Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata has purchased a stake in online marketplace Snapdeal, marking his first investment in the e-commerce segment.
Reports reveal that Tata has acquired the stake that was earlier held by ex-Microsoft executive Kenneth Glass, who had been an early investor in the e-commerce firm.
With the latest investment, Tata joins other investors in the $13bn Indian e-commerce industry including GIC Private, Tiger Global Management and Accel Partners.
Snapdeal.com co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl was quoted by Mint as saying: "This investment by Tata, a renowned name in the Indian as well as global business circles, is of great significance to the company and stands testimony to the growth and success seen bythe company in a short span of four years."
The latest move comes after Snapdeal collaborated with Tata Value Homes for online sales of its apartment units of projects spanning across five cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
This year, Snapdeal raised more than $233m in two funding rounds from investors such as eBay, Temasek and Wipro.
However, the Indian e-commerce sector has turned out to attract several investors with Bangalore-based Flipkart raising $1bn and Amazon reporting investments of $2bn in its Indian business.
