For Alibaba, an investment in Snapdeal (competes with Flipkart) could speed up the Chinese company’s expansion in India’s booming electronic-commerce market. For Foxconn, an investment would give the contract electronics maker a retail foothold in India, where it has experienced booming demand for smartphones.
A joint investment could value the e-commerce startup at $5 billion Chinese electronic-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and iPhone assembler Foxconn Technology Group are in talks to jointly invest about $500 million in Snapdeal.com, people familiar with the matter said, a potential deal that could value the five-year-old Indian e-commerce startup at roughly $5 billion. Snapdeal, owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt., connects merchants and buyers selling everything from mobile phones to cars and houses. Last year, it received an investment of nearly $1 billion from eBay Inc. and...
