Flipkart Said to Be Seeking New Funding Valuing at Over $10 Billion

WSJ, citing two people familiar with the situation, claims that the latest round of funding will value Flipkart at more than $10 billion. However, as of now there is no word how much Flipkart is seeking to raise.

One of the people familiar with the matter suggests that existing Flipkart investors are participating in the third round of funding this year. Some Flipkart investors include Tiger Global Management, Accel Partners, Naspers, Iconiq Capital and DST Global.

WSJ reports that a spokeswoman representing both Flipkart and Tiger Global declined to comment on the matter.

"Investors are betting that cheap smartphones from companies like Micromax Informatics and Xiaomi, combined with wireless network upgrades from providers like Bharti Airtel, will fuel a big increase Internet users and online spending in India," notes report.

(Also see: Flipkart Buys Myntra as Amazon Spurs Consolidation)

Back in July, Flipkart had announced that it raised funds worth $1 billion (roughly Rs. 6,000 crores). The amount raised by the company also became the largest by an Indian startup and e-commerce site.

The e-commerce giant in May had raised $210 million (roughly Rs. 1,233.4 crores) in funding, and brought the private equity firm DST Global on board as an investor.

(Also see: Snapdeal Beat Flipkart on Big Sale Day, Says Social Media Study)

Snapdeal, not too far behind, raised between $600 million to $650 million (roughly Rs. 3,660 crores to Rs. 3,965 crores) last month from existing investors, as well as Japan's SoftBank.

Gartner recently claimed that the Indian e-commerce market would reach $6 billion (roughly Rs. 37,100 crores) in 2015, which will be a 70 percent increase over 2014 revenue of $3.5 billion (roughly Rs. 21,700 crores).