BENGALURU (Reuters) - Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc-owned Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart is in early talks with investors to raise at least $1 billion, the Economic Times reported https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/flipkart-plans-a-big-billion-day-with-new-investors/articleshow/82533913.cms on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Flipkart's fund raise plans come at a time when the company is considering an initial public offering (IPO), while it battles players including Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s local unit and billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Retails' JioMart amid a pandemic that has seen demand for online services skyrocket.
Reuters first reported in September that Bengaluru-based Flipkart was preparing for an IPO overseas as early as 2021, which could value the firm at as much as $50 billion.]
Flipkart raised $1.2 billion in fresh funding last year, with Walmart as its lead investor. That round valued Flipkart, which counts China's Tencent, U.S. hedge fund Tiger Global, and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) among its investors, at $24.9 billion.
"The capital raise is not being positioned as pre-IPO but for expansion," an executive involved in the process told the Economic Times, adding that the capital raise could go up to $2 billion.
Flipkart did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.