According to the online e-commerce giant eBay, it expects that 12% of its sales will be coming from BRIC countries by 2015 in a global e-commerce market that will be worth $300 billion. Moreover, the company plans to lead a $50 million, Series C investment in Snapdeal (an online marketplace in India) with 20 million users. It will make eBay a minority shareholder in the company, and this Series C investment means that Snapdeal has now raised about $102 million in funding since 2010, with the previous two investments being $12 million in January 2011, and $40 million in September 2011.
This also represents one step further for eBay in India. Indeed, the company already has a full subsidiary in the country (eBay India), with 5 million users. In addition, eBay already has a strong business outside of the U.S. In its analyst day last week, Wendy Jones, VP of geographical expansion and cross border trade, noted that 61% of its Marketplace revenue comes from non-U.S. markets.
