Snapeal is about to secure a major round of funding. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Foxconn Technology Group are in advanced talks to jointly invest about $500 million in Snapdeal.com, according to Wall Street Journal report.
The duo have decided to take a combined 10 per cent stake in Snapdeal that could value the e-retailer Snapdeal at about $5 billion, said the report. Alibaba and Snapdeal have been in talks since March while Foxconn has recently jumped in the negotiations. A person familiar with the matter said Foxconn chairman Terry Gou convinced Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma to make a joint investment in Snapdeal instead of a separate one, added the report.
Alibaba has already invested in homegrown smartphone maker Micromax and is looking forward to pick up $1.2 billion stake in the company. In addition it is also in talks to pump $375 million in online payment processor Paytm. The company is eyeing Indian markets that has tremendous potential following its announcement to invest in international markets. Snapdeal which competes with Flipkart and Amazon has raised close to $ 1 billion in 2014 that includes $627 million investment from SoftBank. Meanwhile, a report from last week stated that Foxconn is in talks to manufacture Apple’s iPhone in India.