Commerce leader eBay Inc. said Wednesday it was leading an approximate $133.77 million round of funding in Indian online marketplace Snapdeal, as part of its strategy to accelerate growth in emerging markets and drive eBay’s global e-commerce leadership.
eBay Inc.’s new investments in Snapdeal raises its holding in the Indian e-commerce marketplace, after making an initial investment in mid-2013. The company chose to increase its investment in Snapdeal due to the company’s complementary business model, good management team and strong brand.
“Accelerating growth in India and other emerging markets continues to be a strategy for driving eBay’s global e-commerce leadership,” said eBay Senior Vice President and APAC Managing Director Jay Lee. “eBay is excited about the prospects ahead for both Snapdeal and its own eBay India business.”
“We see eBay’s second round of investment in Snapdeal as an endorsement of our strategy and progress. All our current institutional investors including Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Saama Capital have participated in this round as well which is a strong endorsement of our team,” said Snapdeal Co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl.
eBay Inc. and Snapdeal will continue to work separately moving forward. The Indian marketplace is growing rapidly and both companies are well poised to capitalize to on the opportunity of a growing 200 million Internet user base and 140 million mobile Internet users.