Snapdeal raises $100 mn, eyes $1bn revenue this year

Leading marketplace e-commerce player Snapdeal.com has raised Rs 590 crore in a new round of equity financing. The investors include Temasek, BlackRock Inc., Myriad, Premji Invest and Tybourne.
 
The earlier round of funding was in February 2014 for Rs 830 crore by Snapdeal’s existing investors including eBay Inc., Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Saama Capital. Kunal Bahl, CEO & Co-founder of Snapdeal.com, has called the fresh rounds of funds a sign of ‘endorsement of Snapdeal’s differentiated strategy and progress as India’s largest online marketplace’.
 
The fresh round of funding comes at a time when the war in the e-commerce space is heating with the expansion of American giant Amazon. With Myntra-Flipkart merger set to be announced soon, Snapdeal has a tough competition to tackle. With each of these players competing for the same pie of customers offering same day delivery and products in similar price range, the funding serves to be a source to assert a strong market position for Snapdeal.

 

Snapdeal, launched in 2010, is expecting over 50% of its sales through mobile by the end of this year and is looking at spending more aggressively in technology. At present, 35% of its transactions happen through mobile. The company is soon expected to cross the sales target of  $ 1 billion gross merchandise value.
 
Earlier speaking to Business Standard, Bahl had said that in the coming time the firm will spend the funds in technological innovations for sellers and expand its base of engineers.

Meanwhile, fashion has become about 60% of the Snapdeal sales unit from almost zero about 15 months ago, said Bahl. The largest category on the website-fashion - is growing by about 40% month-on-month.