Flipkart Raises $20M From Tiger Global In Series C Funding

Flipkart Online Services Pvt Ltd, which runs the e-commerce site Flipkart.com, has raised $20 million in its Series C round of funding from New York-based Tiger Global Management LLC. This is its third round of funding, taking the total to $31 million. The deal had been closed earlier this year but details of the deal and the stake involved were not disclosed.

Tiger Global Management LLC is an existing investor in Flipkart and invested $8-$10 million in the start-up. Flipkart had earlier raised seed funding from Accel Partners.

"With consumers increasingly shifting their purchase online, it is imperative for us to expand our presence and take it to the next level. With internet-savvy customers increasingly becoming accustomed to the ease of online shopping, we plan to invest in our marketing initiatives to build a customer base spanning the length and breadth of the country," said Sachin Bansal, CEO of Flipkart.

Flipkart was founded in 2007 in Bangalore as an online book retailer and has since diversified into a generic e-commerce site with categories such as CDs/DVDs of music, movies, games and software, mobile phones and electronics. It will soon be touching the milestone of 2 million items sold on its website. The company also has plans to add more categories to its online store.

"E-commerce has already crossed the tipping point in the country and we are witnessing huge growth in the industry. After establishing ourselves as a leading player, we now expect to pick up a large share of the growing e-commerce pie. Investments in supply chain and technology will help us stay ahead of the competition and achieve our goal of becoming the largest e-com player in the country," said Binny Bansal, the Flipkart COO.

Flipkart has 1500 employees on board and offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. In December last year, the company acquired social book discovery tool WeRead from Lulu, a US-based on-demand publishing firm.

In May this year, Tiger Global led a $16 million Series B round of funding in online fashion flash sales site Exclusively.in. Recently, Tiger Global and Accel Partners had also invested $2.5 million in Babyoye.com, an online shop for new parents.

Also read - our feature on Infibeam and Flipkart on Techcircle.in.