SoftBank Vision Fund, the $93bn investment vehicle formed by telecommunications group SoftBank, has begun talks with India-based e-commerce company Flipkart over an investment of up to $2bn, Bloomberg reported today.
Vision Fund is considering providing between $1.5bn and $2bn, according to people familiar with the matter. About half of the cash would go directly to Flipkart while the remaining funds would be used to buy stock from investment firm Tiger Global Management.
Founded in 2007, Flipkart runs a diversified online marketplace that lists more than 80 million products, and which has more than 100 million registered users.
News of Vision Fund’s interest comes the day after another India-based e-commerce marketplace, Snapdeal, withdrew from a proposed acquisition by Flipkart.
SoftBank owns about 30% of Snapdeal’s shares and had reportedly been pushing for the deal. Sources had suggested either the company itself or Vision Fund would have made an investment in Flipkart structured similarly to this one.
Flipkart has already raised a total of almost $4.7bn in equity funding, and closed $1.4bn in funding from software provider Microsoft, e-commerce firm eBay, internet group Tencent and media and e-commerce group Naspers in April this year at an $11.6bn post-money valuation.
As part of the April transaction, Flipkart agreed to acquire eBay’s Indian business, and the merger deal closed today.
Other investors in Flipkart include Tiger Global, media group Bennett, Coleman & Co, Steadview Capital, Qatar Investment Authority, GIC, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, DST Global, Sofina, Accel, Iconiq Capital, IDG Ventures India, Baillie Gifford, Greenoaks Capital and T. Rowe Price.
In addition to Snapdeal, SoftBank also owns stakes in Indian online businesses including e-commerce and payment company One97 Communications, accommodation platform Oyo, ride hailing service Ola, messaging platform Hike and online real estate portal PropTiger.