Alibaba, Foxconn, SoftBank invest $500 mn in Snapdeal

India's leading online marketplace Snapdeal on Tuesday announced raising $500-million (Rs.3,269 crore) capital in a fresh round of venture funding from Alibaba, Foxconn and SoftBank.

"With global leaders like Alibaba, Foxconn and SoftBank, in addition to other venture partners, supporting us, our efforts to build an impactful digital commerce ecosystem will be propelled, enabling us to contribute to Digital India," Snapdeal co-founder and chief executive Kunal Bahl said in a statement.

Of the e-tailer's other investors, Temesek, BlackRock Myriad and Premji Invest also participated in the ninth or 'I' round of funding.

Alibaba is a leading Chinese e-commerce firm, while Foxconn a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing firm and SoftBank, a leading Japanese telecom and internet major, with operations in broadband, telecom, technology services, finance, media and marketing.

Asserting that the new funding was an endorsement of its strategy to create life-changing experiences for small businesses and consumers, Bahl said with 150,000 sellers and a reach of 5,000 towns and cities across the country, the company became a fast-growing e-commerce player.

With about 5,000 employees across the country, Snapdeal offers online shopping experience to millions of buyers for sourcing 15 million products in 500 categories.

Co-founded in 2010 by Bahl and Kunal Bansal, the five-year-old company raised a total of $1billion (Rs.6,538 crore) in previous eight rounds of funding, including $627 million in October 2014, with Softbank as lead investor in H round.

The company, however, did not disclose how much Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata invested in 'G' round in August 2014.

Raising $2 million in first or A round from Indo-US Venture Partners in September 2009, the New Delhi-based start-up got $10 million from Nexus Venture Partners in B round in January 2011, $45 million from Bessemer Venture Partners in C round in July 2011, $133.77 million from eBay in E round in February 2014, $105 million from Temasek, Blackrock, Myriad, Tybourne and Premji Invest in F round in May 2014.

The company also did not disclose how much it raised in fourth, or D round from e-Bay, the US-based leading e-commerce player, in April 2013.

Snapdeal on April 8 acquired mobile transactions platform FreeCharge in a cash-cum-stock deal for an estimated $400 million.