Foxconn may invest $600 mn in Snapdeal

The race to get a pie in Snapdeal is heating up. Foxconn Technology Group of Taiwan is learnt to have initiated a discussion with Kunal Bahl-led Jasper Infotech for funds worth $550-600 million at a valuation of $6-7 billion, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.

This comes at a time when reports suggested that Snapdeal was talking to China's Alibaba for raising about a billion dollar at a valuation of $5 billion. "There is a lot of interest apart from Alibaba also. Though the talks haven't been finalised, the Taiwanese group has shown interest even at a valuation of $6 billion," sources said. A Snapdeal spokesperson refused to comment. The company is valued at over $2 billion at present. Snapdeal is eyeing to topple its rival Flipkart in gross merchandise value this year and owing to high discounting, the company is burning substantial amount of cash every month.

Flipkart is also in talks with new and existing investors for its next round of funding.

A majority of new funds would be used for series of acquisition and feeding discounts and technology upgradation.

Bahl recently acquired luxury fashion portal exclusively.com. According to sources, a couple of more acquisitions are on cards this year as the company is belting out all to topple rival Flipkart.

Snapdeal raised about $1 billion last year while the same was around $2 billion for Flipkart. One of the major investments in Snapdeal came via Japan's Softbank Corporation which pumped $627 million into the Delhi-based company.