Stock advisory Company >> Flush with funds, Flipkart eyeing more acquisitions

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Armed with over $4 billion in cash, India’s most valuable internet firm Flipkart Ltd is planning more start-up investments and buyouts as it seeks to widen its slender lead over Amazon India and diversify its business.

Flipkart has held talks to invest in food-delivery app Swiggy, services firm UrbanClap, furniture retailer UrbanLadder and some start-ups in insurance and wealth management, said three people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mint had reported on 15 October that Flipkart was in talks to buy a large minority stake in Bookmyshow in a deal that may value the ticketing platform at $500-700 million.

The talks with the companies mentioned above haven’t yet materialized into deals.

Flipkart’s M&A approach marks a shift from its strategy of 2014-15 when it sought to build a venture capital-like portfolio by investing prolifically. In those two years, Flipkart invested in or bought more than a dozen companies, including fashion retailer Myntra, trucking marketplace Blackbuck and advertising tech start-up AdIquity. Many of these were financial investments rather than deals that would boost the company’s business.