INDIA’S top e-commerce company Flipkart said on Wednesday it has raised $200m (£134.07m) from private investors in what it called the biggest one-time investment in an Indian online retail firm.
The money was injected by Flipkart’s existing investors, South African technology group Naspers and private equity funds Tiger Global and Accel Partners, the Bangalore-based firm said in a statement.
The funds will be used to build and strengthen the firm technology capabilities and improve its supply chain.
“This investment validates the belief that our investors have not only in our capabilities as a market leader – but also in the potential of e-commerce in India,” said Sachin Bansal, co-founder and chief executive of Flipkart.
Flipkart and Jubin Mehta of Yourstory.in, an online site which tracks startups and entrepreneurs, said it was the largest single investment in an Indian e-commerce firm.
The company is battling fierce competition from rivals that include online retail giant Amazon, which launched an India-dedicated shopping site last month.
Flipkart was started by two former Amazon employees.
Since 2007 Flipkart has expanded beyond books and DVDs to footwear, electronics and home appliances, to gain 9.6 million registered users and become one of the country’s biggest entrepreneurial success stories.
Flipkart earned revenues of five billion rupees ($83m/£55.65m) for the fiscal year to March 2012. It has not given any earnings data for the past financial year.
India has just over 50 million active Internet users of whom around 40 per cent have made purchases online, according to industry figures.
