Just when you thought Snapdeal was done for and was going to be sold off to Flipkart soon enough, the homegrown e-commerce giant has been awarded a surprise capital infusion of around $17.5 million (approx ₹113 crores), as per a regulatory filing spotted with the Registrar of Companies.
The fundraising round, which seems to have no plausible explanation, has been led by the company’s existing early backer Nexus Venture Partners along with its co-founders Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl. The filing was made public on Monday and shines a light on details of each individual’s investment. The former pumped in around ₹96.3 crore in March whereas Bahl and Bansal poured in close to ₹8.5 crore each into their flailing business. This takes NVP’s total investment into the e-tailer to a massive ₹306 crore.
According to LiveMint’s report, who was the first to spot the filing, Snapdeal only had cash reverses that would keep it going for the next four odd months. This is one potential reason the most invested individuals in the e-tailer decided to put in a final investment before it gets sold off to its homegrown rival Flipkart for a measly valuation – way lower than the value at which it last raised funds.
Snapdeal now has some breathing room to keep the operations up and running until its merger with Flipkart goes through. SoftBank, who’s the primary investor in the e-tailer, has been constantly pushing for a sale to any of its competitors. It is now close to reaching a mutual deal with Flipkart, who has recently picked up an enormous $1.4 billion funding and has already bought out the co-founders, as well as early investor – Kalaari Capital.
It is only Nexus Venture Partners who has acted like sort of a roadblock in the sale due to valuation concerns. But, it has now also come around and the transaction is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks. As reports suggested earlier last week, Flipkart has already signed a binding term sheet and will now be looking at the company’s financials and operations before reaching a conclusive decision.
