Ebay leads $134 million investment in Indian e-store Snapdeal

Indian online marketplace Snapdeal has confirmed its biggest ever funding round, worth US$133.77 million. US-based eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) led the investment, with some unnamed smaller investors chipping in some of the cash.

The new money for Snapdeal will help in its fight against Flipkart, which is India’s largest e-store. It will also help Snapdeal fend off Amazon India, which is a relatively new entrant to India’s e-commerce industry. Ebay also put money into Snapdeal in early 2013 in an investment round worth US$50 million.

Ebay is also active in India, last year adding food and groceries to its inventory.

A ringing endorsement

Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl said today that he sees “eBay’s second round of investment in Snapdeal as an endorsement of our strategy and progress.”

Jay Lee, eBay’s senior vice president and APAC managing director, added:

Accelerating growth in India and other emerging markets continues to be a core strategy for driving eBay’s global e-commerce leadership. eBay is excited about the prospects ahead for both Snapdeal and the eBay India business. We continue to invest in Snapdeal due to its complementary business model, good management team and strong brand.

Snapdeal started out specializing in daily deals in 2010 before evolving into a homegrown online mall early in 2012. It aims to hit Rs 2,000 crore (US$324 million) in sales revenue in fiscal year 2014.

India’s e-shoppers spent a total of $16 billion in 2013.

(Editing by Terence Lee)