Google is pouring nearly $350 million into Flipkart, emerging as the latest prominent backer of the Walmart-owned Indian e-commerce giant.
As part of the agreement, the tech giant will also supply Flipkart with cloud services, the Bengaluru-based startup announced in a brief statement on Friday. This investment from Google is a segment of a nearly $1 billion funding round that began in 2023, spearheaded by Walmart, which contributed $600 million late last year. (Microsoft is also an investor in Flipkart.)
Valued at $36 billion under the new investment, Flipkart dominates the Indian e-commerce sector, catering to hundreds of millions of consumers in smaller cities and towns. The company, which also owns the fashion e-commerce platform Myntra, controls approximately 48% of India’s e-commerce market, per Bernstein.
Flipkart faces competition from Reliance Retail, Amazon, SoftBank-backed Meesho, and a growing number of quick-commerce apps. Reliance Retail, run by Asia’s wealthiest individual Mukesh Ambani, operates India’s largest retail chain and is increasingly venturing into e-commerce. Last year, Reliance Retail was valued at $100 billion in a nearly $2 billion investment from QIA, ADIA, and KKR.
India’s e-commerce market is anticipated to reach $133 billion by next year, according to Bernstein.
“Indian e-commerce is witnessing the rise of challengers across quick, social, and vertical commerce. Amazon and Flipkart remain leaders, thanks to their strengths in categories like mobiles, consumer electronics, and appliances. However, unlike the major horizontal winners in the global e-commerce market, India is likely to see category winners such as Blinkit (quick commerce), Meesho (tier 2+ markets), and Nykaa (vertical commerce) as they scale up,” stated Bernstein analysts in a recent report.
Google, which reaches over half a billion users in India, recognizes the South Asian nation as a critical overseas market. The company announced plans to invest $10 billion in Indian businesses in 2020 and has since funneled $4.5 billion into telecom operator Jio Platforms and another $1 billion into Airtel.
