India’s largest e-commerce marketplace Flipkart has closed a $1.4 billion funding round with backing from Chinese Internet giant Tencent and participation from Microsoft and eBay Inc, at a valuation of $ 11.6 billion, the company said on Monday..
This latest round of funding brings down the valuation from a previous high of $15 billion, but it underlies the fact that Flipkart, which was written off, has made a rebound to attract investors in the company. Flipkart’s earlier investors Tiger Global Management, Naspers Group, Accel Partners and DST Global participated in the round. Flipkart will acquire the India unit of eBay Inc which will continue to be independent.
“We are delighted that Tencent, eBay and Microsoft — all innovation powerhouses — have chosen to partner with us on their India journey. We have chosen these partners based on their long histories of pioneering industries, and the unique expertise and insights each of them bring to Flipkart. This deal reaffirms our resolve to hasten the transformation of commerce in India through technology,” Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Founders of Flipkart, said in a statement.