Snapdeal raises $100 million more from global investors, valued at $1 billion

Wednesday May 21, 2014 , 2 min Read

Snapdeal, an Indian online marketplace has raised $100 million according to a WSJ report. The company is valued at $1 billion (Kunal Bahl, the CEO has not confirmed the valuation) and the fresh round of funding comes in from investors including Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings, asset management firm BlackRock and others. Credit Suisse advised Snapdeal on the round. Snapdeal had raised $133 million recently in February and this investment takes the total funding to $350 million.Some key numbers and pointers about Snapdeal's growth:

Snapdeal now has 25 million users, up from about 15 million a year ago
It registered about $500 million in revenue for its fiscal year ended in March
250 people strong team
Snapdeal is likely to seek an IPO in the U.S.
Over 20,000 traders on the site, plans to increase to 50,000 by year end

Talking about the fund raise, Kunal says, “We need to keep investing in tech and marketing. There is a tremendous opportunity for e-commerce in India; it is a very small portion of retail today and will only expand.”

Flipkart is the biggest competition for Snapdeal. The two eCommerce giants started of differently but pivoted towards a marketplace model- Snadeal in 2011 and Flipkart in 2012. Flipkart has many other badge of honours like handling their own logistics and having their own ayment gateway as well but Snapdeal has built a lot of momentum over the last year and is now looking in a strong position.

The eCommerce industry in India is booming and pegged to grow to $70 billion by 2020. eCommerce has seen a lot of consolidation with lots of mergers and acquisitions. Flipkart acquiring Myntra was the biggest sign of this consolidation and we're now left with the front runners Flipkart and Snapdeal along with the likes of Jabong, Infibeam, Shopclues and of course, the giant Amazon.