Walmart is increasing its majority-stake in Flipkart by leading a new $1.2 billion financing round in the Indian e-commerce giant. Which it had acquired in 2018, at a valuation of $24.9 billion. Walmart, acquired a majority stake (77%) in Flipkart for $16 billion.
The development come at a time when domestic rival Reliance Industries’ e-commerce venture JioMart is busy raising billions of dollars from marquee investors.
“The investment is led by Walmart, Flipkart Group’s majority owner, along with a group of existing shareholders and values the company at $24.9 billion post-money. It will be funded in two tranches over the remainder of the fiscal year,” Flipkart said in a press statement.
Walmart International president and CEO Judith McKenna said, “Flipkart continues to leverage its culture of innovation to accelerate growth and enable millions of customers, sellers, merchants and small businesses to prosper and be a part of India’s digital transformation”.
“Today, we lead in electronics and fashion and are rapidly accelerating share in other general merchandise categories and grocery…We will continue innovating to bring the next 200 million Indian shoppers online,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group.
The latest investment by Walmart in Flipkart aims “to support continued development of its eCommerce marketplace as India emerges from the Covid-19 crisis,” the company stated
