You’re reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
On Friday, e-commerce company Flipkart announced it would be getting Google onboard as an investor. Google has made an investment of around USD 350 million in the latest funding round led by parent company Walmart. A person familiar with the development said that despite the big capital influx, Google will not be getting a seat on the major board, but would rather be a minority investor.
This deal will value Flipkart at USD 35-36 billion.
“As part of the latest funding round led by Walmart, Flipkart today announced that it will be adding Google as a minority investor, subject to receipt of regulatory and other customary approvals by both parties,” Flipkart said in a statement. However, the e-commerce player did not disclose the funding amount in the official statement.
Reportedly, Google’s proposed investment and Cloud collaboration would help expand Flipkart’s business and advance the modernization of its digital infrastructure.
The incoming capital will take Flipkart’s total funding to around USD 950 million, out of which USD 600 million was invested by Walmart in December.
For FY23, Flipkart reported INR 15,044 crore in revenue and a loss of INR 4,026 crore.
Flipkart is expected to use the capital to fuel plans to get back into the quick commerce segment after futile projects such as Nearby in 2015 and Flipkart Quick in 2020. The space is currently dominated by Zomato-owned Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart.
Notably, this is Flipkart’s second association with a tech giant after it partnered with Microsoft in 2017 to have Azure as its exclusive public cloud computing platform.