Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has raised $1.2 billion in a funding round led by its majority stakeholder Walmart along with other existing shareholders.
The capital infusion from Walmart, which already owns around 80% in the Bengaluru-based online retailer, will take its shareholding up by a percentage, reported ET Tech.
This is the largest fund raising for Flipkart since Walmart acquired the retail platform two years ago for $16 billion. At the time of its acquisition, Flipkart was valued at $21 billion.
Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, in a statement, said, “Since Walmart’s initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer through technology, partnerships and new services. We will continue innovating to bring the next 200 Mn Indian shoppers online.”
Inc42 reports that the fresh funds will used to support Flipkart’s recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, according to a company statement.
The capital comes at a time when the Indian online retail battle is at a crossroads with Reliance Jio's plans to leverage its telecom reach to propel online commerce.
On Tuesday, As per a BloombergQuint report, the American tech giant is looking to invest $4 billion in Jio Platforms and the announcement is likely to be made in the next couple of weeks.
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