Flipkart invests $116 million in fashion retailer Myntra amid challenge from Reliance, Nykaa

Bengaluru: After investing close to $700 million in Flipkart‘s marketplace and new healthcare vertical, the Indian ecommerce company’s Singapore entity has invested $116 million in fashion retailer Myntra, according to regulatory filings in Singapore accessed by ET. The investment was made on March 25, just before the financial year ended.

This takes Flipkart’s investment in its various businesses in March to more than $800 million. ET reported on March 31 that it had
invested $553 million in Flipkart Marketplaces and $143 million in its new healthcare business. Flipkart also launched a
separate app for the healthcare business, called Flipkart Health+, on April 6.

Myntra and Flipkart did not respond to ET’s queries.

The new investment comes as Myntra is facing new challenges, with Reliance‘s Ajio emerging as a significant second player in the market. Beauty retailer Nykaa is also venturing into fashion, which Myntra has dominated for over a decade.

While Nykaa dominates the beauty and personal care industry, several companies, including India’s biggest conglomerates – Reliance Industries and Tata Group – are looking at building their own beauty and personal care platforms. Tata Group has launched multiple fashion platforms – Tata Cliq and Westside – on the company’s
new ‘super app’ Tata Neu, which was launched on April 7. ET reported about
Reliance’s plans in the category on January 25.

Myntra’s new
CEO Nandita Sinha told ET on February 24 that the company would focus on building live commerce and the beauty category in the near future. The live commerce feature is Myntra’s new initiative to target Gen Z shoppers. The company launched Style Squad on February 22 to lure more influencers onto the platform and will rely on them to launch and promote new brands.

“The fashion category is a tough business and it requires significant investments in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, metaverse and virtual reality,” said Ashutosh Sharma, vice-president and research director at Forrester.

Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy told ET on January 4 that Myntra had only scratched the surface of the online branded fashion space. Myntra will continue to run independently under the new management with its own strategy, targeting its customer segments, he said.

“We are going to invest heavily in it and grow it disproportionately. The new team is very enthusiastic,” said Krishnamurthy.

The Walmart-owned online retailer has seen significant top-management churn in recent months, with former chief executive
Amar Nagaram leaving to start his own venture, as ET reported previously. Other exits include those of chief financial officer Ramesh Bafna and chief of marketing Harish Narayanan.

Flipkart acquired Myntra in March 2014 for Rs 2,000 crore.

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