Flipkart raises another $200 million from existing investors

Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce company, on Wednesday said it has raised $200 million from its existing investors, which include South African media conglomerate Naspers, venture capital firm Accel and investment company Tiger Global.

This is the largest fund raising round in Indian e-commerce - in August last year, Flipkart reportedly raised about $150 million from Nasper and Iconiq Capital, an investment advisory based in the United States.

Flipkart did not confirm the amount raised then, which valued the company at $1 billion.  

The fast-growing but unprofitable company aspires to touch $1 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2015. A company spokesperson told Business Today that Flipkart was more than halfway towards that goal, meaning it has hit a GMV of $500 million. The company had earlier said it was generating revenues of Rs 100 crore every month.

In a statement, Flipkart said the latest round of funds will be used for building and strengthening the company's technology capabilities, the supply chain as well as in developing the talent pool.

"This investment validates the belief that our investors have faith not only in our capabilities as a market leader - but also in the potential of e-commerce in India. We are building a world-class organisation that has always led from the front, taking advantage of and even creating a plethora of opportunities for the e-commerce industry. With this investment, we can now take Flipkart to the next level, pioneering technology and supply-chain innovations that will change the face of online shopping," Sachin Bansal, Co-founder and CEO of Flipkart said in a statement.

Flipkart, of late, appears to be making efforts towards becoming profitable as well.

In June this year, it closed down its MP3 store, Flyte. The store had licensed domestic and international music content, enabling users to download individual numbers for a nominal price. The company said there were problems with micro-payments and piracy and that the market was not ready yet for the service.

The company said it currently has about 9.6 million registered users, more than one million unique visitors every day and has added new categories over the last year such as apparel, footwear, toys, accessories, sports and eBooks.