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The story
Founded by Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal on Oct 2007, in Bengaluru.1
History
2007–2010
Flipkart was founded in October 2007 in Bengaluru by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, alumni of the IIT Delhi and former Amazon employees. The company was started from a two-bedroom apartment in Koramangala, Bengaluru, with an initial investment of ₹200,000 from each of the founders' families. The website was launched in October 2007, initially only limited to selling books. Flipkart was reportedly receiving 100 orders per day by 2008.
In 2010, Flipkart acquired WeRead, a digital retailer of books, from Lulu.com. This space was otherwise only shared by very limited number of players at that time in the market, such as Landmark and Infibeam. WeRead continued to operate independently after the acquisition.
2011–2014
In 2011, Flipkart acquired the digital distribution business Mime360.com, a distributor of music, media and games, and the digital content library of the Bollywood portal Chakpak. Following the latter acquisition, Flipkart launched its DRM-free Digital music store Flyte in 2012. Due to competition from free streaming sites, Flyte was unsuccessful and shut down in June 2013.
In 2012, Flipkart acquired Letsbuy, an online electronics retailer. In 2013, Flipkart co-founders sold WS Retail to a consortium of investors led by Rajeev Kuchhal.
In 2014, Flipkart was the exclusive Indian retailer of several smartphones, including the Moto G, the Moto E, the Xiaomi Mi 3, and the Redmi 1S and Redmi Note.
Flipkart acquired Myntra, an online fashion retailer, for US$280 million in May 2014. As of 2018, Myntra continues to operate alongside Flipkart as a standalone subsidiary focusing on separate market segments.
On 6 October 2014, coinciding with the company's anniversary and the Diwali season, Flipkart held a major sale that it promoted as "Big Billion Day". The event generated a surge of traffic, selling US$100 million worth of goods in 10 hours. The event received criticism via social media over technical issues experienced during the event and stock shortages.
In 2014, Flipkart invested in mobile payments platform Ngpay and shuttered its own payment platform Payzippy by merging it with Ngpay.
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2015–2018
In April 2015, Flipkart acquired Appiterate, a Delhi-based mobile marketing automation firm.
In October 2015, Flipkart reprised the "Big Billion Day" sale as a multi-day event known as "Big Billion Days", which would be exclusive to the Flipkart mobile app. Flipkart bolstered its supply chain and introduced more fulfillment centers to meet customer demand. Flipkart achieved a gross merchandise volume of US$300 million during the event, with the largest volumes coming from fashion sales and the largest value coming from mobiles.
In December 2015, Flipkart purchased a 34% stake in the digital mapping provider MapmyIndia for around ₹1,600 crore ($260 million). In April 2016, Flipkart acquired the UPI mobile payments startup PhonePe.
In July 2016, Flipkart acquired the online fashion retailer Jabong.com from Rocket Internet for US$70 million. In January 2017, Flipkart made a US$2 million investment in TinyStep, a parenting information startup.
In 2017, Flipkart sold 1.3 million phones in 20 hours on 21 September during its Big Billion Days promotion, doubling the number sold on the first day of the same event in 2016. Flipkart held a 51% share of all Indian smartphone shipments in 2017, overtaking Amazon India (33%).
In April 2017, EBay announced that it would sell its Indian subsidiary, eBay.in, to Flipkart, and invest US$500 million in the company. While eBay suggested that the partnership would allow Flipkart to access eBay's network of international vendors, these plans never came to fruition. In July 2017, Flipkart made an offer to acquire its main domestic competitor, Snapdeal, for US$800–900 million, but the offer was rejected by Snapdeal's board.
Acquisition by Walmart
On 4 May 2018, it was reported that American retail corporation Walmart had won a bidding war with Amazon to acquire a majority stake in Flipkart for US$15 billion. On 9 May 2018, Walmart officially announced its intent to acquire a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for US$16 billion. Following the purchase, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal left the company. The remaining management team reported to Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart eCommerce US. Walmart president Doug McMillon cited plans to help Flipkart with its sourcing and supply chain. Indian traders protested against the acquisition, considering it a threat to domestic businesses.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 11 May 2018, Walmart stated that Flipkart's current minority shareholders "may require Flipkart to effect an initial public offering following the fourth anniversary of the closing of the transactions at a valuation no less than that paid by Walmart".
