Flipkart has revealed its intentions about how it will use the money that has been recently raised and how the company intends to diversify in near future.
Revealing details about Flipkart’s plans, Co-Founder and CEO Binny Bansal said they will be using the money raised from recent deals and invest in new businesses such as PhonePe and fintech. The move is being taken because of the opportunities that lay in online money transfer segment. In the biggest round of funding by an Indian Internet company till date, Flipkart on April 10 raised $1.4 billion (approximately Rs. 9,030 crores) from blue-chip technology companies Microsoft, eBay and Tencent.
“A large part of the money raised from the latest deals struck with Tencent, Microsoft and eBay, will be invested in new businesses, especially PhonePe and fintech,” said Bansal.
There was a huge opportunity on the payments side because a large chunk of business comes from people sending money to each other online, he told ETNow.
“Yeah, opportunities are definitely there on the payment side becoming a business on its own. Even if you look at the business today, a large part of the business comes from people sending money to each other on phone pay, UPI platform,” he said.
Bansal said Flipkart was also going to invest ‘heavily’ in other new businesses like grocery, furniture and private labels. Bansal added that they do not intend to merge any of the new businesses they would be investing in as they believe in things growing and evolving independently.
He replied in the affirmative when asked whether the eco-system will witness stable leadership. “Yeah I think I feel we are now at a place where we can take a long-term view on business and organisation.”
On whether Flipkart ever will be listed at the Nasdaq, Bansal said the company did not want to get distracted by anything.
When asked whether this partnership will have a domino effect, Bansal said the ecosystem had seen it in the past and it was a key event because last four months’ narrative has been a bit negative and morale low.
Bansal said the partnership does not bring just capital, but actually brings a lot of new opportunities with it.
