Flipkart officially announces $1 billion funding round co-led by Tiger Global and Naspers

[UPDATE]

So, 29th of July is going down in history for witnessing the largest ever VC funding round in an Indian company. Flipkart has officially announced $1 billion funding round co-led by 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.

Sachin Bansal commented on funding,

Fresh funding will enable us to step up our investments for innovations in products and technologies, setting us up to become the mobile e-commerce company of the future.

Read : With the $1 billion fresh funds, Flipkart marches towards being a $100 billion company

We had announced earlier When contacted a week back, sources at Flipkart mentioned that it's just a matter of announcement and today, on the auspicious occasion of Eid, the big news will be officially shared. With this round of funding, the valuation of the company is expected to touch $5 billion, more than any Indian retail chain. While the speculations of company eyeing an IPO are going on since last year now, Sachin Bansal has maintained his stance of keeping it (IPO) at a lower priority. Well, if these kinds of funds are regularly injected then IPO is liable to be pushed down in priority.

Also read: Flipkart’s funding journey that led to the latest billion dollar round

However, it's difficult to trust the man's word given as he had bluntly denied the possibility or need of raising funds at the time of Myntra acquisition, yet surprised everyone with the $210 million investment round led by Yuri Milner's DST-Global.

Sachin had earlier commented on the $210 million funding round,

Raising funds and having money in the bank gives us the flexibility to take optimal decisions as and when opportunities come up. For example, if we want to expand faster, invest more aggressively in supply chain, or if there is an acquisition opportunity — the funds should give us adequate flexibility to make the decisions we think are best for the business.

With the same philosophy, India's ecommerce giant has gone ahead and achieved something not many can dream of. For now, we'll leave you with the most important question associated with this deal,

Errr, may be this one:

Would this be the last round of funding before going for an IPO?

Watch out this space for further updates and more information on the billion dollar deal.