Mumbai: China`s Alibaba Group Holding , Japan`s SoftBank Group Corp and Foxconn will lead an investment of $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 $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 Inc , 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 Co , said it was buying a 4.27 percent stake in Snapdeal for $200 million via its Singapore-based subsidiary Wonderful Stars Pte.
Sources told Reuters this month that the transaction would value Snapdeal at more than $5 billion.
In India, Snapdeal rivals Flipkart, valued at around $15 billion, and Amazon.com Inc`s India unit as the three fight it out for a share of a $22 billion market.
Like its rivals, Snapdeal sees the majority of its transactions on smartphones and mobile devices.
"That is why, with a significant share of e-commerce transactions in India being done via mobile devices, the investment positions FIH to benefit from Snapdeal`s platform," Foxconn said in a statement.
Alibaba and eBay are also looking to benefit from India`s fast growing online sector, boosted by a rise in use of affordable smartphones and internet connections.
Alibaba has said India is a key market for the group.
India is the world`s third-biggest smartphone market after China and the United States.
While India has fewer internet users than China, online sales could rise to more than $100 billion in 2020 from $2.9 billion in 2013, making it the fastest-growing market globally, according to a Morgan Stanley report.