Flipkart markdown: Macquarie arm values stake in co at $10.4 bn

Valuation woes at Flipkart seem unending after Macquarie Group’s Optimum Fund slashed the value of its holding in India’s largest online marketplace by about 3 percent. Regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that Optimum Fund has valued its holding in Flipkart at USD 93.15 per share in December 2016 quarter at a USD 10.4 billion valuation.

Optimum Fund had in September 2016 valued Flipkart at USD 10.8 billion, at USD 96.29 per share, according to the US SEC filing. It holds 18,850 shares invested in Flipkart Series A, C, E, G and H funding rounds.

The Bangalore-based company has faced series of markdowns in the past one year. Minority stakeholder T Rowe Price devalued it by 4 percent pegging it at USD 9.9 billion in January this year. In December 2016, Vanguard Variable Insurance Fund also devalued its investment in Flipkart by 33 percent bringing its valuation to about USD 7.3 billion. It was valued by Vanguard at USD 11 billion in March 2016.

Recent valuation markdowns have made it difficult for India’s startup sector to raise fresh funding. In this scenario, some startups have shut down or have started retrenching employees.