Flipkart Raises its IPO Valuation Target to $60-70 Billion for U.S Listing in 2023

Walmart owned Flipkart is now planning a US listing in 2023 instead of this year.

Flipkart Raises its IPO Valuation Target to $60-70 Billion for U.S Listing in 2023

Walmart acquired a roughly 77 percent stake in Flipkart in 2018

Highlights
  • Flipkart acquired Indian travel booking website Cleartrip in 2021
  • Flipkart competes with Amazon in India's e-commerce space
  • The e-commerce company launched a new Health+ app this week
Advertisement

Walmart's Indian e-commerce company Flipkart has internally raised its IPO (Initial public offering) valuation target by around a third to $60-70 billion (roughly Rs. 456051.3 crore to Rs. 532003.85 crore), and now plans a US listing in 2023 instead of this year, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters.

Flipkart, which competes with Amazon in India's booming e-commerce space, had earlier set an IPO valuation goal of $50 billion (roughly Rs. 380002.75 crore), Reuters has reported.

The main reason for waiting for the IPO is due to Flipkart's internal plan to boost valuations further by focussing on two of its relatively new businesses —online healthcare services and travel bookings, two of the sources with direct knowledge said.

Two separate sources familiar with Flipkart's plans said the ongoing global market turmoil sparked by the Russia-Ukraine crisis also forced the Indian company to reconsider its timeline.

Flipkart acquired Indian travel booking website Cleartrip in 2021, and this week launched a "Health+" app to offer medicines as well as other healthcare products and services.

"Flipkart thinks there is an even bigger upside of valuation than originally envisaged ... The travel business has started showing great signs already for them," said the first source.

The first source said the IPO valuation target could be as high as $70 billion, while the second said it could be between $60 to $65 billion (roughly Rs. 456051.3 crore to Rs. 494003.575 crore). Flipkart didn't respond to a request for comment.

Asked about the IPO's timeline, Walmart CFO Brett Biggs told an analysts conference in December that Flipkart's business was "performing almost exactly like we thought" and an "IPO is still very much in the cards", without specifying when the company will list.

The listing, according to sources, is now being planned for early-to-mid 2023. Flipkart is incorporated in Singapore and wants to list in the United States, they added.

The IPO planning comes amid growing protests from Indian brick-and-mortar retailers that Flipkart and Amazon bypass federal regulations and favour select sellers, allegations the companies deny. India is also working on a slew of e-commerce sector regulations that could spook foreign giants. Walmart acquired a roughly 77 percent stake in Flipkart for about $16 billion (roughly Rs. 1,215,62 crore) in 2018 - its biggest deal ever - and said later that year that it could take the company public in four years.

Just last year, Flipkart raised $3.6 billion (roughly Rs. 27351.45 crore) in a funding round, giving it a valuation of $37.6 billion (roughly Rs. 285670.7 crore).

That fund raising helped bolster the company's financial position, and it had enough cash right now for expansion, meaning an IPO wasn't a necessity at this stage, said one of the sources.

India's IPO market has slowed after having boomed as enthusiastic retail investors and a pandemic-induced flood of easy money pushed prices to record highs, encouraging a slew of Indian tech companies like Paytm and Zomato to go public.

More than 60 companies made their market debut in India in 2021 and raised a total of more than $13.7 billion (roughly Rs. 104086.435 crore), which was more than the previous three years combined.

© Thomson Reuters 2022


Can OnePlus 10 Pro beat iPhone 13 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Flipkart, Walmart, IPO, Amazon
ESPN Inks Deal With Tom Brady's NFT Platform Autograph to Announce Tokens of the NFL Star
Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Goes on Sale in India via Samsung Live for the First Time Today: Price, Specifications, Launch Offers
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »