E-commerce wars: Flipkart gets $1.4-billion war chest to take on Amazon

Flipkart will acquire the India unit of eBay Inc which will continue to be independent.

Top e-commerce company Flipkart has raised $1.4 billion in funding, the largest so far in this space, from Chinese internet giant Tencent, along with US majors Microsoft and eBay. With this, the Bengaluru-based firm, founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal almost 10 years ago, is readying to up the battle pitch with Jeff Bezos-led Amazon and Jack Ma’s Alibaba in the Indian market.

As part of the deal, the India unit of San Jose-based e-commerce corporation eBay will come under the Flipkart fold. eBay, the oldest e-commerce player in this market, is selling the India unit as it wants