Jet Grabs Needed Cash Infusion

Some good news in the form of funding this week for much hyped, but still struggling, Jet.com. The burgeoning eCommerce effort confirmed that it has raised $350 million of fresh equity in a new funding round that values the startup at $1.35 billion.

That does not quite mark the end of the effort, however. Jet is looking to raise another $150 million “shortly,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apart from the potential $500 million funding round, Jet is also planning on nailing down $125 million in debt financing, with a $50 million increase in a line of credit from Silicon Valley Bank. The other $75 million is expected to come from debt investors.

Jet Founder and Chief Executive Marc Lore declined to name any other new investors in the round or the source of the venture debt, though he did confirm some smaller “strategic financing” might be in the firm’s future.

Jet has had a rocky road so far. Though widely touted as the rising power that could take on the twin behemoths that are Amazon and Walmart, the firm has had a hard time gaining traction with consumers and has been burning through cash. It has also undergone some major strategic changes; the site was once premised around a $50 annual membership model, though the company was forced to abandon that recently.

Instead, Jet will up its purchase price and continue to aim for getting into the black by 2020.