Beijing: Indian online marketplace Snapdeal is set to raise $500 million from a group of foreign investors including China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, three people familiar with the matter said. One of the people said the deal could be finalised within a few days at the earliest but may also take weeks.
The latest round of support, from investors also including SoftBank Group Corp and Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, would value Snapdeal at more than $5 billion, another person said. The people declined to be named as they were not authorised to discuss the matter.
The move is a show of faith from three of the world's biggest technology companies in fast-growing Snapdeal, which in October secured a $627 million investment from SoftBank, itself an early backer of Alibaba. The deal also reflects strong growth in India's e-commerce sector, driven by affordable smartphones and internet connections. India is the world's third-biggest smartphone market and low-priced smartphones are top sellers. Snapdeal, Japan's SoftBank, Alibaba and Foxconn declined comment. The Indian firm competes with Flipkart Online Services Pvt Ltd and the local subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc in the country's online shopping market.