Flipkart Group raises $1.2 bn in new equity round

15 Jul '20

2 min read

Pic: Burdun Iliya / Shutterstock.com

Flipkart Group has closed an additional $1.2 billion equity round to support continued development of its e-commerce marketplace as India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis. The investment is led by Walmart, the Flipkart Group's majority owner, along with a group of existing shareholders, and values the company at $24.9 billion post-money.

The newly raised money will be funded in two tranches over the remainder of the fiscal year.

"We're grateful for the strong backing of our shareholders as we continue to build our platform and serve the growing needs of Indian consumers during these challenging times," Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said. "Since Walmart's initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer through technology, partnerships and new services. Today, we lead in electronics and fashion, and are rapidly accelerating share in other general merchandise categories and grocery, all while providing increasingly seamless payment and delivery options for our customers. We will continue innovating to bring the next 200 million Indian shoppers online."

Founded in 2007, the Flipkart Group includes Flipkart, digital payments platform PhonePe, fashion specialty site Myntra and eKart, a logistics and delivery service focused on solving the last mile in India's tier II and tier III cities. In 2018, Walmart Inc. invested $16 billion for a majority stake in the group.

Flipkart recently surpassed 1.5 billion visits per month and reported 45 per cent growth in monthly active customers and 30 per cent growth in transactions per customer for FY20. The company is democratising commerce by providing sellers and MSMEs access to a national market and by investing in technology such as voice assistants and local language interfaces to help make shopping easier for non-English speaking customers.

"Flipkart continues to leverage its culture of innovation to accelerate growth and enable millions of customers, sellers, merchants and small businesses to prosper and be a part of India's digital transformation," said Judith McKenna, president and CEO of Walmart International. "Kalyan and team have a clear vision and are relentlessly focused on giving Indians frictionless choice in how they shop and sell online. We're excited to see what the future holds as they continue their journey to become India's most trusted e-commerce marketplace."

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)

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