Flipkart is an eCommerce store that sells a sweeping range of products that includes electronic gadgets and accessories, attires, home decor items, and much more. Over the years, it has acquired many companies like Myntra, PhonePe, Mime 360, Appiterate etc.
- Industry: Internet
- Founded: 2007
- Founder(s): Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal
- Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
- Subsidiaries: Myntra, Jabong.com, ebay.in, PhonePe, eBay.in, eKart
- Website: flipkart.com
History of Flipkart
Flipkart is the largest retailer in India founded by Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal in 2007. Both of them are graduates from the ‘Indian Institute of Technology Delhi’. Both of them worked for the giant retailer Amazon.com previously and left Amazon to start their startup ‘Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd.’ The first product the Company sold was the book, ‘Leaving Microsoft for Changing the World for a Customer from Hyderabad.’
Flipkart has over 33,000 employees. It acquired the Mime360.com and the Chakpak.com websites in the months of November and October in 2011. The Company launched its ‘Flyte Digital Music’ store in the month of February 2012.
The Company in 2015 bought a stake in the ‘route optimization and navigation’ startup, known as ‘MapmyIndia.’ It declared its ‘Flyte Digital Musical ‘store in the month of February 2012. The Company launched mobile phones, phablets and own tablets in the month of July 2014. In the same month, it also launched its networking router ‘DigiFlip WR001 300 Mbit/s Wireless N Router.’
More About Flipkart
Flipkart is India’s largest electronic commerce Company. It operates through a complicated business structure that comprises of nine firms, some registered in India and some in Singapore.
Flipkart has done many acquisitions over the years. In 2010 it acquired ‘WeRead,’ which is a tool for discovering social books. In 2011, it acquired the ‘digital content’ Company Mime360. Cakpak.com is part of Flipkart’s 2011 acquisition. It is a site of Bollywood news that offers news, updates, videos, and photos. It acquired ‘Letsbuy.com’ in 2012, which is an Indian electronics e-retailer. Myntra.com is an acquisition of Flipkart of 2014. It even acquired Appiterate, which is a ‘mobile marketing’ start-up. The Company acquired the payment start-up PhonePe in April 2016. It funded the ‘Parenting network Tinystep’ in the month of January 2017.
Motorola Mobility launched its budget smartphone, ‘Moto G’ on the 5th of February 2014 in India in partnership with Flipkart. Xiaomi Mi3, the high-end smartphone was launched successfully with a partnership with Flipkart. Flipkart launched its ‘personal healthcare’ brand Citron and its in-house appliances in the month of September 2014. The Citron brand offers a wide range of grooming and cooking utilities.
Accolades of Flipkart:
- In the month of April 2016, Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal made it to the list of the ‘100 Most Influential People.’
- The two founders of Flipkart entered the list of ‘Forbes Rich Indians’ at the position of 86.
- Sachin Bansal received the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award in 2012 and 2013 from the ‘Economic Times.’
- At the CNBC TV 18’s, the ‘India Business Leader’ awards Flipkart.com got the honor of ‘Young Turk of the Year.’
