“This investment in Snapdeal enhances our exposure to India’s burgeoning e-commerce industry”.
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Existing investors Temasek, BlackRock, Myriad and Premji Invest also participated in the latest funding round, Snapdeal said in a statement. “Snapdeal has a strong presence in mobile commerce and it fits our strategy of investing in innovative companies that are transforming the way people transact”, an Alibaba spokeswoman emailed. If sources are to be believed, Alibaba has appointed Citi Group, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch to look for another round of investment with a base of over $100 million as it is shifting focus from early stage start-ups to developed eCommerce companies.
“Over the past two years, the valuation of Snapdeal has significantly increased”.
The proceeds from the sale will be “strategically redeployed” into other areas of its business.
Snapdeal is also up against Amazon, which pumped US$2 billion into its Indian arm, and Flipkart, which raised a US$1 billion funding round.
“We want to create life changing experiences for millions of small businesses and consumers in India”. Last year, the startup raised US$627 million from SoftBank.
He added, with worldwide leaders like Alibaba, Foxconn and SoftBank supporting the corporate, its efforts in the direction of constructing India’s most impactful digital commerce ecosystem shall be propelled additional, enabling it to contribute in the direction of making a Digital India.
Snapdeal, founded in 2010, has over 150,000 sellers, more than 15 million products and a reach to 5,000-plus towns and cities across India.
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Foxconn’s decision to invest US$5 billion in India has sparked media concerns in China, where the economy is slowing.
