indian e-commerce giant flipkart raises massive $1b round

flipkart, the largest e-commerce company in india, announced on twitter that it has raised a massive $1 billion round. the round was led bytiger global management and naspers, with participation by gic and existing investorsaccel partners, dst global, iconiq capital, morgan stanley investment management, and sofina. the tweet confirms reports several days earlier in the economic times that company had secured that amount in funding at a reported $7 billion valuation.in a statement, flipkart said the”funds will be used to make long-term strategic investments in india, especially in mobile technology.”massive milestone for us we have raised $1 billion in fresh funding. huzzah! @binnybansal @_sachinbansal pic.twitter.com/ndbiqceejl
flipkart (@flipkart) july 29, 2014this takes the total flipkart has raised so far to $1.75 billion. the company, which now has 22 million registered users and makes 5 million shipments a month,last announced fundraising in may, when the company saidthat it had closed a $210 million round led by dst global, with participation from tiger global, naspers, and iconiq capital.flipkart will most likely use the money to ward off competition from snapdeal and amazon, which launched in india a year ago. it will also continue acquiring startupsit’s most recent purchase was online fashion dealer myntra in a deal reportedly worth $300 million.