Tag: Sachin Bansal

Sachin Bansal, Flipkart Co-founder appointed as Managing Director of Venture Navi Technologies

Sachin Bansal has made several investments into companies and start-ups such as Altico Capital, U Gro Capital, IndoStar Capital, Vogo, Bounce, KrazyBee, Ola, Bansal attended Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and completed a degree in Computer Engineering in 2005. After graduation, Bansal worked at Techspan for a few months and later in 2006 he joined Amazon Web Services as a Senior Software Engineer.

Sachin Bansal has been appointed as the Managing Director of his second Bengaluru-based Fintech venture– Navi Technologies earlier known as BACQ. He recently led an over Rs 3,000 crore round in his new venture. He co-founded Navi Technologies with Ankit Agarwal. Navi Technologies had earlier acquired a majority stake in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services (CRIDS) that is into the micro-finance space.

His giant size investment in the FinTech sector is an indication of an upcoming revolution in this specific industry. It includes investments into companies such as Altico Capital, U Gro Capital, IndoStar Capital, and the acquisition of mutual fund business of Essel Group.

Many of the high net-worth individuals and venture funds have invested in Navi Technologies. Recently, Gaja Capital had invested Rs 204 crore.

Sachin Bansal is most known as the co-founder of the e-commerce giant, Flipkart. However, in the year 2018, when Walmart acquired Flipkart, Bansal exited the company. Moreover, since the year 2014, Sachin Bansal has invested in 18 startups with teh deal size being 1-2 million dollars. In fact, in the year 2019, he invested 100 million dollars in Ola cabs wherein he received a stake of 0.37%.

As on february 2019, Sachin Bansal has already had investments in Unacademy, TeamIndus, Ola, Grey Orange, In Shorts, SigTuple, and Ather Energy.

Gaja Capital invests Rs 204 crore in Navi Technologies

Navi Technologies has made allotments of 1.45 crore equity shares, at a price of ₹140.5 per share. Three entities belonging to Gaja Capital, including Gaja Capital Fund-II, GCFII-B and Gaja Capital India AIF Trust have received the allotments. The latest private placement follows a fundraising of over Rs 3,000 crore by the company, led by Bansal and other investors earlier this month.

Sachin Bansal’s financial services startup Navi Technologies has raised ₹204 crore in fresh equity capital from Mumbai-based private equity firm Gaja Capital and other ultra-rich individual investors.

Co-Founder of Flipkart, Bansal is now also the managing director of Navi Technologies. Bansal has already invested over half of his wealth from Flipkart’s exit on Navi.

Bengaluru-based Navi Technologies has made allotments of 1.45 crore equity shares, at a price of ₹140.5 per share. Three entities belonging to Gaja Capital, including Gaja Capital Fund-II, GCFII-B and Gaja Capital India AIF Trust have received the allotments.

The latest private placement follows a fundraising of over Rs 3,000 crore by the company, led by Bansal and other investors earlier this month. It is, however, unclear if Gaja Capital’s investment is part of the same preferential allotment.

The firm Navi Technologies is not yet disclosing much about its future expansion plans rather than explaining their services. They are highly focussed on making financial services more simple, affordable and feasible for customers. Their website also gives the space and invite people to join in for their initiative.

Gaja Capital, promoted by Gopal Jain, has bets in Chumbak, Avendus Capital and Carnation, among others. The investment in Navi is part of a larger round, mostly subscribed by promoter Bansal.

Bansal has completed his education from well know IIT Delhi. Kickstarted his professional career early. He was previously working with Amazon web services and then joined Flipkart. Gradually became the CEO at Flipkart, he worked there for a total span of more than 10 years.

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal invests INR 650 crores in Ola

Sachin Bansal, who left Flipkart in 2018 invested INR 650 crores ($92 million) in Bengaluru based ride-hailing company ‘Ola’ which turns out as the largest investment made by an individual in the fundraising.

Sachin Bansal, who left Flipkart in 2018 invested INR 650 crores ($92 million) in Bengaluru based ride-hailing company ‘Ola’ which turns out as the largest investment made by an individual in the fundraising.

“Ola is one of the India’s most promising consumer business, that is creating deep impact and lasting value for the ecosystem,” said Sachin Bansal.

The investment comes as a part of Ola’s series J funding round under which it is planning to raise $1 Billion (Approximately 7150 cr).

Walmart acquired 77% stake in Flipkart for $16 Billion in 2018.



In October 2017, Ola had announced raising $1.1 Billion funding from China’s Tencent Holding and Softbank Group.

Ola was found in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati.

It is claimed to be one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies having users in more than 125 cities with over a million drivers on its platform.

Flipkart was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in the year 2007. “Sachin is an icon and an inspiration to a whole generation of entrepreneurs” stated Bhavish Aggarwal.





Success story of Sachin Bansal: The entrepreneur who almost shut down Flipkart

We’ve all known Flipkart to be a successful e-commerce giant. However, the founder of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal didn’t have it easy at all points.

