Flipkart, one of the two biggest e-commerce players in India, has raised $3.6 billion in the latest round of funding, which saw the return of SoftBank to the list of the company’s investors.
The Tokyo-based SoftBank had earlier sold its 20% stake in the e-commerce company in 2018 to Walmart, which then acquired a controlling stake in Flipkart. The investment was led by the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore’s government GIC, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, SoftBank and Walmart. The latest capital infusion has raised Flipkart’s valuation to $37.6 billion.
The proceeds from the fundraising would be utilized by Walmart owned Flipkart to invest in new categories and existing domains like fashion, grocery and delivery. Flipkart would leverage made in India technologies that it says will “transform consumer experiences and develop a world-class supply chain”. In a press statement, the e-commerce giant also said that it would be focussing on accelerating the growth of millions of small and medium businesses in India including Kiranas.
Talking about SoftBank’s reemergence as an investor in the company, Lydia Jett, Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers said that it reflected its conviction that Flipkart’s management would continue to address the needs of the Indian consumers over the next few decades.
Some other investors who participated in the fundraising are- Tiger Global, Franklin Templeton and sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Malaysia.
The investments come at a time when the e-commerce giant is moving towards getting listed in the Indian stock markets. When it acquired Flipkart in 2018, Walmart had said it would make the company public in the next four years. This is a part of a wider trend wherein a host of recently emerged technology startups in India are looking at going public. The IPO of online food delivery platform Zomato will hit the markets on Wednesday, July 14. The digital payments company Paytm is in the process of filing its Draft Red herring Prospectus, a key requirement for a company to go public.