India’s largest online retailer, Flipkart, announced earlier this week a $210 million investment led by DST Global, the later-stage Internet investment fund founded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner.
“Flipkart is one of the fastest growing internet companies globally led by visionary founders,” Milner said.
Existing investors Tiger Global, Naspers, and Iconiq Capital also participated in the round of financing. Previous investors in Flipkart include Accel Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Sofina and Vulcan Capital.
Flipkart has so far raised $780 million in funding since it started operations in 2007, notes Forbes India. The Economic Times reported that last year its valuation reached $1.6 billion.
As a comparison, Flipkart’s closest rival, Snapdeal.com, raised $133.7 million led by existing investor eBay in February this year, and just last week they roped in fresh funding of $100 million from investors including Temasek, BlackRock, Myriad, Premji Invest and Tybourne, according to Forbes India.
Before becoming a prominent international investor, DST established itself as the main financial player on the Russian-language Internet scene, mainly Russia and neighboring countries. In 2010, DST rebranded itself, giving its operational wing the name Mail.ru Group and calling its investment fund DST Global.
As a global investor, DST has launched three technology funds, called DST Global I, II and III, acquiring stakes in Facebook, Groupon, Zynga, Spotify, Airbnb, Twitter, Chinese e-commerce giant 360buy.com and many other global Internet companies.
