Flipkart

Overview

Flipkart is India’s leading horizontal ecommerce marketplace, headquartered in Bengaluru. Founded in 2007 as an online bookstore, it grew into a full-catalog platform selling electronics, fashion, home goods, groceries and more to over 500 million registered users across 80+ categories. Since 2018 it has been majority-owned by US retail giant Walmart, which paid roughly $16 billion for a ~77% stake — at the time the largest acquisition of an Indian startup. Flipkart is the anchor of a broader group that includes fashion platform Myntra and (until 2022) digital-payments app PhonePe.

What they’re known for

Flipkart is famous for adapting ecommerce to Indian market realities rather than copying a global template. It popularized Cash on Delivery to overcome low trust in online payments, and No Cost EMI to make big-ticket items (especially smartphones) affordable to the mass market — by 2022 over 50% of smartphone sales on the platform used No Cost EMI. Its signature event is “Big Billion Days,” a multi-day festive mega-sale launched in 2014 that has become a defining moment of India’s online retail calendar and a direct competitive weapon against Amazon India.

History

• 2007 — Founded in Bengaluru by IIT Delhi alumni and ex-Amazon employees Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal as an online bookstore, with an initial investment of ~₹400,000.
• 2010–2012 — Expands beyond books into electronics and other categories; acquires Letsbuy (2012).
• 2014 — Acquires fashion retailer Myntra (~$280M); raises a record $1B; launches the first “Big Billion Day” sale during Diwali season.
• 2015 — Relaunches “Big Billion Days” as a multi-day, mobile-app-focused event.
• 2016 — Acquires Jabong and PhonePe (UPI payments app).
• 2017 — Absorbs eBay India in exchange for equity plus a $500M investment.
• 2018 — Walmart acquires ~77% of Flipkart for ~$16B, valuing it at ~$21B post-money; Sachin Bansal exits.
• 2022 — Flipkart completes full corporate separation of PhonePe (finalized December 23, 2022).
• 2024 — Flipkart Internet GMV reaches ~$8.5B (₹70,542 crore) in FY24, up 26% year over year, with reduced losses.

Business model

Flipkart operates primarily as a third-party (3P) marketplace, connecting more than 100,000 sellers with buyers, while also running first-party wholesale/reseller operations through affiliated entities. Revenue comes chiefly from seller commissions (take rate), plus advertising, logistics/fulfillment fees, and payment services. Category-dependent commission rates are commonly cited in the 5–18% range. The group monetizes adjacent layers too: fashion via Myntra, and historically payments via PhonePe. Under Walmart’s ownership, Flipkart has leaned on scale, festive-sale volume, and expansion into groceries and quick commerce (Flipkart Minutes) to drive toward profitability.

Why it succeeded

Flipkart won India by solving trust and affordability problems that global playbooks ignored. Cash on Delivery removed the biggest psychological barrier to online buying in a low-credit-card market, and No Cost EMI unlocked aspirational purchases for price-sensitive consumers — nearly 60% of its customers come from Tier 2 and Tier 3+ towns, and it operates in 11 Indian languages. Strategic acquisitions (Myntra for fashion, PhonePe for payments) locked up adjacent categories, as chronicled in Fundtq’s acquisition history. The Big Billion Days event manufactured a recurring demand spike that built brand dominance and seller loyalty. As Rest of World documents, this combination allowed Flipkart to stay ahead of Amazon in India, and Walmart’s deep capital backing since 2018 has funded the long, cash-intensive fight for the Indian market.

Notable facts

• Acquired by Walmart in 2018 for ~$16B (~77% stake), the largest-ever acquisition of an Indian startup at the time.
• Flipkart Internet GMV grew to ~$8.5B (₹70,542 crore) in FY24, up 26.4% YoY.
• Serves 500M+ registered users with 150M+ products across 80+ categories.
• Held ~32% of the Indian ecommerce market in 2022, ahead of Amazon and Snapdeal.
• Started from a 2BHK apartment in Bengaluru with ₹400,000; founders once delivered books by scooter.
• PhonePe, spun out in 2022, went on to process hundreds of millions of daily transactions as India’s largest digital-payments platform.

Links

Title	URL	Type	Note
Flipkart – Official Online Shopping Site	https://www.flipkart.com	official-site	Homepage; India’s ecommerce platform, “since 2007”
Flipkart – Wikipedia	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipkart	article	Comprehensive company history and subsidiaries
Inside Flipkart, the Indian giant beating Amazon	https://restofworld.org/2023/flipkart-walmart-india/	article	Rest of World deep-dive on Flipkart vs Amazon under Walmart
Flipkart Internet GMV grows to $8.5 Bn in FY24, cuts losses	https://entrackr.com/fintrackr/flipkart-internet-gmv-grows-to-85-bn-in-fy24-cuts-losses-7368625	news	FY24 GMV, revenue and loss figures
Making E-commerce accessible: Flipkart’s commercial impact	https://stories.flipkart.com/about-us/commercial-impact	official-site	Company’s own account of CoD and No Cost EMI innovations
Flipkart completes full separation of PhonePe	https://www.phonepe.com/press/flipkart-completes-full-separation-of-phonepe/	news	Dec 2022 press release on the PhonePe spin-off
Flipkart Acquisitions Over the Years	https://fundtq.com/flipkart-acquisitions/	article	Timeline of Myntra, Jabong, PhonePe, eBay India deals
Walmart in India	https://corporate.walmart.com/about/international/markets/india	official-site	Walmart’s own overview of Flipkart Group and PhonePe
What You Don’t Know About Flipkart’s ‘No Cost EMI’ Offer	https://www.thequint.com/technology/2016/06/03/heres-what-you-dont-know-about-flipkarts-no-cost-emi-offer	article	Analysis of the No Cost EMI mechanics and fees