After raising $1.4 bn mega round, Flipkart now raises $71 mn from Naspers

Flipkart continues to see strong interest from its existing backers. After raising $1.4 billion in April this year, Flipkart has now raised $71 million from South African Internet and media juggernaut, Naspers. With this Napspers’ holding in Bengaluru based company increased to 16.5 per cent, reported Financial Express.

Naspers has been one of the early backers of Flipkart, it led undisclosed amount of Series D funding in 2012. Later, Naspers led Series G round with Tiger Global in July 2014.

Naspers in its annual result statement said, “The group’s Indian etail associate, Flipkart, remains a large opportunity, with market estimates expecting the online retail market in India to reach $50 billion by 2020.”

According to Naspers’ estimates, Flipkart’s share in monthly gross merchandise (GMV) value that fell to 45 per cent in June 2016 increased to 55 per cent in March 2017.

Importantly, Naspers filing mentioned that Flipkart, remains a large opportunity, with market estimates expecting the online retail market in India to reach$50bn by 2020. Competition has intensified in the past year, with Amazon gaining market share in the early part of the year. Flipkart has maintained its leadership position, with recent market share trends suggesting gains.

Earlier in April this year, Flipkart raised $1.4 billion in new funding at a post-money valuation of $11.6 billion to battle Amazon and Alibaba. The deal was led by China’s Tencent and eBay and Microsoft. Following the investment, Flipkart also took control of eBay India, a second-tier e-commerce player in India.

Last week, Entrackr reported that SoftBank wants to get the Flipkart-Snapdeal deal done. The deal that is expected to come through soon has valued Snapdeal around $300-400 minus its two logistics businesses- Vulcan Express and Unicommerce eSolutions, which is valued at $200 million.

Also read: Flipkart wants Snapdeal at $400 mn minus logistics arm

Over the years, Naspers has been active investor in India with its bet on Goibibo, PayU and OLX. Recently, it invested $60 million in food delivery platform - Swiggy for about 4.8 per cent equity in the Bengaluru based company. The group also invested an additional $132 million in MakeMyTrip in May 2017, as part of an equity funding round.