Flipkart joins the likes of Facebook, Zynga with $210 million in funding led by DST

After announcing the major acquisition of  Myntra, India’s largest e-tailer Flipkart has today said that it received $210 million from backers, led by Russian investment firm DST Global Solutions (Digital Sky Technologies). It’s the company’s third large round of funding in less than a year, after raising over $ 350 million last year alone.   “Among all the investors we know, (DST) are the best in their technology focus,” Flipkart’s chief executive officer and co-founder Sachin Bansal was quoted as saying by Mint. Besides DST, Flipkart’s existing investors Tiger Global Management, Accel Partners and Iconiq Capital also pitched in to the latest funding round.   There’s no doubt that the new funding, coupled with the obvious advantages of the Myntra deal, make Flipkart a formidable opponent for the likes of Amazon.in and eBay-backed Snapdeal. With the DST investment, Flipkart joins an elite club of companies which have got financial backing from Russian investment firm,  led by Yuri Milner. DST had previously backed Facebook with $200 million in funding in 2009, and in subsequent rounds since. It has also been instrumental in the success of Groupon, investing twice between 2010 and 2011. It has also backed the likes of Airbnb and Zynga, while also continuing to invest in Alibaba in China.   In all, the company has raised over $750 million in cash since starting out in 2007. Last year, a $200 million funding from Accel and Tiger, was followed by another $160 million from Dragoneer Investment Group and Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Post that, Flipkart was said to be valued at around $1.6 billion.   Last week, **Flipkart bought online fashion retailer Myntra** for an estimated price of over $330 million, as it looks to take on Amazon and Snapdeal. Amazon **has been investing big in India** , lobbying for FDI in e-commerce and **is preparing for a major scaling-up of its India operations** . **Snapdeal has also been raising funds** , most notably the $100 million funding from new investors, earlier this month.