Google is investing $350 million in Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart

Google is investing nearly $350 million in Flipkart, becoming the latest high-profile brand to back the Walmart-owned Indian e-commerce startup.

As part of the deal, the Android maker will also provide cloud services to Flipkart, the Bengaluru-based startup said in a brief statement on Friday. Google’s investment is part of a nearly $1 billion funding round that Flipkart started in 2023. Walmart is leading this round, having invested $600 million in it late last year. (Microsoft is also an investor in Flipkart.)

Flipkart, valued at $36 billion in the new investment, is the e-commerce market leader in India, where it serves hundreds of millions of consumers in smaller cities. The startup, which also owns fashion e-commerce startup Myntra, controls about 48% of the Indian e-commerce market, according to Bernstein.

Flipkart competes with Reliance Retail, Amazon, SoftBank-backed Meesho and a growing number of fast trading apps. Reliance Retail – run by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani – runs India’s largest retail chain and is increasingly trying to build an e-commerce game. Reliance Retail was valued at $100 billion last year with nearly $2 billion in investments from QIA, ADIA and KKR.

According to Bernstein, the Indian e-commerce market is estimated to be worth $133 billion next year.

“In Indian e-commerce, challengers are emerging in the form of fast/social/vertical commerce. Amazon and Flipkart remain leaders, driven by category strengths in mobile, consumer electronics and home appliances. However, unlike the large horizontal winners in the global e-commerce market, India is likely to see category winners such as Blinkit (fast trading), Meesho (Tier 2 or above marketplaces) and Nykaa (vertical trading) as we scale up.” Bernstein analysts wrote in a recent note.

Google, which reaches more than half a billion people in India, identifies the South Asian country as a key overseas market. The company revealed plans to invest $10 billion in Indian companies in 2020 (it has since invested $4.5 billion in telecom operator Jio Platforms and another $1 billion in Airtel).