India-based e-commerce company Flipkart confirmed today that it has raised $1bn in the largest round ever raised by an India-based company or an e-commerce business.
The round was co-led by internet company Naspers and investment firm Tiger Global Management, both existing investors.
Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, investment firms DST Global and Sofina, venture capital firm Accel Partners and family office Iconiq Capital also participated. News of the investment initially broke last week.
Flipkart intends to utilise the funding to make strategic investments that can boost its long term business plans in India, with mobile technology a particular focus. It acquired lifestyle e-commerce site Myntra in May as it closed a separate $210m funding round.
Sachin Bansal, founder and CEO of Flipkart, said: “We believe the Internet will improve the quality of life for millions of Indians, and e-commerce is going to play a huge role in this change. The focus at Flipkart is to continue to make shopping online simpler and more accessible through the use of technology.”
Although the company has now raised more than $1.7bn in total funding, it has no plans to file for an initial public offering, Bansal stated.
“IPO is not in consideration at all, we are not thinking about it,” he said. “We have not settled on a business model that we can take public.”