Bangalore: Flipkart, India’s biggest e-commerce player, on Tuesday announced it has raised $1 billion (Rs. 6,000 crore) in fresh funding, the biggest ever by an Indian internet company in a single round. And it is aiming much higher.
Young IITians Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who set up Flipkart in 2007 with an investment of four lakh rupees, announced the new funding in Bangalore on Tuesday, saying, “India can produce a $100 billion company in five years – we want to be that company.” IT major TCS is India’s highest valued firm with market capitalisation of nearly $83 billion, or Rs 5 lakh crore.
Flipkart is now expected to be valued at $5 billion (Rs 30,000 crore), according to some estimates. The company has seen a turbo-charged growth, hitting an annualised sales mark of $1 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) in 2014 – a year ahead of its target.
The company had earlier raised over $700 million (Rs 4,200 crore) in previous rounds. In May this year, Flipkart had raised $210 million (Rs 1,260 crore) in funding from a group of four investors led by internet-focused investment group DST Global.
Besides looking at fresh acquisitions, Flipkart could use the fresh funding for expanding its operations. Also in May this year, Flipkart acquired the country’s biggest fashion portal Myntra for around $300 million (Rs 1,800 crore).
For Flipkart, the competition is also hotting up. Besides Amazon’s expanding presence in India, world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart too has begun online sales in the cash-and-carry segment in some cities. Reliance Retail, India’s largest retailer by revenues, is also expected to significantly increase its online presence.
The Indian e-commerce market was worth $13 billion (Rs. 78,000 crore) in 2013, with online travel accounting for over 70% of consumer e-commerce transactions. Online sales of retail goods totaled $1.6 billion (Rs 9,600 crore) in 2013, according to research firm Forrester, and are expected to reach $76 billion (Rs 4.5 lakh crore) by 2021, Technopak said.Â