Following the announcement of Walmart's deal, EBay announced that it would sell its stake in Flipkart back to the company for US$1.1 billion and relaunch its Indian operations, citing "a huge growth potential for e-commerce in India." SoftBank Group also sold its entire 20% stake to Walmart without disclosing the terms of the sale. Walmart's acquisition of a 77% stake in Flipkart was completed on 18 August 2018. Walmart also provided US$2 billion in equity funding to the company.
On 13 November 2018, Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal resigned after facing an allegation of "serious personal misconduct". Walmart stated that "while the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant's assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in judgment, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation." Days later, Walmart increased its equity stake in Flipkart to 81.3%.
2019–2022
In July 2019, Flipkart launched Samarth program that supported local artisans, weavers, and craftspersons that traditionally are only able to sell locally.
Flipkart invested US$4 million in the customer engagement and rewards platform EasyRewardz in November 2019.
In 2020, Flipkart launched Flipkart Wholesale, an online marketplace that provided a digital platform for kiranas and MSMEs. As a part of the same initiative around Flipkart Wholesale, Flipkart also acquired 100% stake in Walmart India Private Limited operating Best Price cash-and-carry business.
In July 2020, Flipkart acquired a 27% stake in Arvind Fashions's newly formed subsidiary Arvind Youth Brands for US$35 million. Arvind Youth Brands owned the Flying Machine brand. Flipkart also rolled out Flipkart Quick, a hyperlocal 90-minute delivery service for product categories such as groceries, home accessories, mobile phones, and stationery.
In October 2020, Flipkart acquired a 7.8% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail for US$204 million. The following month, Flipkart acquired the intellectual property of gaming startup Mech Mocha for an undisclosed amount. In November 2020, Flipkart acquired augmented reality company Scapic.
In April 2021, Flipkart announced the acquisition of the travel booking portal Cleartrip. Flipkart also launched Flipkart Hotels using Cleartrip API. In 2022, Flipkart sold Cleartrip's business in the Middle East, including the website Flyin.com, to Wego.
In July 2021, Flipkart launched its social commerce marketplace called Shopsy, which allowed individuals and small businesses to direct sell and resell products to customers via social media channels. In December 2021, Shopsy entered the grocery delivery segment in 700 cities across India.
In November 2021, Flipkart Health acquired Sastasundar Healthbuddy for an undisclosed sum. In April 2022, Flipkart started the Flipkart Health+ app for delivering medicines and health services through Sastasundar Marketplace Limited, which was already providing online pharmacy services. This partnership with Sastasundar ended in January 2025.
In April 2022, Flipkart Group established its philanthropic arm, Flipkart Foundation, to support entrepreneurship among underserved communities in India. The same month, Flipkart introduced the Flipkart Labs programme to develop Web3 and Metaverse use cases in shopping.
In December 2022, Flipkart completed its spin-off of PhonePe, with Flipkart's shareholders receiving direct ownership stakes in the latter. As a result of PhonePe's separation, Flipkart announced a cash payout of around $700 million to its former and current employees holding Flipkart's ESOPs.
2023–present
On 22 December 2023, Flipkart confirmed that US$600 million would be infused by Walmart as part of its total fundraising plan of US$1 billion. The funding round was expected to value the company at about 5-10% higher than its previous valuation of US$33 billion, implying a valuation of roughly US$34.7 billion to US$36.3 billion.
Binny Bansal resigned from the executive team on 28 January 2024, and subsequently divested his remaining stake in the company to Walmart.
In March 2024, Flipkart launched its UPI services, Flipkart UPI, in partnership with Axis Bank.
In August 2024, Flipkart entered the quick-commerce market with the introduction of Flipkart Minutes. In the same month, Flipkart-backed super.money launched its mobile application offering credit-first UPI services.
In October 2024, Flipkart was among the initial partners in the launch of YouTube's Shopping affiliate programme in India, allowing eligible video creators to link products from Flipkart and Myntra, in their content.
In 2025, the company announced that it would shift its domicile from Singapore to India.
On 11 September 2026, Flipkart Minutes expanded its operational footprint to approximately 1,200 micro-fulfillment centers spanning over 150 cities.
Flipkart Video Original programming
Flipkart Video Originals features programming in several genres, including action, comedy, romance, drama, horror, adventure, and others.
From Wikipedia’s article on Flipkart, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5