Flipkart has hit the market to raise about $1 billion at up to $30 billion valuation in a pre-IPO financing round. The fundraising could double to up to $2 billion depending on investor appetite and is largely for expansion, catalyzing valuation ahead of the Flipkart IPO, as well as competing better with deep-pocketed rivals Amazon Inc. and Reliance Retail.

Flipkart is likely to be valued at $28-30 billion in this round, higher than its previous one but lower than the $35-40 billion reported earlier once it goes public. There will be no governance or shareholder rights which some feel might be a deterrent for active investors or buyout funds. According to data intelligence platform Tracxn, Walmart invested $1.2 billion in Flipkart in July 2020 at a $24.56 billion valuation, to increase its shareholding to 77.8%.

This round also saw existing investors Qatar Investment Authority and China’s Tencent invest a combined $79.1 million into the company, marking the first major cash infusion since Walmart acquired around 77% of Flipkart for around $16 billion in 2018 at a valuation of $21 billion. At that time, the US retailer had pledged to take Flipkart public in four years. The US retail giant had invested only around $2 billion in primary capital into Flipkart at the time of the acquisition, with the remainder being used to buy out shares of existing investors.