mumbaibengaluru indias largest ecommerce firm flipkart said on monday that it has raised 14 billion in funding led by chinas internet giant tencent with participation from the online auction site ebay and microsoft valuing the bengalurubased company at 116 billion post the investmentthis marks the largest capital infusion for any privately held indian internet venture and surpasses the earlier high set by flipkart itself when in july 2014 it picked up 1 billion and set the stage for a funding boom in the local startup ecosystemthe latest financing round for flipkart comes amid talk of the etailers likely acquisition of its domestic rival the softbankbacked snapdeal further consolidating the cashguzzling ecommerce market as reported by toi in its march 28 edition toi reported about flipkarts latest fund raise in its march 16 edition flipkarts muchanticipa ted and widely discussed fundraise has been in the making for months even as it faced a series of valuation markdowns by its existing investors over the past year the domestic ecommerce player was earlier valued at 152 billion when it last raised 700 million from existing investors in july 2015as part of this transaction ebay inc has put 500 million in flipkart and sold its india business to the bengaluru firmthe online auction site will continue to be run as an independent entity a statement from flipkart said sources said ebay india may have been valued at about 200 million however the contours of the deal were not specified tencent and microsoft have collectively pumped 900 million into flipkart once the snapdeal acquisition comes through softbank the online retailers largest shareholder may put 500 million in flipkart as primary money besides buying secondary shares from tiger global a source privy to the developments said tiger global a new yorkbased investment fund is the largest investor with about 30 in flipkartflipkarts humongous raise will give it firepower and bolster its position as it fights a fierce battle with the seattlebased internet behemoth amazon which has allocated 5 billion for the india market and launched a wide set of offerings ranging from prime subscription service to prime video even as it prepares to push the peddle on categories like food and groceryin a prepared statement flipkart founders sachin and binny bansal who are unrelated said this is a landmark deal for flipkart and for india as it endorses our tech prowess our innovative mindset and the potential we have to disrupt traditional markets it is a resounding acknowledgement that the homegrown tech ecosystem is indeed thriving and succeeding in solving genuine problems in peoples daily lives across all of india the bansals cofounded flipkart ten years ago as an online bookstore and expanded to become a horizontal ecommerce player modelled on their exemployer the jeff bezosled amazonthey are not involved with the daytoday operations at the company presentlytencent ebay seen as strategic investorschinas tencent which runs the hugely successful messenger service we chat is being positioned as a strategic investor along with ebay after years