Flipkart raises $1.2 billion from Walmart

Flipkart Group Tuesday said it has raised $1.2 billion in a funding round led by its majority owner Walmart, valuing the company at $24.9 billion post-money. In 2018, US-based retail giant Walmart bought a majority stake in Flipkart for $16 billion but the latest round of funding follows a series of investment announcements made by US-based companies in Indian digital space. “(The) $1.2 billion investment will support Flipkart’s ongoing efforts to develop India’s homegrown eCommerce marketplace as country emerges from pandemic,” the company said.

In January, Amazon announced an additional $1 billion investment in India operations. This was followed by Facebook’s $5.7 billion investment in Reliance Jio in April, and a part of the deal was a collaboration between Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Reliance’s e-commerce venture JioMart.