Designs Pvt Ltd, the company which runs the online fashion and apparel shop Myntra.com. Although the transaction details were not officially disclosed, news reports had pegged the deal value at Rs 2,000 crore (over $340 million) through a stock transaction. As part of the deal, Myntraâs co-founder and CEO Mukesh Bansal joined Flipkartâs board. He will also head its fashion vertical. However, both the entities will remain independent. Flipkart is planning to invest $100 million in the fashion business.
Founded in 2007, Flipkart is the most heavily funded e-commerce companies in India. Its other investors include Accel Partners, Morgan Stanley, Vulcan Capital, Dragoneer, and Sofina.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)