Carlyle, General Atlantic in talks to invest upto Rs900 crore in Flipkart

Private equity firms Carlyle and General Atlantic are in talks to jointly invest about $150 million - $200 million (Rs748 crore - Rs900 crore) in Bangalore-based online retailer Flipkart, Reuters yesterday reported, citing two sources with knowledge of the deal.

The proposed investment would come after, its existing investor, Tiger Global Management LLC in June this year invested $20 million in a third round of funding, for capacity building in supply chain, upgrading technology and to expand marketing.

Last June, Tiger Global invested $10 million in Flipkart, while Accel Partners had invested $1 million in the company in late 2009.

With their investment, the US private equity firms Carlyle and General Atlantic will pick up a minority stake in Flipkart, said the news agency.
A deal is being held up due to differences in valuation between Flipkart and the investors, one of the sources told Reuters.

Founded in 2007 by IIT Delhi classmates Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Flipkart is India's biggest online bookseller, with over 10 million titles.

Although it started as an online retailer of books, it has slowly diversified into mobiles, cameras, movies, appliances, gaming consoles, music CD / DVDs and electronic goods.