Now, Fidelity slashes Flipkart valuation by over a third

US mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments slashed the valuation of its holdings in Flipkart by more than a third in November, a filing by the fund reveals, raising the chances of an Indian unicorn having to raise money in a down round soon.

A down round is a funding round where a company raises money at a lower valuation than it did in the previous one.

Fidelity’s cut is almost as sharp as the one Morgan Stanley made when it wrote down the value of its holdings in Flipkart, also in November.

Fidelity now values Flipkart at roughly $5.58 billion, similar to the $5.54 billion that Morgan Stanley last valued the Internet start-up at.

Flipkart isn’t the only Indian unicorn facing the prospect of a down round.

Cab-hailing service Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd), another Indian unicorn (the term used for any company valued over $1 billion), is likely to raise its next round at a lower valuation than the $5 billion it was valued at in its previous round, Mint reported last June.

On Wednesday, Mint reported that Flipkart rival Snapdeal, run by Jasper Infotech, is in talks with its largest investor SoftBank Group to raise money at a valuation significantly lower than its peak valuation of $6.5 billion.

The latest markdown comes at a time Flipkart is facing a massive top-level exodus amidst an organisational overhaul, and also looking to raise a fresh round of funds close to its peak valuation of $15 billion.

Flipkart declined to comment on the latest valuation markdown.