Staff strength to acquisitions: What Snapdeal plans to do with SoftBank's $627 mn

With the latest $627 million from Japanese telecom giant SoftBank, Snapdeal has lapped up about $1 billion in funding in 2014.

A press release from the Indian etailer said that Softbank is now the leading investor in it. “This is the largest investment made by a single investor in an e-commerce company in India,” it said. Other existing investors have also participated in this round with a significant undisclosed investment, it said.

Snapdeal had in February 2014 raised $133.77 million in a funding round led by eBay. In May, it again raised $105 million from institutional investors such as Temasek, Myriad, Tybourne, Blackrock Inc. and Premji Invest.

More from Corporate

Maha: Court orders Rs 30L compensation for parents after youth dies in road accident Ashleigh Barty comes from set down to beat Coco Gauff in Australian Open lead-up

Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons - a renowned name in the Indian as well as global business circles, also made a personal investment into the company, the release said.

“These investments stand testimony to confidence displayed by investors in the company’s pure marketplace model and are in line with Snapdeal.com’s growth strategy and vision to create life changing experiences for 1 million businesses in India,” it said.

Here is how it plans to utilise the funds:

Snapdeal plans to invest in ramping up its technology and supply chain management. It has to be remembered that the recent sale and Diwali rush had revealed these are the two weakest links in the Indian ecommerce story.

1) Innovation centres: As part of the ramping up efforts, the company will open innovation centres in Hyderababd and Pune. It has already opened its second innovation centre in Bangalore.

2) Staff strength: The company will double its technology team size to 1,000 people by March 2015.

3) More storage facilities: In order to strengthen its supply chain, Snapdeal will expand its fulfilment centres to 30 cities. Fulfilment centres are storage facilities. It currently has 40 such centres in 15 cities. This will increase its customer reach.

4) Widen merchant base: Snapdeal, an e-market place, will expand its merchant base to 1 million in three years. It hopes the setting up of more fulfilment centres will also enable small and medium businesses to do deliveries more efficiently.

5) Acquisitions: The company is planning to make 3-4 strategic acquisitions in the a few months, specifically in the area of mobile technology, the release said.

6) Start-up incubation: With mobile commerce fast gaining pace in the country, Snapdeal within the six months, will also set up an incubation centre to hone and harness start-up businesses in the mobile technology space, the release said.