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Tag: Tiger Global Management

  • Quikr raises Rs 365 crore for future expansion

    Quikr raises Rs 365 crore for future expansion

    Mumbai: Valued at around Rs 1800 crore, the online classifieds platform, Quikr has raised Rs 365 crore in the latest round of funding. The investment was led by new investor Tiger Global Management, a global investment firm, with participation from its current investors.

     

    The company, which has so far received funding of around Rs 1,300 crore since its inception in 2008, will use the funds towards product development and further expansion of its mobile business, Quikr said in a statement.

     

    Commenting on the latest funding, Quicker founder and CEO Pranay Chulet said, “The explosive growth in mobile Internet is fundamentally reshaping the Indian classified Internet market, and we are well positioned to be at the forefront of this growth.”

     

    “This funding round is a powerful validation of our local knowledge and connections, skilled execution and quality management team. We are excited to welcome Tiger Global to Quikr as we continue to further grow our platform,” he added.

     

    The Mumbai-based company’s current investors include Kinnevik, Matrix Partners India, Nokia Growth Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Omidyar Network, Warburg Pincus and eBay Inc.

     

    In the previous round of funding held in March, Quikr was valued at about Rs 1,525 crore. At that time, the company had raised Rs 550 crore in an investment round led by Swedish investment firm Investment Kinnevik.

     

    Talking about the new investment, Tiger Global Management partner Lee Fixel said, “Quikr has grown rapidly to become one of India’s major classifieds players with a deep understanding of the local market. By leveraging the company’s strengths as a local player, Quikr has seized a tremendous opportunity in a rapidly growing market. We look forward to supporting the Quikr team.”

     

    Quikr records 30 million users a month across 940 cities in India. These consumers come to Quikr to sell, buy, rent or find products and services in a variety of categories including mobile phones, household goods, cars, real estate, jobs, services and education.

  • Flipkart raises $1 billion; to focus on mobile technology

    Flipkart raises $1 billion; to focus on mobile technology

    MUMBAI: Flipkart has raised $1 billion in one of the largest funding rounds for any e-commerce company, globally.

     

    The round led by existing investors, Tiger Global Management and Naspers, saw Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, as the new investor along with existing investors Accel Partners, DST Global, ICONIQ Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Sofina also participating in the latest financing round.

     

    The funds will be used to make long-term strategic investments in India, especially in mobile technology.

     

    “We believe internet will improve the quality of life for millions of Indians, and e- commerce is going to play a huge role in this change. The focus at Flipkart is to continue to make shopping online simpler and more accessible through the use of technology,” said founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.

     

    They added, “We have close to 22 million registered users today. We handle five million shipments a month. These numbers were unheard of a few years back and we are excited about the scale we have managed to achieve. But what is even more exciting is the huge opportunity that we still see before us.”

     

    India has 243 million internet users – and this number continues to grow very fast. By 2020, India will have more than half a billion mobile internet users. The platform will now focus on mobile and technology to take advantage of the massive opportunity.

     

    The new funding will enable it to step up its investments for innovations in products and technologies, setting it up to become the mobile e-commerce company of the future. It will help the e-retailer further accelerate momentum and build its presence to become a technology powerhouse.

     

    Over the past few years, Flipkart has led the supply-chain innovation in India. It has focused on making the online shopping experience as seamless as possible: being the first to launch 30 day replacement policy and the first player to run 24×7 customer support at scale in India, In-a-Day guarantee in 50 cities and the subscription service ‘Flipkart First’.

     

    Flipkart, which recently acquired Myntra, plans to continue investing in training sellers for the marketplace, providing all small  and  medium  entrepreneurs,  manufacturers  and  artisans  a  national  platform  to connect with millions of customers.