As has been rumoured for quite some time now, Snapdeal has reportedly raised a staggering $500 Million in a fresh funding round from two of China’s biggest firms — e-commerce giant Alibaba and iPhone’s largest manufacturer, Foxconn.
This fresh round also saw participation from existing investor SoftBank, which infused a whopping $627 Million into India’s second largest e-commerce brand last year.
Prior to this round, Snapdeal had raised more than $1 billion in venture capital from investors including SoftBank, eBay, BlackRock, Bessemer Ventures and Indian venture firms such as Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners.
The investment though, is perhaps not a surprise, considering how both Flipkart and Snapdeal were looking at massive fundraises to support their deep-discount models ahead of upcoming Diwali Festive season. And while Flipkart raised $700 Million at a $15 Billion valuation, expected valuation for Snapdeal, as per previous reports, is close to $3.5 Billion.
None of the companies, including Alibaba and Foxconn, have responded to comment requests.
While this investment offers Snapdeal a massive cash reserve to take on the likes of more heavily-backed Flipkart and Amazon, this give Alibaba, an even firmer footing in world’s fastest growing e-commerce market.
Alibaba, world’s largest e-commerce company, had first stepped into India with a massive $585 Million investment into PayTM, via its financial arm, Ant Financials. This snapdeal investment would take Alibaba’s investments into Indian e-commerce space at new heights. And considering Alibaba’s recent measures to allow Indian sellers to sell in China, and vice-versa, you can expect this investment spree to only grow in future.
In a related development, Snapdeal has also announced the launch of its new instant delivery service, called Snapdeal Instant, which is a hyperlocal delivery service currently in pilot phase in 3 Indian cities –Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.
The image shows Snapdeal co-founders during their previous SoftBank investment.
The Tech Portal is published by Blue Box Media Private Limited. Our investors have no influence over our reporting. Read our full Ownership and Funding Disclosure →
