Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has raised US$3.6 billion in what is considered the largest funding round by any startup in the country.
The Walmart-owned company had a post-money valuation of $37.6 billion. The funding was led by international groups including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Tiger Global.
The latest funding is expected to leverage Flipkart’s plans to go public in the US by 2022. Analysts said the funding would also enable the Bangalore-based company to strengthen its presence in the Indian market.
Flipkart currently has more than 350 million registered users in the country and has been investing in key categories, including fashion, travel, and grocery. It has over 300,000 registered sellers on its marketplace, and 60% are from small cities.
Flipkart’s logistics and supply chain arm, Ekart, makes deliveries to more than 90% of the addressable pin-codes in India and employs more than 100,000 people.