Flipkart did not comment on the specifics of the funding, but sources told TOI that the tech giant has infused about $350 million into Flipkart for a minority stake. With Google on board, the investment round has been closed, taking Flipkart’s valuation to over $35 billion, sources said.
Walmart had injected about $600 million into Flipkart as part of the funding round in Dec last year. Flipkart’s last big funding round was in 2021 when it raised $3.6 billion from investors in a round co-led by Walmart at a valuation of $37.6 billion. The company’s valuation is understood to have been adjusted to $33 billion after fintech PhonePe was separated from the group in 2022.
Flipkart said that the investment is subject to regulatory approvals. “Google’s proposed investment and its cloud collaboration will help Flipkart expand its business and advance the modernisation of its digital infrastructure to serve customers across the country,” the firm said in a statement.
Flipkart has been in a partnership with Google Cloud since 2022. Flipkart – which competes with players like Amazon and SoftBank-backed Meesho to cater to customers who are increasingly going digital – has been leveraging Google’s cloud stack to widen its tech capabilities and reach more users. The fresh funding from Google likely underlines a deeper collaboration with Flipkart in the cloud infrastructure space but going ahead, Google may also look at extending the partnership to other areas, said Satish Meena, advisor at Datum Intelligence.
“The funding shows how the lines between technology and B2C industries are blurring. Technology is becoming the backbone of many industries and big tech players have a large war chest of money to be deployed. They are deploying it not only for developing capabilities, but also to secure customers by investing in key players across sectors,” said Shravan Shetty, MD at Primus Partners.
Google’s rival Microsoft had also invested in Flipkart in 2017 in a $1.4 billion funding round along with other investors like Tencent. Microsoft held a small 1.2% stake in the firm as of Sept 2023, according to data sourced from Tracxn. Google has been ramping up its India investments.
The funding by Google will also come in handy for Flipkart which is looking to enter new spaces like quick commerce, a sector currently dominated by Zomato’s Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto.