Alibaba, Foxconn invest US$500m in Snapdeal as it targets US$22b Indian e-commerce market

China’s Alibaba Group, Japan’s SoftBank and Foxconn will lead an investment of US$500 million in India’s Snapdeal, the online marketplace said on Tuesday, as it seeks to expand in the country’s fast growing ecommerce sector.

The move is a vote of confidence from three of the world’s biggest technology companies in Snapdeal, which in October got a US$627 million investment from SoftBank, also an early backer of Alibaba.

Snapdeal, which bills itself as India’s version of Alibaba, did not break out individual investments. EBay, an early backer of the company, is selling part of its stake in a transaction which also involves fresh funding.

Existing investors Temasek, BlackRock, Myriad and Premji Invest also participated in the funding round, Snapdeal said, without giving further details.

EBay said in a statement it has sold a portion of its stake and would focus on boosting its own business in the country.

Separately, FIH Mobile, a unit of Taiwan’s Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry, said it was buying a 4.27 per cent stake in Snapdeal for US$200 million via its Singapore-based subsidiary Wonderful Stars.

Sources said this month that the transaction would value Snapdeal at more than US$5 billion.