Jet raises $350m in a funding round led by Fidelity Investments

25 Nov 2015

Amazon rival Jet has closed a $350m funding round led by Fidelity Investments

Amazon rival Jet has closed a $350m funding round led by Fidelity Investments but also involving previous investors Alibaba, Bain Capital and Google Ventures.

The company also said it expects to have raised an additional $150m for which it has received “verbal commitments” before the end of the year.

Under the terms of the deal, the fast growing e-commerce vendor also has capacity to raise a further $125m from investors, including a $50m increase in a credit line from Silicon Valley Bank and $75m from venture debt investors.

The $350m investment values the e-commerce start-up at $1.5bn.

Jet is challenging Amazon, Walmart and other e-commerce players with an array of household items, electronics, pet supplies and more.

The one-year-old company employs 250 people and was set up by Marc Lore, who sold his company Diapers.com to Amazon.com, along with Mike Hanrahan and Nate Faust.

The company previously raised $220m in three rounds from investors including Google Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital, Accel Partners and Alibaba Group.

It differentiates itself from its competitors by using a real-time pricing algorithm that takes into account location in relation to distribution centres.

Online shopping image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com