SoftBank to lead funding round of USD 100 million in Snapdeal

• Japanese multinational company to lead $100 million funding round for the Indian online firm Snapdeal.
   
• Kunal Bahl presented an idea to build a Taobao modelled-e-commerce company for profitable growth.

Tokyo based multinational company SoftBank has reportedly announced its interest in leading a funding round of USD 100 million in a New Delhi based e-commerce firm Snapdeal. Along with the Japanese investing giant, the other interested investors belong to a group of smaller Chinese and American investors.

A source with the knowledge on the matter cited that SoftBank is expected to invest half, up to USD 60 million into the funding round while the remaining funding would be provided by the other small investors.

Reportedly, SoftBank had organized a deal to Flipkart, which Bahl and Bansal were against. That prompted a fight, where the creators mauled back control, diminished SoftBank's number of board seats from two to one and went off the radar to change the organization.

Apparently, the Indian e-commerce industry is taken over by Amazon & Flipkart which combinedly have over more than 75% market share. Within the span of 2 years, Snapdeal’s income ascended by 73% to Rs 925 crore, and losses are somewhere near 70% to Rs 186 crore, in 2018-19.

As per trusted sources, SoftBank is said to be convinced about the space for a third big e-commerce company in the nation after Amazon and Flipkart. Additionally, the probabilities for Snapdeal’s success has soared up accounting to the fall of ShopClues.

It has been claimed that the new funds would be utilized for unions and procurements, new undertakings and for buffer. Kunal Bahl, the co-founder of Snapdeal has presented an idea to build a Taobao-modelled e-commerce company in India for lucrative development.

The Taobao replica is expected to offer its customers with a huge assortment of unbranded, value for money items through its huge dealer network. Reportedly, Taobao makes USD 440 billion in yearly gross product value and has over 721 million monthly users.

However, no declarations have been made by the parties.

Source credit: https://www.cnbctv18.com/retail/softbank-shows-interest-in-snapdeal-might-lead-100-million-funding-round-4194851.htm