With Flipkart deal, Tencent pads up for bigger bets in India

After treading cautiously, the Chinese social media giant is warming up for bigger bets

Just when investors such as Tiger Global or SoftBank have gone slow on India, Chinese social media giant Tencent has sensed an opportunity, and is willing to make bigger bets. It is leading the $1.5-billion funding round in Flipkart, after it led the $175-million round in Hike messenger. 

To put this in context, Tiger Global participated in only three-four deals in 2016, against 38 investments in 2015. Tencent has also invested in health care start-up Practo Technologies and alternate Android operating system Cynogen, helping both these firms raise $100 million in two rounds. Anand Lunia, partner at early stage venture