Retail chain Walmart has become the main investor in Flipkart
US retailer Walmart has announced the acquisition of India’s Flipkart, which is part of Tiger Global. The deal was worth USD 1.4 billion at a company valuation of USD 35 billion.
Investment firm Tiger Global has been a long-time partner of Flipkart, which provides e-commerce services. Milestones in the development of the companies:
– Flipkart first participated in a Series B funding round in 2009;
– Tiger provided USD 8.6 million for fledgling startup development;
– Flipkart had an estimated valuation of USD 44 million at that time;
– between 2010 and 2015, Tiger invested another USD 1.2 million in Flipkart;
– in 2017, Tiger sold part of its Indian business to SoftBank Corporation; a year later, Walmart acquired a stake in the company from the investment firm.
According to experts at The Economic Times, the new deal between Walmart and Tiger will allow the latter to get rid of Flipkart’s financing. Analysts have estimated the return on Tiger’s investment in the Indian business at USD 3.5 billion.
Flipkart business overview
It’s worth noting that the Walmart chain first invested in Flipkart in 2018. The US retail giant paid USD 16 billion to acquire 77% of the shares. The e-commerce company has been aggressively penetrating the Indian market. In 2023, it launched a new app that allows both large stores and small sellers to list their products.
Flipkart launched in Bangalore in 2007 as a platform for selling books. Other product categories were added later. In addition to e-commerce services, the company also sells products under the DigiFlip brand. The product range includes tablets and accessories.
Amazon India and Snapdeal are Flipkart’s main competitors in the local market. The company is a leader in several segments, such as apparel sales.
In 2010, Flipkart acquired the book search service WeRead. In 2011, it acquired the digital content library Chakpak. A number of other deals followed. This has allowed the company to expand aggressively.
The next stage in Flipkart’s development was the acquisition of a hotel booking website. This allowed the company to enter a new market, the hotel business. Flipkart also expanded its services in the Web3 space by launching NFT and hosting a marketplace in the Flipverse meta-universe. The company has also launched a virtual store for students. Here they can buy products for learning and development.
