Flipkart Plans Another Round Of Funding & Puts Off IPO Plans

Online e-Commerce web-portal Flipkart has divulged its financial roadmap. The company will opt for another funding round within this year itself. As for its IPO aspirations, they appear to have mellowed down considerably as co-founder and CEO of the company Sachin Bansal confirmed they are still 2-5 years away.

Flipkart’s growth can pose as a good example for other aspiring web-companies. Considering the fact that the company started with only selling physical copies of books, today, the domain has expanded to multiple other categories like music, movies, games, Electronics, mobile phones & such. Apart from these highly generic categories, the site now also boasts of a few relatively niche segments like baby-care, fitness, and lifestyle. Interestingly, Flipkart also has its own brand Digiflip under which it sells digital accessories, footwear & other fitness products vertical.

Flipkart has expanded its horizon both as a company & and as a financially secure investment. Dedicating attention to books, Flipkart first established an exclusive warehouse for centralized distribution. A short duration thereafter, Accel Partners expressed confidence by pumping in US$ 1 Million. Interestingly the VC firm had mandated a crucial milestone of exceeding 1500 orders per day, which Flipkart actually surpassed easily. Though the company appears to have grown from success to success, Bansal revealed that they made some huge follies in the electronics category. Though this segment has become the largest money-spinner for Flipkart, their core, Books, still constitute over 30% of its entire revenue.

As for putting off the IPO plan for such a long duration, Bansal has a clear vision of hitting US$ 1 Billion in revenue before the duo decides to take the company public, “We were targeting a billion dollar in revenues by 2015, but I am pretty sure we will exceed that number now”.

Given the fact that the financial scenario is barely able to stand back on its feet, we think it is a right decision to take the company to newer heights while being away from the public eye. What do you think?

Image Courtesy |  ibnlive.in

Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency

WATBlog is India’s Best Blog Of 2009 and is owned and managed by WATMedia Pvt Ltd a Digital Media Company that aims at being the thought leader in the space by Connecting the Web, Advertising and Technology (WAT) Industry in India.