Alibaba In Talks To Invest Up To $700 Mn In Snapdeal

NEW DELHI: Online marketplace Snapdeal is in talks with e-commerce giant Alibaba for upto USD 700 million investment, which will expand the Chinese firm’s footprint in India, sources said.

The global major is likely to invest USD 500-700 million and the city-based firm is being valued in the range of USD 4-5 billion, sources added.

Alibaba is the world’s biggest e-commerce company. It raised USD 25 billion through IPO in the US last September” the largest by any firm globally.

Snapdeal has, so far, raised more than USD one billion, including Japanese telecom giant Softbank’s USD 627 million and former Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata’s personal investment last year. Interestingly, Softbank is also an early investor in Alibaba.

“The talks between Alibaba and Snapdeal are going on and the deal size can be in the range of USD 500-700 million,” a person in know of the development said.

Another person on condition of anonymity said global investors are putting the valuation of Snapdeal in the range of USD 4-5 billion.

Both Alibaba and Snapdeal did not offer any comments.

Marking its debut in India’s growing e-commerce investment space last month, Ant Financial Services — part of the Alibaba Group — said it will acquire 25 per cent stake in One97 Communications, the parent of mobile commerce firm Paytm.
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