Flipkart raises $1 billion in fresh capital; drops plans to go public

Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce marketplace, has raised $1 billion in one of the largest funding rounds for any e-commerce company globally – and the single largest round by an internet company from India.

Co-led by existing investors Tiger Global Management and Naspers, the funds will be used to make long-term strategic investments in India, especially in mobile technology.

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, along with existing investors Accel Partners, DST Global, ICONIQ Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Sofina, also participated in this latest financing round.

This new milestone comes within months of Flipkart becoming the first e-commerce company out of India to hit $1 billion in GMV.

Flipkart’s founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal spoke about the funding, and the company’s plans going forward.

“We believe the internet will improve the quality of life for millions of Indians, and e-commerce is going to play a huge role in this change. The focus at Flipkart is to continue to make shopping online simpler and more accessible through the use of technology.

We have close to 22 million registered users today. We handle 5 million shipments a month. These numbers were unheard of a few years back and we are excited about the scale we have managed to achieve. But what is even more exciting is the huge opportunity that we still see before us.

India has 243 million internet users – and this number continues to grow very fast. We want to enable every Indian to either shop or sell online. And we believe that the power of the mobile internet is going to help us achieve this goal.

By 2020 India will have more than half a billion mobile internet users. Our intense focus on mobile and technology puts us in a unique position to take advantage of this massive opportunity.

This new funding will enable us to step up our investments for innovations in products and technologies, setting us up to become the mobile e-commerce company of the future. This funding will help us further accelerate momentum and build our presence to become a technology powerhouse.”

Flipkart’s pioneering efforts in putting Indian e-commerce on the global map have led to initiatives that have redefined the ecosystem, becoming trendsetters.  Innovation in supply-chain and technology has been a part of Flipkart’s DNA. Over the past few years, Flipkart has led the supply-chain innovation in India. Flipkart was the first to launch dedicated logistics and the first to offer COD - cash on delivery on scale, which dramatically changed the way Indian’s bought online at scale. Flipkart was also the first to offer card on delivery to our customers. Flipkart has focused on making the online shopping experience as seamless as possible: being the first to launch 30 day replacement policy and the first player to run 24x7 customer support at scale in India, In-a-Day guarantee in 50 cities and the subscription service ‘Flipkart First’. Flipkart will continue to ramp up its focus on fashion through recently acquired Myntra. Flipkart will also invest in training sellers for the marketplace, providing all small and medium entrepreneurs, manufacturers and artisans a national platform to connect with millions of customers.