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Launch of Flipkart.com
Flipkart was launched with an initial investment of INR 4 Lakhs by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, an IIT duo. It was supported in early days by their respective parents who used to give an INR 10, 000 as a monthly allowance. This continued for 18 months. -
Incorporation of Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd.
Formally incorporated as a company, it started as an online book retailer. The site was launched from their two-bedroom apartment in Koramangala, a primarily residential locality in Bangalore. First order was placed 10 days after the launch, from Andhra Pradesh for the book 'Leaving Microsoft to Change the World' by John Wood -
Accel Partners (India) invests $1M
The first invetment of USD 1 million came in from Accel India at a valuation of INR 16 crore (USD 2.61 million). The venture capital (VC) company, whose India operations are headed by Subrata Mitra, has been funding internet, software and technology related companies for the past few years. -
Revenues near $2M in 2009-10
In financial year 2009-10, Flipkart recorded a revenue of INR 11.6 crore (USD 1.89 million) along with a loss of INR 91.27 Lakh (USD 0.14 million). It was a high jump from the previous INR 2.5 crore revenue and a loss of INR 1.37 lakh in 2008-09. -
Tiger Global invests $10M
In 2010, the company raised USD 10 million from Tiger Global in the second round of funding and at a avaluation of INR 220 crore (USD 35.93 million). Tiger Global’s private equity partnerships have ten-year horizons and invest in growth companies in the global Internet and technology sectors. The funding was used by Flipkart for building more capacity in supply chain and logistics, upgrading technology capabilities and expanding marketing initiatives -
Adds mobile as a category
Soon after Vipul Bathwal came on board, he identified mobiles as a category and launched it in July 2010. This was the company’s first big category expansion after books and CDs/DVDs, repoted Forbes. -
Acquires book recommendation network weRead
Acquired weRead- a social network based book recommendation and review portal. weRead was set up in 2007 by Ugenie, a start-up based out of Bangalore. Ugenie was then acquired by the US based on-demand publishing company, Lulu.com. -
Adds cameras and computers in electronics category
Flipkart's category expansion continues with the addition of electronics such as cameras and computers. -
Announces target of $1B GMV by 2015
In March 2011, Flipkart projected target of reaching to USD 1 billion (about INR 5,500 crore) in sales by 2015. The current GMV runrate when the projections were made was USD 10 million. -
Revenues grow 5X to over $8M
In financial year 2010-11, Flipkart had revenue of INR 50 crore (USD 8.186 million). The company revenues were projected to reach USD 16.6 million in year 2011-12 -
Launches first TV commercial
Launched its first TV commercial: a fairytale featuring an old grandmother who is able to magically order books with her pet mouse. -
Tiger Global invests $20M
The company raised USD 20 million from Tiger Global in Series C round of funding. The investment aimed at building the consumer base of the company. -
Adds MP3 players and healthcare as new categories
The team further added MP3 players, personal & healthcare products in the product portfolio. -
Adds home appliances as a category
Home Appliances were added next to health products. -
Adds TV & video as a category
This includes CDs/DVDs of movies and Hindi/English TV Shows. -
Acquires music streaming portal Mime360
Flipkart made its second acquisition in form of Mime360, a Mumbai based business digital content platform company which hosted music streaming for labels like Saregama, Universal Music and Inreco. The amount of acquisition and other terms of the deal were undisclosed. -
Adds stationery and kitchen appliances as a category
Pens & Stationery and Kitchen Appliances were the next to be added in the list. -
Acquires bollywood news site Chakpak
Chakpak was third in Flipkart's acquisition series. It was a Bollywood news site that offers updates, news, photos and videos. Before acquisition, Chakpak has raised an amount of USD 5 million from Canaan Partners. However, they soon run out of money and were acquired by Flipkart for USd 2 million. -
Launches prepaid wallet
Flipkart launches prepaid Wallet feature that lets users shop upto Rs. 10,000. Also, it allows shoppers to store money on the site and use it to purchase items, without having to reach for their credit card for each transaction. -
Raises $150M in Series D
Raised USD 150 M from MIH and ICONIQ Capital along with existing investors, Tiger Global and Accel Partners at a valuation of USD 850 million (INR 4675 crore). The funding aimed at fueling their growth plans and help achieve the stated ambition of hitting $1 billion in gross merchandise value by 2015. -
Acquires online electronics store Letsbuy amidst lots of controversies
Flipkart made its next move in its acquisition spree-acquired Letsbuy.com, the country’s second-largest online electronics retailer for speculated USD 20 million. The deal, however, catched a lot of controversies. Also, the acquisition was being termed as A Marriage of Inconvenience by Rodinhood blog. -
Launches digital music store Flyte
Flipkart marked its entry into the digital world with the launch of Flyte Digital Music Store. The move was said to the next logical step after acquisition of Mime360. -
Losses touch $18M
