Top 15 e-commerce investments in India in 2014

E-commerce has been on a roller coaster ride over the last five years. Starting slowly, e-commerce picked up full steam in 2011 and we saw a host of companies coming up and raising funding. For a couple of years after 2011, the sector was filled with skepticism. But things are now looking up, and the sector is consolidating in a huge way!

While e-commerce marketplaces like Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal snapped up big ticket investments, niche portals like Urbanladder, Myntra, and Firstcry among a few others have also found their spot in the sun.

With close to 250 million internet users, Indian e-commerce industry has been a land of opportunities for institutional investors. Besides Tiger Global, Sequoia, and Naspers among others, this year Indian e-commerce segment also drew the attention of new investors like DST Global, Soft Bank, BlackRock, and Sofina etc.

Over the past 10 months, Indian e-commerce companies (only selling physical goods) have secured over $3.9 billion investment from VC/PE and internal funding (including Amazon).

Here’s YourStory’s list of the top 15 investments in Indian e-commerce:

• To outnumber Flipkart’s funding number, Amazon announced $2 billion investment to its India focused marketplace, Amazon.in, in July this year.
• The poster boy of Indian e-commerce space, Flipkart, raised $1 billion from Tiger Global Management and Naspers. 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.

• The financial service arm of the Japanese telecommunication and internet corporation, SoftBank Internet and Media, Inc. (‘SIMI’) committed $627 million funding in New Delhi-based online marketplace, Snapdeal. Following the investment, SoftBank became the biggest stakeholder in the company.
• In February this year, Kunal Bahl-led Snapdeal amassed $133 million funding led by eBay, Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Saama Capital.
• Mukesh Bansal-led Myntra secured $50 million (about Rs.300 crore) investment led by Premji Invest along with existing investors Accel Partners and Tiger Global.
• Grocery and veggie etailer Bigbasket snapped up $33 million from Helion Ventures, Ascent Capital, Zodius Capital and Lionrock Capital in September this year.

• Fashion e-commerce major Jabong secured $27.5 million (Rs 173 crore) from British development finance institution CDC in a deal in February 2014.
• Furniture etailer Urbanladder closed $21 million (approx Rs.120 crore) Series B funding from Steadview Capital along with the existing investors, SAIF Partners and Kalaari Capital, in January this year.
• Online baby care portal Firstcry received $15 million funding (Rs. 92 crore) from Vertex Venture Management, a subsidiary of Singapore's state run investment company Temasek Holdings.
• Web-based fashion discovery platform Limeroad raised $15 million investment from New York-based Tiger Global, including existing investors, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners, India.
• Furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry raised $15 million funding led by Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), including Norwest Venture Partners (NVP).
• Smile Group-backed flash sales portal Fashionandyou secured $10 million (Rs. 60 crore) from its existing partners -- Sequoia Capital, Smile Group, Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Nokia Growth Partners -- and a new investor in June this year (via).
• Online Indian ethnic wear store Cbazaar received funding of Rs. 30 crore to Rs 50 crore from private equity firm Forum Synergies among others (via).
• Online lingerie store PrettySecrets pulled off $2 million Series A round led by Rehan Yar Khan of Orios Venture Partners and co-invested by India Quotient along with participation from prominent angel investors like Anupam Mittal and Ravi Gururaj.
• Etailer of funny and quirky products Happilyunmarried secured $0.65 million (Rs.4 crore) from InfoEdge. The investment was done through optionally convertible cumulative redeemable preference shares.

Source: Yourstory and Venture Intelligence