Founded in 2010, Snapdeal is one of India’s biggest e-commerce companies and has become a competitor of US online retailer Amazon.com Inc, with mobile devices accounting for the largest share of Snapdeal’s overall sales. Snapdeal had raised more than $1 billion from investors including iconic business leader Ratan Tata (personal investment).
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After leading a $134 million funding round into Snapdeal, eBay now is looking forward to selling a “portion” of its investment in the aforementioned Indian eCommerce company.
Having tested waters with investment in Paytm and Snapdeal, Alibaba has now tasked bankers to scout for “more mature” entities in the Indian e-commerce market.
Indian e-commerce start-up Snapdeal has raised $500m (£320m, €452m) from global investors in its latest funding round, valuing the firm at an estimated $5bn.
With about 5,000 employees across the country, Snapdeal offers online shopping experience to millions of buyers for sourcing 15 million products in 500 categories.
According to official documents filed with the registrar of companies, Snapdeal’s valuation had increased to roughly Rs.28,000 crore (about $4.67 billion then), after it acquired FreeCharge in a cash-and-stock deal. However, FIH Mobile, a unit of Taiwan’s Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, said it was acquiring a 4.27 percent stake in Snapdeal for $200 million via its Singapore-based subsidiary Wonderful Stars Pte. Alibaba founder Jack Massachusetts has publicly spoken about the behemoth’s interest in investing in India. The U.S. e-commerce giant did not provide details of the buyer or the size of the deal.
Rivals Flipkart and Amazon have also committed to invest about Dollars 8 billion over the next few years in India, where eCommerce is growing at a blazing pace, driven by affordable smartphones and increasing internet penetration.
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According to a regulatory filing by Foxconn, as part of a secondary transaction, the world’s largest contract manufacturer has purchased shares worth $50 million from eBay for a 1.16% stake in Snapdeal.
