SoftBank bolsters Flipkart’s firepower to compete with Amazon in India
Mumbai — India’s Flipkart has secured nearly $2.5bn in funding from Japan’s SoftBank Group, giving the online retailer more firepower to compete with Amazon in the country’s burgeoning e-commerce market. SoftBank’s Vision Fund, the world’s largest private equity fund, will invest close to $2.5bn in Flipkart via primary and secondary share purchases, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Flipkart, which raised $1.4bn in April from China’s Tencent, online marketplace eBay, and software giant Microsoft, will now have more than $4bn in cash, the Bengaluru-based company said in a statement on Thursday. The deal comes just 10 days after SoftBank’s attempts to forge a deal between Flipkart and smaller rival Snapdeal — and thwart Amazon’s ambitions in India — fell apart following months of negotiations. The investment is part of the same funding round that had raised the $1.4bn and will make SoftBank’s tech fund one of Flipkart’s top shareholders. It also underscores global inv...
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