Chinmay Bidkar
02 October 2017, India:
Logistics arm of Flipkart has raised Rs. 641 Crore in a bid to strengthen the hold of the e-commerce marketplace of India. The amount was raised from Flipkart’s Klick2Shop Logistics Services International through an entity called Instakart Services Private Limited as per the report by ET.
One of India’s largest logistics and supply chain company Ekart delivers 10 million shipments a month to 3800+ pin codes. Founded in 2009, Ekart, Flipkart’s in-house supply chain arm has powered the growth of Flipkart with innovations such as Cash on Delivery, In-a-day guarantee in 50 cities, Same-day guarantee in 13 cities. With a festive season lined up, a lot will depend on Ekart to cope up with Flipkart’s sale.
Related Read: Flipkart, Ola, MMT Founders Launch Lobby Group Indiatech.org for Startups
Earlier in August, SoftBank Vision Fund invested a record $2.5 Billion in Flipkart. After this financing round, Flipkart will have in excess of $4 billion of cash on balance sheet. Vision Fund joins Tencent, eBay and Microsoft in the round, significantly increasing the investment capital available to Flipkart. This investment round allows Flipkart to further its mission to transform India and SoftBank to invest in a market leader with scale.
Meanwhile, One of India’s most valued companies — Flipkart, Ola, Hike and MakeMyTrip are grouping together to launch an industry body called Indiatech.org. It will represent the interests of local ventures and aim to create a moat against deep-pocketed global rivals (like Amazon, Uber), in one of the world’s most prized markets for digital commerce. (Image- Bloomberg)
Also Read: Amazon Invests Rs. 179.25 crore for 5% Equity in Shoppers Stop