On Tuesday, Snapdeal announced that the Japanese telecom giant SoftBank Corp will invest $627 million (approx.. INR. 3,762 crore) in the company. This investment is considered as the latest investment ever by any investor in Indian e-commerce industry.
Snapdeal will use the investments in expanding its chain of fulfillment centres and make acquisitions in the coming few months, specifically in the area of mobile technology as the mobile e-commerce is gaining pace in India.
The company also plans to set up an incubation centre to hone and harness start-up businesses in the mobile technology space within next few months.
With this $627 million investment, Snapdeal has raised around $1 billion this calendar year.
The Delhi-headquartered online retailer which was founded by Wharton graduate Kunal Bahl and IIT Delhi alumnus Rohit Bansal in 2010, received $133.7 million in February from investors led by Chinese e-commerce company eBay and $105 million in May from a group of investors, including IT billionaire Azim Premji’s family office Premji Invest.
Through this strategic investment and partnership with Snapdeal, the SoftBank Group aims to further strengthen its presence in India and leverage synergies with its network of Internet companies around the world, Snapdeal said in a statement.
Consequent to the strategic investment by SoftBank, its vice-chairman Nikesh Arora will join the board of Snapdeal.
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