Indian e-retail giant Flipkart announced yet another round of funding totaling $700 million after raising an investment of over $1.2 billion over the summer this year.
With the latest round of funding, Flipkart has held its position of the most popular online shopping site in the country, but faces stiff competition from its rival Snapdeal.com. Snapdeal recently secured a $600 million investment from Japan based Softbank evaluating the company at $2 billion, according to recode.net
The investment frenzy in India-based online shopping companies is being fueled by the exploding growth of cellphone and Internet market in the nation of over 1.2 billion people. The online shopping fever among the growing middle class is evident in the fact that mobile shopping through Snapdeal jumped from 25 percent in the beginning of the year to 60 percent by August, according to Snapdeal’s CEO Kunal Bahl.
The fast-paced growth of the two e-retailers has left international giants like Amazon and Alibaba struggling for market as Indian trade regulations prevent direct sale by international merchants. However, Amazon doesn’t seem to be going off belays with its CEO Jeff Bezos announcing a $1 billion injection to its Indian venture right on the day after Flipkart announced its $1 billion funding.
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