BANGALORE: Snapdeal has raised $100 million (Rs 590 crore) from a group of five investors including Azim Premji ’s family office, the latest in a flurry of dealmaking in India’s fast-growing online retail space.The investment, the third for the Delhi-based company in the last year, values Snapdeal at $1 billion, a source said, making it the fourth Indian startup to reach the milestone after rival Flipkart , data analytics provider Mu Sigma and mobile advertising network InMobi.Premji Invest was joined in the deal by Temasek, BlackRock, Hong Kong based asset management company Myriad and hedge fund Tybourne, also based in Hong Kong.“This funding is a great validation given how selective these investors are,” said Kunal Bahl, the 31-year-old cofounder and chief executive of Snapdeal. He declined to provide details about valuation and the stake he owns in the company.

In February, Snapdeal raised about Rs 830 crore in a round led by eBay. Its financial backers include Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Saama Capital. The company has so far raised about $340 million.

The deal comes during a period of intense battles for top honours in the Rs 13,000-crore Indian online retail industry. Snapdeal’s main competitors are Flipkart, the country’s largest online retailer, and Amazon, the world’s largest. The three companies have introduced initiatives like same-day and next-day deliveries within weeks of each other. And the portals are also adopting aggressive pricing strategies with deep discounts across almost all product categories.Wharton graduate Bahl said the latest investment is not about financial considerations.“We are well-capitalised. My goal was clear—we wanted new partners who have a long-term investment horizon,” said Bahl, a Wharton School alumnus who, along with cofounder Rohit Bansal, is estimated to own about 20% in the company that was launched as a group buying portal in 2010. Snapdeal, which changed its business model to an online retail marketplace in 2011, was valued at about $750 million when it last raised money.India’s online retail sector, which Crisil forecasts will be worth Rs 50,000 crore in the next three years, is attracting large sums of money from domestic and foreign investors. Flipkart, fashion portal Myntra and babycare portal FirstCry are among those that have raised funding in the last year.Premji Invest, particularly, appears to be making a significant commitment to the sector, leading funding in Myntra early this year. The investment arm of the Wipro founder’s family also has investments in retailers Fabindia Shoppers Stop and the Future group’s fashion unit.The entry of Amazon last year has intensified competition in the industry. The global ecommerce major’s strategy of quickly expanding its product categories, growing its last-mile delivery capability and heavy marketing has pushed the home-grown online portals to invest in innovation and advertising.“We continue to be super aggressive in execution but prudent with how we spend our capital,” said Bahl. The company, which has grown 600% in the past 12 months, aims to reach $1 billion in sales this fiscal.