SoftBank, the largest investor which had infused US$627 million into Snapdeal in 2014, was pushing it for a merger with Flipkart

More than a week after Snapdeal’s deal with Flipkart collapsed, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said he respects the struggling e-commerce company’s decision to walk out of the merger and go independent. Son also confirmed that SoftBank, the largest investor in Snapdeal, is also in talks to invest in Flipkart.

“We respect the decision of Snapdeal founders and we are engaged with Flipkart,” Son said after SoftBank announced second quarter results on Monday, without divulging details.

Last week, Snapdeal called off its merger talks with bigger rival Flipkart after six months of hard negotiations, and decided to tread an independent path. The development sent shockwaves in the industry as the decision came amidst reports that Snapdeal had accepted Flipkart’s revised acquisition offer of US$900 million-US$950 million.

Also Read: SoftBank Vision Fund announces first major close, confirms reported investment from Apple

Co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal defended their decision to walk of out the merger, saying Snapdeal has all the ingredients to be a successful e-commerce company, and the opportunity in India is immense. In an email to employees, they also informed after the sale of some of its assets including FreeCharge, the company is self-sufficient and doesn’t need to raise additional capital to reach profitability.

Started in February 2010, Snapdeal has raised about US$2.18 billion in investment to date, of which over US$627 million came from SoftBank in 2014. Recently, Snapdeal received about US$17.5 million in emergency financing from existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and Co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

SoftBank was pushing Snapdeal for a merger with Flipkart, and was looking to invest over US$1 billion in the Bangalore-based e-commerce marketplace as part of the deal. Son’s latest comments indicate that the Japanese company is still bullish about India’s e-commerce growth.

The post Masayoshi Son confirms SoftBank in talks to invest in Flipkart, says respects Snapdeal decision to call off merger appeared first on e27.