Flipkart Raises $1 Billion, Aims to Become E-tailer of Future

Flipkart on Tuesday announced funding worth $1 billion with a goal to become the mobile e-tailer of the future.

The $1 billion funding has come after Russian billionaire Yuri Milner's DST Global led a $210 million round into Flipkart at a valuation of nearly $3 billion.

The company said Singapore wealth fund GIC helped in fund raising along with investors Tiger Global Management LLC and South African Media Company Naspers Limited.

According to Times of India, the valuation of the Flipkart is almost $7 billion. The company was founded in 2007 by two former IIT graduates and Amazon employees, Sachin Bansal, 32 and Binny Bansal, 3. They have 15 percent stake in the company worth around $1 billion.

"We believe the 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," the founders said in a statement, according to Forbes.

Earlier this year, Flipkart took over online fashion retailer Myntra and crossed $1 billion in merchandise business.

Flipkart founders who worked in Amazon earlier, are now competing with US-based online retailer Amazon. It entered India June this year and is now into employing many fresh graduates to boost up their business.

Other competitors in Indian online retail market include Snapdeal, Jabong and Ebay. According to Reuters, Indian e-commerce market was worth $13 billion in 2013, with online travel accounting for over seventy percent of consumer e-commerce transactions.

Online revenue of retail goods made $1.6 billion in 2013, according to research firm Forrester and the firm has expected to reach $76 billion by 2021.