India-based e-commerce company Flipkart is looking to raise up to $1bn in new funding with China-based e-commerce firm Alibaba likely to be among the investors, TechCrunch reported today, citing undisclosed sources.
Founded in 2007, Flipkart has grown its online marketplace to 30 million products across more than 70 categories. It has 46 million registered users but is raising additional funds to ward off competition from local rival Snapdeal and US-based Amazon.
The funding looks likely to be raised at a valuation lower than the $15bn valuation at which Flipkart secured $700m in July 2015, a source told TechCrunch, stating: “The funding is now delayed and should take another three to four months. A down round is certain.”
One source told TechCrunch Alibaba met Flipkart in Hong Kong to discuss investing at a sub-$10bn valuation, but others claimed the valuation would probably be somewhere between $11bn and $14bn.
News of the prospective investment came a day after Alibaba, already an investor in Snapdeal, signed a five-year $3bn syndicated loan agreement, and strategic investments are said to be high on its priority list.
Another China-based firm, conglomerate Fosun, is reportedly also a prospective investor, though no details have been disclosed concerning amounts or valuations.
Flipkart has so far raised about $3.1bn altogether from investors including media and e-commerce group Naspers and IDG Ventures India, the local corporate venturing affiliate of media firm International Data Group.
The company’s other backers include Tiger Global Management, Steadview Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Qatar Investment Authority, DST Global, GIC, Morgan Stanley, Sofina, Accel Partners, Vulcan Capital and Iconiq Capital.