Indian ecommerce industry is hot. Or at least that is what the investors feel. According to a research by Juxt, one of the leading market research firms in India, and owner of popular syndicated studies like IndiaOnline and IndiaMobile, non-travel ecommerce start-ups have collectively raised a total of $550 million funding in the last two years (between June 2010 to May 2012). While some companies had received some funding prior to that, the floodgates opened only in mid-2010.
According to rough estimates, there are close to 400 non-travel independent online retailers that are active in the ecommerce market in India. But according to Juxt research, as much as 2/3rd of this $550 million funding has gone to just four groups: FlipKart, Smile Group, SnapDeal and Myntra. These four groups have together secured a funding of $369 million. This is 67 per cent of the total estimated investment in non-travel e-commerce in the said period, shows the research.
FlipKart, which started as a book e-tailer before diversifying into other areas leads the pack with a total secured funding of $181 million (out of which $180 million has been received during the above mentioned period). Smile Group, which operates popular ecommerce sites such as FashionAndYou.com, DealsAndYou.com, BeStylish.com, FreeCultr.com and Juvalia.in has received a total of $98.5 million funding for these sites. FashionAndYou has got a funding of $48 million, DealsAndYou $18.5 million, BeStylish $4 million and FreeCultr $13 million. The group's new venture, Juvalia.in (Juvalia and You) has raised a funding of $15 million.
SnapDeal, which started as a daily deal site but has now become a full-services ecommerce company has raised a total of $52 million, while Mumbai-based Myntra has secured a total funding of $39 million. Accel Partners and Tiger Global lead the pack in terms of both number of rounds and amount invested. They together funded the largest round of funding in Indian ecommerce so far—the $150 million funding received by FlipKart in January 2012. Other investors that have participated in five or more rounds include SAIF Partners, Indo-US Ventures, IDG Ventures, Sequoia and Helion Ventures.
Many analysts say a consolidation is imminent in Indian ecommerce space. Of late, there has been some activity in the M&A front with FlipKart acquiring LetsBuy, SnapDeal acquiring eSportsBuy and HealthKart acquiring MadeInHealth.
In our feature analyzing the consolidation trend in the ecommerce industry in India, we saw experts voicing that it is only a matter of time before there is a shakeout in this increasingly crowded market and consolidation is bound to happen. We will continue to see consolidation and clear emergence of category leaders in this space. All companies can't become large independent business just like any sunrise industry.
