India's top e-commerce company Flipkart said today that it received $1.4 billion from Microsoft, eBay, and Tencent in its most recent funding round.
Flipkart said it was now valued at $11.6 billion after the latest round. The company said that the investment from the three companies was the largest in the history of India's internet sector. As part of the deal Flipkart will acquire and run eBay India in return for a $500 million investment from the US firm, AP reported. eBay president Devin Wenig said the merger of its local operations with the Bangalore-based firm would take it to greater heights in India's online retail market.
Flipkart, founded in 2007 by two former Amazon employees, and its smaller local rival Snapdeal have attracted billions of dollars in overseas investment since their inception. The firms have battled stiff competition from American e-commerce giant Amazon since it entered India's cut-throat and rapidly growing online retail market in 2013. Flipkart has earlier drawn backers such as New-York based venture capitalists Tiger Global Management LLC and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.
India's e-commerce market was reportedly worth about $23 billion in 2015, according to business body Assocham, and is expected to be worth over $32 billion by the end of the decade. 

Source: QNA