SoftBank to fund Flipkart $700 million on the cards

A $700 million reunion between Flipkart and billionaire Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group Corp. may be on the cards.

SoftBank's proposed investment in Flipkart will be part of a $1.2-1.5 billion funding round under its Vision Fund 2.

Further, Flipkart's existing investors, including Prosus Ventures – the investment arm of South African conglomerate Naspers – may raise their stake taking the company's valuation to $30 billion.

SoftBank had sold its stake in Flipkart to Walmart for $4 billion in May 2018, netting $1.5 billion in profit. It is now reportedly looking to return at almost twice the valuation at which it sold the stake.

This round of investment will precede Flipkart's Initial Public OfferingInitial Public Offering(IPO) expected to happen in the next 12-18 months. Investors signing up for the ongoing round expect Flipkart's valuation to rise to around $35-40 billion by then, with online sales surging because of the COVID-19 pandemic.