Tata’s Indian “Super App” To Get $25 Billion Investment From Walmart: Report
Walmart is in talks with India’s Tata Group over a potential investment in an upcoming super app from the Indian conglomerate.
As per a report by Mint, the super app is expected to bring a variety of Tata’s e-commerce offerings, including grocery, insurance, healthcare, financial services, OTT, etc., under one roof to boost its overall retail vertical.
The American e-commerce giant is expected to funnel a whopping $25 billion to get a significant stake in the super app, which will be a part of a Tata Sons subsidiary. It’s reported that the super app could also be a joint venture, combining the likes of Walmart’s Flipkart and Tata’s e-commerce business.
Walmart acquired Flipkart back in 2018 for $16 billion (66% stake), but if it manages to crack a deal with Tata, it would be the largest deal in the Indian retail space ever. The app could launch sometime around December or January.
Sources told Mint that the super app could be valued at $50-60 billion. Also, Walmart has appointed Goldman Sachs as the investment banker to take care of the proposed deal.
The proposed deal could benefit both Walmart, a new name in India, and Tata Group, which relies on the sale of home-grown goods and services and wants to establish a global presence. The Indian retail market is already heating up with the presence of rivals like Reliance Jio and Amazon.
Mukesh Ambani’s Jio is turning every stone it can, selling off stocks to foreign companies to raise billions of dollars. Earlier this year, the company cracked a $5.7 Billion deal with Facebook by offering 10% in stocks.
In addition to the telecom business, which has already spread its legs across the nation, Ambani is also betting big on Jio’s e-commerce business marketed as JioMart.
In total, Jio raised around $20.2 Billion in over four months by selling its stocks to 13 companies. The list also includes Google, which is investing $4.5 billion for a 7.7% stake.
Meanwhile, we also heard rumors of Amazon pumping $2 billion in India’s telecom giant Airtel.
