New Delhi:
US retailing giant Walmart is in advanced talks to invest as much as $1 billion (Rs. 6600 crore) into Flipkart, says a report in a business newspaper.
According to reports published in leading US financial journal Bloomberg, Walmart would pick up a minority stake in Flipkart. The final terms of the deal have not been worked out and negotiations are still underway, a source close to the deal said.
According to a research firm CB insights, Flipkart’s most recent valuation was a whooping $16 billion. The deal would help the two companies battle common rival etailer Amazon.com.
However, both Walmart and Flipkart have termed the news as speculative.
Last week Flipkart crossed the 100-million registered users mark, becoming the first e-commerce company in the country to hit the milestone.
The Bengaluru-based company has doubled its user base over the last year and added 25 million users in the past six months alone.
One of the most valued start-ups in the country, Flipkart has Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Morgan Stanley and T Rowe among its financial investors. The company has raised over $3 billion in funding so far and has acquired companies like Myntra, PhonePe, and LetsBuy.
It has also invested in start-ups like Cube26, NestAway, and BlackBuck. A recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch Report pegged Flipkart as the leader with over 43 per cent market share. It forecast that by 2019, Flipkart would increase its share to 44 percent.