We’ve all known Flipkart to be a successful e-commerce giant. However, the founder of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal didn’t have it easy at all points. His journey of building Flipkart into a successful venture was also etched with enough trials and tribulations which almost made him rethink his business plan. He almost lost faith in his idea and was close to shutting it down.

The Reason

The e-commerce site, Flipkart, faced a sharp dip when the company’s assets were evaluated. In TIE-Delhi-NCR, the confident yet unfazed 34-year old was quite disturbed by the valuation of his start-up by organ and Stanley and claimed that that Flipkart existed in theory and didn’t really have much transaction backing it up. In February ’16, Flipkart estimated its total value to be $15.2 billion. However, Morgan marked down at the stake of the company to a $109.37/share which was an all time low at the fund-raiser.

Bansal was unaffected by the move and still believed in execution despite all odds. He also claimed, “There is no doubt in my mind that in three years, we will cross all projections.”

Currently Flipkart was valued at $15 billion after it raised over $700 million from prestigious investors like Tiger Global Management.

Related Post: Flipkart journey: How a modest online bookstore became a multibillion-dollar e-commerce platform

How 2012 Looked For Flipkart

2012 wasn’t a very good year for Flipkart as the e-commerce site had to avail a ‘down round’ of funding.
The founder, Sachin Bansal stated: “The delay in raising money on hopes of better valuations was a wrong business call. It was the toughest time for us. We were hoping that if we delay raising funds that was available, we’d be able to get a better valuation. However, Flipkart had to raise funds at valuations of $750 million compared to $1 billion in the round before it.”



The company didn’t show any records of growth till the end of the year. However, with the reputation of the company at stake, Sachin Bansal took it upon himself to go back to the board and regroup. He had ideas about reducing cost and wanted to figure out more ways to make the company more appealing to consumers.

Related Post: How Sachin Bansal started: Life of Flipkart founder

The Next Step

For any other company, the obvious decision would have been to take a giant step and go public. But, even under continuous speculation. Bansal decided that they’d not go public. H claimed that going public would mean tapping into more public domains which wasn’t really a requirement at that moment. Instead, he believed in the growing market and discarded the idea of raising funds altogether. He also made this decision as he believed that the depth and expansion in the private market currently should be taken advantage of instead of going public completely.
He also claimed that someday they’d need to go public but that wasn’t the correct time for venturing into the public market.

Lessons start-ups could learn from Bansal and his e-commerce venture Flipkart:

1. Tap funds when they’re readily available

The statement “Funds are absolutely essential for a start-up” isn’t foreign to any entrepreneur. Bansal also advises the budding entrepreneurs to raise funds for their business when they’re readily available rather than when they are necessary because that situation isn’t a very desirable one.

This advice was based on a decision taken in 2012 when the company was going through a ‘down round’ of funding phase. He claims that this point is a make or break point for a start-up.

2. Focus when things are going good

Bansal follows the mantra ‘Customer is the king’.

He also advices the budding entrepreneurs to focus on things when the business is good and not when things are going awry. From his standpoint, quality of business and capital issues faced by the business are the two things every entrepreneur should focus on. He also advices that improvement is a gradual process which should take place even when things are going good.

Bansal: “As entrepreneurs we don’t get emotionally attached to solutions; we get emotionally attached to the problem.”

3. The major focus areas

He believes that focus points for a start-up company should be the market conditions and building team strength. Business plan undergo numerous changes so a constant focus on the market opportunities and tapping them in time is crucial.

Related Post: Valuation of Flipkart slashed by two more investors



4. Boundaries are necessary

It may occur to a creative entrepreneur that boundaries are not necessary. But, having certain constraints and don’ts can actually save a start-up from making mistakes.

5. Take criticism with a pinch of salt

Flipkart has faced numerous issues on Big Billion day2014, because it servers shut down and refused to operate properly. However the company came out of that situation and took certain steps to improve in the future.
Also, feedback and criticism garnered from passionate people in the same field is always a good thing as it gives you a chance become better in the future.

Related Post: 11 Heroes who helped build the Indian startup industry

6. Always look out for the greater picture

It sounds repetitive but it is tough to adopt in a business model and at certain points, you’re bound to encounter failure. However, at those points, focus on the positives and the big picture (the sole reason why you started the company) and strive to become better.

7. Keep tabs of your competitors

Keeping tabs of your competitors is necessary as it could teach you about a lot of things you might be doing wrong in your venture. Bansal shops on every other e-commerce site and sends mails to his team regarding areas they could actually improve upon. This is entrepreneurship at its best!

8. Your personal and professional life are different

The life of an entrepreneur can be tough. In the professional space, he has to deal with investors, meetings, decisions and criticism. But once of that space, Bansal is the perfect family man. He has a doting six-year old son and he loves spending time with his son. Separating personal and professional life can have positive effects on your health as well.

Bansal has successfully earned the title of a successful entrepreneurship and deserves every bit of it. If his lessons are kept in mind, every entrepreneur will receive massive help from a man who almost shut down a billion dollar company.

Related Post: How Vijay Shekhar Sharma started – Life of Paytm’s founder





Valuation of Flipkart slashed by two more investors

There is a growing sense of uneasiness within the Flipkart investors as they realize India’s top e-commerce firm to be overvalued. It is still to be seen by how much margin.

