Flipkart cofounder readies war chest for startups
Binny Bansal, who in July offloaded stake in Flipkart for $200-4250mn, already backed 47 companies; Last week, he invested in new-age credit card startup Slice, which emerged as unicorn after raising $220 mn at a valuation of over $1 bn
Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal
Hard-line Angel Investor
- Bansal is anchor investor in 021 Capital
- Spearheading investing via 021 Capital
- Latest investments include Slice, Mindhouse, BrightChamps, etc
Bengaluru: Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal is likely to go aggressive as an angel investor along with more funding through 021 Capital, in which he is an anchor investor post selling minority stake in Flipkart. Sources in the know said that after selling a minority stake in Flipkart in July for about $200 million- $250 million, Bansal will be more prolific in his investment bets in the Indian startup ecosystem.
Post his departure from Flipkart, Bansal has been actively funding startups as an angel investor.
He has backed about 47 companies so far spread across 64 funding rounds, according to data from analytics firm Tracxn. This includes 28 deals in the seed stage, 14 in early and 4 in late-stage, among others.
Last week, he invested in new-age credit card startup Slice, which turned into a unicorn after raising $220 million at a valuation of over $1 billion. Bansal has also participated in a seed funding round of $6 million in curative wellness platform Mindhouse, launched by Zomato's cofounder Pankaj Chaddah.
Through 021 Capital, he has backed edtech startup BrightChamps, valued at close to $500 million, insurtech startup Acko, which turned into a unicorn this year and electric vehicle startup Ather Energy among others.
"Whether he will be aggressive in investing into startup is not known yet, but the trend of founders and millionaire employees betting big on startups is definitely good news for the Indian startup ecosystem," Navin Rungta, Co-Founder at LawGro & eLagaan told the Bizz Buzz. Bansal still holds around 2.4 per cent in ecommerce major Flipkart after the July stake sale, which valued the company $37.6 billion.
Like Binny Bansal, Flipkart's other cofounder Sachin Bansal is also investing heavily into new age startups through his investment arm Navi Technologies. Currently, Navi has several companies in its portfolio including bike rental firms Vogo and Bounce, lending startup KrazyBee and two NBFCs – Altico Capital and IndoStar Capital among others. He has also acquired microlender Chaitanya India Fin Credit for Rs739 crore.
The microlender is one of the applicants seeking a universal banking license from the Reserve Bank of India. Navi has also ventured into lending, general insurance, and mutual funds.
Navi Technologies has turned profitable for the year ending March 31, 2021. The insurance aggregator startup reported a profit of Rs71crore in FY21, against a loss of Rs8 crore in FY20.
