The Flipkart Group has raised $1.2 billion in an equity round led by Walmart, the company announced on Tuesday. For Flipkart, the last such fundraise was in 2018, when Walmart acquired a majority stake in the company for $16 billion. The new fundraise, Flipkart values the company at $24.9 billion.
This investment, Flipkart said, would be in two tranches over the fiscal year.
"Since Walmart's initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer through technology, partnerships and new services. Today, we lead in electronics and fashion, and are rapidly accelerating share in other general merchandise categories and grocery, all while providing increasingly seamless payment and delivery options for our customers. We will continue innovating to bring the next 200 million Indian shoppers online,” CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said in a statement.
In FY20, Flipkart claimed to have reported 45% growth in active customers, as well as 30% growth in transactions. It also said that it recently surpasses 1.5 billion visits per month.
Judith McKenna, President and CEO of Walmart International, said, “Flipkart continues to leverage its culture of innovation to accelerate growth and enable millions of customers, sellers, merchants and small businesses to prosper and be a part of India's digital transformation.”
"Kalyan and team have a clear vision and are relentlessly focused on giving Indians frictionless choice in how they shop and sell online. We're excited to see what the future holds as they continue their journey to become India's most trusted eCommerce marketplace,” he said.
The Flipkart Group includes Flipkart, digital payments platform PhonePe, Myntra and eKart.
This fundraise intensifies India’s e-commerce battle, with JioMart in a joint venture with Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms (which has received over $15 billion) launched a few months ago in over 200 cities and towns, and Flipkart’s primary competitor, Amazon in January announcing that it will invest $1 billion in India.