After eBay deal, Snapdeal.com raises another $40mn

Online retailer Snapdeal.com, after having bagged a $50 million investment from American rival eBay in April, has now raised another $40 million from three venture capital firms and angel investors to close a $90 million (Rs500 crore) round of funding that began in April with investment by eBay.

Intel Capital, Russian venture fund ru-Net and Saama Capital are among the new investors in this round, which values the online marketplace company at over Rs 1,000 crore. Investors Bessemer Venture, Nexus Venture Partners and Indo-US Venture also participated in the round, along with a few angel investors.

"We split the investment into two parts. The first part was led by eBay and Japan's Recruit Co and this time we have three venture funds that have invested," said Kunal Bahl, cofounder of Snapdeal.com.

This is the largest institutional funding in India's e-commerce sector this year, and coincides with the entry of online retail giant Amazon into the Indian market.

Owned by Jasper Innovative Marketing Solutions, Snapdeal.com expects to record turnover of Rs2,000 crore in 2014. It will use the new funds to grow the technology backbone for its business.

"eBay is now the lead investor in the company," said Bahl, who along with cofounder Rohit Bansal owned a majority share, which has now been diluted.

Bahl declined to discuss specifics of the promoters' ownership. "I would rather own a very small part of a billion-dollar company than 100 per cent of something that is worth nothing," he said.

Snapdeal.com has also roped in a number of wealthy angel investors, including the founders of US-based gourmet supermarket store Freshmarket.

The deal underlines renewed interest by global investors in the Indian online retail space, which Avendus estimated was worth more than Rs8,000 crore in the 2013 fiscal.

Last month, online apparel retailer Myntra secured $25 million ( Rs 140 crore) in further investment from existing investors Tiger Global and Accel Partners.

Russia's ru-Net has also backed Indian online companies Bestylish and Freecultr. Intel Capital has invested in Healthkart, an online retailer for fitness and healthcare products.