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Flipkart raises $150 mn in fourth round of funding
MUMBAI: Flipkart Online Services, which runs online shopping Flipkart.com, has raised fourth round of funding from MIH which is part of the Naspers group and Iconiq Capital.
While the exact amount of funding has not been disclosed, according to media reports Flipkart.com has raised $150 million for a minority stake.
Flipkart had earlier raised funding from venture capital funds Accel India and Tiger Global.
Buoyed by the new round of funding, Flipkart said the company aims to reach a merchandise value $1 billion in the next three years.
“We are excited to complete this (its fourth) round of funding, which would fuel our growth plans, and help us achieve our stated ambition of hitting $1 billion in gross merchandise value by 2015,” Flipkart co-founder and chief executive of FlipKart Sachin Bansal.
Started in 2007 with books, Flipkart entered the consumer electronics category with the launch of mobile phones, in September 2010.
In addition to these, Flipkart has also made a foray into the emerging digital content market with the recent launch of Flyte, the digital music store.
The company has its own delivery network in 37 cities and is set to expand this in the current financial year. With a team of around 4,800 members, the company operates from offices and warehouses in seven Indian cities.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