In financial year 2011-12, Flipkart recorded a loss of INR 109.9 crore (USD 17.98 million) and a revenue of INR 204.8 crore (USD 33.51 million). The expenses for the year reach to INR 265.6 crore (USD 43.46 million) with cash balance dropped to INR 236 crore (USD 38.61 million). -
Adds fragrances as a category
Fragrances, in two categories viz. Perfumes and Deodrants were added both for men and women. -
Adds belts and bags as a category
Belts, Bags & Luggage items were the next to be added during the category expansion by Flipkart. -
Adds baby care as a category
In order to tap the growing baby care market (expected to reach USD 66.8 billion globally in 2017), Flipkart forayed into this category. The online platform than added baby care products and toys. -
Adds men's wear as a category
Realizing the potential of growing online apparel segment, Flipkart marked its entry by launching men's apparel category on the store. In the same month, it also launched sports and fitness and footwear as a category. -
Adds eBooks as a category
Flipkart forayed into the eBooks category through its digital store Flyte. The Flyte store had an initial collection of over 1 lakh books starting from as little as INR30. Readers can purchase and download the books from the e-showroom using their mobile devices. -
Government raids Flipkart warehouses
DetailEnforcement Directorate (ED) raided Flipkart warehouse in Bangalore on probing alleged violation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regulation. Important documents and computer hard drives were confiscated to be submitted to the cyber forensic department for further investigation. -
Adds women's wear as a category
Details
Women's apparel category was later added to the apparel sement on the online store. -
Sells WS Retail to OnMobile's Rajiv Kuchhal
WS Retail was the B2C division of Flipkart. However, Flipkart sold WS Retail to a group of investors led by former OnMobile COO Rajiv Kuchhal. The step was taken in order to help Flipkart to comply with the foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations. -
Revenues cross $200M in 2013-14
LinkIn financial year 2012-13, Flipkart reported a revenue of INR 1180 crore (USD 193.09 million) and a loss of INR 281.7 crore (USD 46.09 million). The expenses of the company reached to INR 1366 crore (USD 223.53 million) with cash balance drpped to INR 166.2 crore (USD 27.19 million). -
Launches seller marketplace
Flipkart launched its seller marketplace with an aim to place a virtual mall giving shoppers access to multiple brands and sellers under one roof. Initially, the marketplace got 50 sellers on board.
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Shuts down Flyte
Realizing that the music downloads business in India will not reach scale unless several problem areas such as music piracy and easy micro-payments etc are solved in great depth, Flipkart stepped back and shuts down the service
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Launches payment gateway service PayZippy
Flipkart’s techie founders, who earlier went on to mess around with inventory model retailing as business have now finally found their cup of cake in technology by first moving to the marketplace model, and now launching a payment gateway service, initially only opened for Indian merchants.
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Raises $360M in Series E
Flipkart raised USD 200 million from existing investors Tiger Global and Accel Partners. Soon, controversies prevailed on its valuation and facts submitted. 3 months after, it again raised USD 160 million from Tiger Global, Dragoneer, Morgan Stanley, Sofina and Vulcan Capital making the total raise to USD 360 million.
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Launches Flyte eBooks app
Flipkart introduces eBooks App for iOS, Windows Phone and browser. Flipkart ebooks use a propriety format and cannot be read in any other format and hence the app.
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India Wants to Know campaign
In order to educate the consumers about the benefits,ease and convenience that ecommerce as well as Flipkart offers, it spoofs Arnab Goswami's, 'India Wants to know' in new tvcs.
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Launches Flipkart Android app
Flipkart introduces Android Application that offers users the ability to browse and purchase from the online shopping website's product catalogue from their smartphones.
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Flipkart now valued at $1.6B
After its latest round of funding, the firm was valued at approx. INR 9900 crore (US$1.6 billion) by MIH India. MIH India, a part of South African media company Naspers group, said that it bought an additional 8.6% stake in Flipkart Pvt. Ltd in July for Rs.851.7 crore. MIH said it now owns 16.7% of Flipkart
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Launches one-day delivery service
Flipkart launched 'One Day Delivery' for INR 90 in selected ities. This includes Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. Orders need to be placed before 6pm on the previous day.
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Launches Consumer Wallet PayZippy
PayZippy Consumer Wallet was launched in partnership with several eCommerce stores. The service allows users to store their card information just once and use it on Flipkart and other partnered websites.
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Reaches $1B GMV run rate
The company recently touches the annual GMV run rate of USD 1 billion at a valuation of INR 2000 crore. The founders are now expecting Flipkart to become a mobile commerce platform in the near future with features customised to individual users
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