SoftBank to increase stake in Snapdeal

After its last funding round of 627 million dollars (over Rs 3,800 crores) in leading marketplace model Snapdeal, Japan’s SoftBank Group is planning to increase its stake in the company to more than 38 percent from the current 33 percent. Sources claim that Independent Director on the board Akhil Kumar Gupta, a senior executive at Bharti Enterprises, has also picked up a small personal stake in the online marketplace.

Snapdeal, which has so far raised around 1.5 billion dollars (over Rs 9,200 crores) from investors so far, is looking at raising more funds to invest in improving infrastructure, product offerings and improve staff strength. With its ‘bachate raho’ (keep saving)’ tagline and focus on unbranded products sold by small manufacturers and retailers, Snapdeal has established itself as a mass-retailer, with over half of these 50,000 merchants selling fashion and lifestyle products that account for 60 percent of its orders. The plan now is to focus on the branded and premium fashion segment.

Japanese telecom and internet giant SoftBank has announced its interest to make huge investments of about 10 billion dollars (around Rs 60,000 crores) in India over the next few years. Masayoshi Son, the Chairman and Founder of 92 billion dollars (over Rs 5,64,600 crores) conglomerate is eyeing considerable stake into India’s e-commerce and technology companies.