Flipkart

Flipkart runs an Indian e-commerce marketplace selling electronics, phones, fashion, home goods and groceries. It also owns the fashion retailer Myntra and the Ekart logistics arm. Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, IIT Delhi graduates who had worked at Amazon, founded it in Bengaluru in October 2007 to sell books online. Each founder's family put in an initial Rs 200,000. A 2023 AllianceBernstein report cited by Wikipedia put Flipkart's share of Indian e-commerce at 48%.

Accel India put $1 million into Flipkart in 2009. Tiger Global followed with $10 million in 2010 and $20 million in June 2011. In August 2012, MIH (part of Naspers) and Iconiq Capital provided a $150 million fourth round. In July 2013 existing investors Tiger Global, Naspers, Accel and Iconiq added $200 million, and later that year new investors Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Sofina and Vulcan brought in $160 million. Yuri Milner's DST Global led a $210 million round in May 2014, and Tiger Global, Accel, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and GIC funded $1 billion that July. A $700 million round in December 2014 valued Flipkart at $11 billion, and a May 2015 round put it at $15 billion. By August 2015 Flipkart had raised about $3 billion over 12 rounds. eBay, Microsoft and Tencent invested $1.4 billion in April 2017, and the SoftBank Vision Fund added $2.5 billion that August.

On May 9, 2018, Walmart agreed to pay about $16 billion for an initial stake of about 77%, including $2 billion of new equity. Binny Bansal, Tencent, Tiger Global and Microsoft kept the remaining shares. SoftBank sold its 20% stake to Walmart, and eBay sold its holding back for $1.1 billion. The deal closed on August 18, 2018, and Walmart later raised its stake to 81.3%. Walmart's 8-K said minority holders could require an IPO after the fourth anniversary of closing. In December 2023 Walmart committed $600 million of a planned $1 billion raise against a reported prior valuation of $33 billion, and Google invested $350 million in May 2024. In 2025 Flipkart said it would move its domicile from Singapore to India.

Flipkart shows how an early check can return many times over in Indian internet. Accel's 2009 seed and Tiger Global's 2010 and 2011 rounds came in at a small fraction of the price Walmart paid less than a decade later. The Walmart deal gave many venture and growth investors an exit without an IPO, while Tiger Global kept part of its position alongside Walmart.