After having led Flipkart to its glory, Bansal started Navi Technologies and is pursuing opportunities in the banking financial services and insurance sector
Co-founder of homegrown e-commerce marketplace Flipkart Sachin Bansal is known as the flag-bearer of the Indian startup ecosystem. The 1981-born Bansal comes from a Chandigarh-based business family. He scored rank 49 in JEE to go on to get a degree in computer science engineering from IIT Delhi.
Before starting Flipkart with college batchmate Binny Bansal, he worked at Amazon, which is where he met his co-founder.
Much like Amazon, they built Flipkart as an online bookstore with an investment of Rs 4 lakh. The first book they sold in 2007 was ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World’ by John Wood.
When renting space for Flipkart’s first office, Bansal assured the skeptical landlord of being able to pay rent on time.
In 2009, Flipkart was able to raise $1 million from Accel Partners. By 2010, Flipkart was selling everything from electronics to digital movies, music and games.
Under his leadership Flipkart attracted interest of investors like Naspers, Tiger Global, San Francisco-based multi-family office ICONIQ Capital and Softbank.
After having led Flipkart to its glory, Bansal stepped down as the company’s chief executive officer in 2016. In 2018, he sold his entire ~5.5% stake to Walmart for $1 billion in 2018.
After Flipkart Bansal went on to start BAC Acquisitions that focused on building and acquiring technology-driven businesses. Recently, he started Navi Technologies and is pursuing opportunities in the banking financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector. He has even applied for a bank license.
Information and illustration courtesy: Kanan Bahl
