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India’s Flipkart raises $1 B in one of largest funding rounds in e-commerce

Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce marketplace, has raised  USD1 billion in one of the largest funding rounds for any e-commerce company globally – and the single largest round by an internet company from India.

The company said the funds will be used to make long-term strategic investments in India, especially in mobile technology, led by existing investors 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.

“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," said Flipkart’s founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in a statement.

The founders said Flipkart has close to 22 million registered users and handles five million shipments a month. It offers over 15 million products in over 70 categories.

"India has 243 million Internet users – and this number continues to grow very fast. We want to enable every Indian to either shop or sell online. And we believe that the power of the mobile internet is going to help us achieve this goal.

By 2020 India will have more than half a billion mobile internet users. Our intense focus on mobile and technology puts us in a unique position to take advantage of this massive opportunity," they added.

The new funding is expected to enable India’s largest e-commerce player to step up its investments for innovations in products and technologies, with the goal set on becoming "the mobile e-commerce company of the future."

"This funding will help us further accelerate momentum and build our presence to become a technology powerhouse,” the founders emphasized.

In the past, Flipkart has led the supply-chain innovation in India. It was the first to launch dedicated logistics and the first to offer cash on delivery (COD) on scale, which dramatically changed the way Indian’s bought online at scale.