Google is investing $350 million in homegrown e-commerce company Flipkart

Search engine giant Google is investing nearly $350 million in homegrown Flipkart, becoming the latest high-profile backer of Walmart’s homegrown e-commerce company, according to media reports. Google will also provide the e-commerce company with cloud services, the Bengaluru-based startup announced in a short statement on Friday, according to a TechCrunch report.

Google’s investment is part of a nearly $1 billion funding round that Flipkart launched last year. This round is led by Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart, which will invest $600 million at the end of 2023. The move requires regulatory and customary approvals. Google’s investment and cloud collaboration are aimed at helping Flipkart expand its operations and modernize its digital infrastructure to better serve customers in India.

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Flipkart Grocery Grown 1.6X FY2023

Notably, Flipkart’s grocery business has grown 1.6 times year-on-year. Flipkart Grocery provides next day delivery in over 200 cities in the country, including major metros like Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, and tier 2 cities like Anantapur, Berhampore, Gorakhpur, Moradabad, Nagaon, Saharsa, Shimoga and Vellore.

New investment valued at $36 billion Flipkart is a leader in the Indian e-commerce market, serving hundreds of millions of consumers in smaller cities. The startup, which also owns fashion e-commerce company Myntra, has about 48 percent of India’s e-commerce market, according to Bernstein.

Walmart-backed Flipkart competes with Reliance Retail, Amazon, SoftBank-backed Meesho and a growing number of fast commerce apps in India.

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Reliance Retail, run by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, runs India’s largest retail chain and is increasingly building its e-commerce presence. Reliance Retail was valued at $100 billion last year after nearly $2 billion in investments by QIA, ADIA and KKR, the TechCrunch report added.

It is worth noting that this is not Flipkart’s first collaboration with Google. The tech giant is already one of Flipkart’s cloud service providers, alongside its own cloud infrastructure and Microsoft’s Azure platform. Earlier in 2017, Microsoft signed an agreement with Flipkart that will make Azure the exclusive public cloud platform for online retailers. As part of the deal, Microsoft also invested $200 million in Flipkart.