Flipkart raises $210 million in financing led by the Russian investment firm DST Global
After denying the possibilities of Flipkart's plans to raise the next round of funding, the Bansals have taken a sharp U-turn. Within a matter of 4 days of official announcement of acquiring India's largest online fashion store(Myntra), Flipkart, today announced a $210 million investment led by DST Global - one of the leading global investment groups focused on Internet.
Existing investors including Tiger Global, Naspers, and Iconiq Capital will be participating in the current financing round.
Mukesh Bansal, Flipkart's new head of fashion business had earlier announced that they will be investing $100 million in this segment very soon. The current round of funding may be used for the same besides strengthening their technology (by acquisitions).
Also read: Fact file of Flipkart-Myntra acquisition and what lies in between the lines of Flipkart-Myntra deal.
Yuri Milner, founder of Digital Sky Technologies (DST) Global said:"Flipkart is one of the fastest growing internet companies globally led by visionary founders. It is well placed to capitalize on the significant opportunity in the fast growing Indian ecommerce market.”
Russian internet tycoon Yuri Milner, is the same guy who is responsible for striking the deal of buying a 1.96% stake in Facebook for $200 million in 2009.
Sachin Bansal, co-founder and CEO, Flipkart, commented, “With the addition of DST Global, we have further strengthened our investor base that consists of world-class investors. We are excited to be a part of the DST portfolio featuring companies that are leading social and ecommerce innovators. Led by a visionary like Yuri Milner, DST brings a global perspective into each of their Internet investments along with a unique understanding of the businesses they invest in and we look forward to working with their team.”
“Flipkart has changed the way people shop in India. Today, we are the first choice in online shopping for millions of customers across the length and breadth of the country.We met our GMV run rate of $1 billion, a year before target, reinforcing our leadership position. The funding further strengthens our capabilities to deliver on our next stage of growth”, added Binny Bansal, co-founder and COO, Flipkart.
India’s largest e-commerce platform, Flipkart now offers over 15 million products across 70+ categories. The ecommerce giant has 3000 sellers on its platform, over 18 million registered users and boasts of 5 million shipments per month. The company is now 10000 members strong and have plans to grow even faster in near future.
Flipkart’s other investors include Accel Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Sofina and Vulcan Capital.