Not five years ago, an online retailer called FashionAndYou was considered a better bet than Flipkart. The one-year-old firm owned and operated by business incubator Smile Group had raised $40 million in October 2011, becoming the most well-funded startup in India's nascent online retail market. Overall, it had racked up $48 million from marquee Silicon Valley venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners as well as the investment arms of chipmaker Intel and Finnish phone maker Nokia. Flipkart, launched in 2007, had raised $30 million.