There is a growing sense of uneasiness within the Flipkart investors as they realize India’s top e-commerce firm to be overvalued. It is still to be seen by how much margin.

American mutual funds Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II and Valic Co. have joined US asset management firm T. Rowe Price and Morgan Stanley in reducing the value of their investments in Flipkart.

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the mutual fund managed by Fidelity Investments lowered the value of Flipkart shares it owns by almost 40% to $82 apiece as of 29 February 2016 from $135.8 in August last year. Valic marked down the value of its investment in Flipkart by 29% to $98.19 a share from $139 apiece.

In February, global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley had marked down its stake in the Indian e-commerce behemoth Flipkart by 27 percent. The mutual fund, called the Institutional Fund Trust Mid Cap Growth Portfolio, marked its stake in Flipkart at $103.97 per share.

T. Rowe Price slashed the holding value of its investment in Flipkart by 15.1% in its report for the quarter through March 2016.

None of the four firms have given a rationale for the valuation. Lowering valuation of Flipkart hasn’t come as a shocker to industry observers. Market observers have been anticipating correction in valuation of privately held Internet companies.

The markdowns come at a time when Flipkart is reportedly trying to raise more funds amid an intense battle with SoftBank-backed Snapdeal and the local arm of Amazon.com Inc to maintain its supremacy in the Indian e-commerce market.

After that funding galore in the initial years, things in the investment domain have started to slow down from past few years — specially Q4’15. Investors are now looking for a sustainable business model and profitability rather than just initial disruption through technology.

Flipkart also counts Tiger Global Management, Naspers, Accel Partners, Iconiq Capital, GIC, DST Global and Sofina Societe, among others, as investors.

Few financial experts opine that investors in Flipkart, Snapdeal and others would look to exit from these companies in the course of next two to three years.



[Infographics] How Sachin Bansal started: Life of Flipkart founder

The story of how the two men started with just two laptops and grew to its current size is inspirational. At the time of raising $1-billion last year, the Bansals’ combined stake of around 15 per cent in Flipkart was valued at Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion).

Sachin Bansal – The master mind behind the Flipkart idea, one of the first people to establish an e-commerce website in India, an IIT graduate and a business man who created something of a history in the great Indian internet shopping revolution.

At the time of raising $1-billion last year, the Bansals’ combined stake of around 15 per cent in Flipkart was valued at Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion).

The story of how the two men started with just two laptops and grew to its current size is inspirational.

They were not only able to ride India’s robust consumption story, but also earned the investors’ willingness to place their bets on their company.

Image credit: www.forbes.com



Indian e-commerce war: Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal & Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl involved in Twitter spat

The ongoing e-commerce war spilled over to Twitter on Friday, when Sachin Bansal, co-founder of India’s largest online retailer Flipkart, made a direct jibe at competitors – Snapdeal and Paytm.

The ongoing e-commerce war spilled over to Twitter on Friday, when Sachin Bansal, co-founder of India’s largest online retailer Flipkart, made a direct jibe at competitors – Snapdeal and Paytm. Bansal tweeted, “Alibaba deciding to start operations directly shows how badly their India investments have done so far.” Recently, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has stakes in Snapdeal and Paytm, expressed interest in entering India directly this year.

Snapdeal’s co-founder Kunal Bahl was quick to respond to his arch-rival’s tweet, saying, “Didn’t Morgan Stanley just flush $5 billion worth market cap in Flipkart down the…”, accompanied by a toilet emoticon. “Focus on your business, not commentary,” Bahl tweeted. His comment come on the back of Wall Street powerhouse Morgan Stanley recently marked down Flipkart shares by 27%, bringing down the country’s most valuable privately held tech firm’s its valuation to around $11 billion from $15.2 billion.



This is not the first time Bahl and Bansal have locked horns publicly. Last year, Bahl had said in an interview that he will top Flipkart’s gross merchandise value or GMV by the end of 2015. Flipkart responded immediately through another interview, indicating it will remain the number one player in the Indian e-commerce market.

Alibaba holds around 5% stake in Snapdeal and nearly 40% – directly and via its arm Ant Financial – in online payments major and e-tailer Paytm.

The Indian online retail market is seeing a hotly contested battle being fought among the domestic players like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm and the Jeff Bezos-led Amazon. “This shows that none of the existing e-commerce players show leadership of the market. That’s what makes it such an easy decision for Alibaba to enter. Almost $7 billion of investment has gone and yet there’s no winner in sight. So it’s not just a reflection on Snapdeal and Paytm but the whole sector,” an investor in multiple consumer internet companies said.

Indian e-commerce companies have so far been burning millions of dollars in cash on discounting, logistics and marketing to get to a substantial scale. These subsidies have been financed by investors who have ploughed more than $3 billion and $1.5 billion in Flipkart and Snapdeal, respectively. But with the overall funding environment tightening globally and in India, from here on it won’t be easy for these players to rack up financing and consolidation in the market looks imminent.

This article was originally published in Times of India