The Silicon Review - Best Business Review Magazine 10 Best Startups of the Year 2019 Asia | Page 29

India: Flipkart
the masses, with their inventory
covering millions of products
ranging from appliances,
furniture, electronics, apparel,
accessories, kitchenware, and
so on.
The company enjoyed a time
of steady growth, with sales
of hundreds of millions of
dollars on certain days, which
the company christened the
‘big billion days’. Such sales,
combined with the periodic
offers during festivals propelled
Flipkart’s popularity to
stratospheric levels. Flipkart
would even go on to acquire two
other e-commerce companies
to expand its user base.
However, its growing popularity
meant that India was now an
attractive e-commerce market
and was on the radar of giants
like Amazon, the pioneer of
e-commerce. Since Amazon’s
foray into India, Flipkart saw a
significant portion of its market
share slip away to the American
behemoth. In 2017, The
American retail giant Walmart
acquired a 77% stake in Flipkart
for an astounding $16 billion.
The founders of Flipkart were
instrumental in catalyzing
the Indian e-commerce
sector and inspired countless
entrepreneurs to follow their
vision. It was one of the first
companies to make it big in
India’s Silicon Valley.
SR
JANUARY 2019
29