E-commerce company Amazon has concluded the first round of talks to acquire India-based fashion and lifestyle online retailer Jabong.com for $1.1bn to $1.2bn, VCCircle reported yesterday.
The acquisition would provide exits to corporate-backed venture firm and incubator Rocket Internet, which incubated Jabong, investment firm Kinnevik, which holds a 25% stake, and UK government-backed institution CDC Group, which invested $27.5m in series B funding in the company in January this year.
News of the deal comes two months after Kinnevik and Rocket Internet agreed to combine Jabong with four similar companies in the Rocket Internet stable – Russia-based Lamoda, Brazil-based Dafiti, Dubai-based Namshi and Singapore-based Zalora – into a single entity.
The new entity, Global Fashion Group, would serve 23 countries with a combined population of more than 2.5 billion people, but it is unclear how a Jabong sale would affect its prospective formation.
The deal could also be vulnerable to regulatory issues as US-based Amazon is already attempting to establish a prominent position in India’s e-commerce industry, though a source told VCCircle the deal would likely involve Jabong continuing to operate as a separate entity.