Flipkart's journey is symbolic of the changing global perception of India's startup ecosystem over the past fifteen years. Here's why
Sachin Bansal (left) and Binny Bansal, co-founders, at their Flipkart office in Bengaluru in 2009
Image: Getty Images
Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, two IIT-graduates quit their jobs at Amazon to start an online retail business from an apartment in Bengaluru and an initial investment of ₹4 lakh. Two years later, in September 2009, the founders raised their first round of institutional funding of $1 million from US-based venture capital firm Accel. Within weeks, they opened offices in Delhi and Mumbai and hired over 150 people. This marked the beginning of the new-age startup’s meteoric growth and a critical turning point for the country’s budding startup ecosystem.
This is the story of ecommerce pioneers Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. Flipkart, the company they set up, changed the global perception of India’s startup ecosystem when Walmart, in the world’s largest ecommerce M&A deal, bought a 77 percent stake in the company for $16 billion in 2018. Nearly six years later, the loss-making Initial Public Offering (IPO)-bound company is valued at $35 billion and is preparing to foray into the quick commerce market.
In a way, Bansal’s and Flipkart’s journey is symbolic of the changing face of India’s startup ecosystem which gained momentum fifteen years ago. For instance, Mobikwik, Milk Mantra, CarTrade, among others, joined newly minted tech-startups such as Zomato (formerly FoodieBay), Policybazaar, and EaseMyTrip to disrupt India’s business landscape. In 2009, according to industry data, 75 startups were founded and venture capitalists (VCs) invested $475 million.
“Fundraising was far from easy because while the number of companies was far fewer, the venture investment ecosystem was close to non-existent because no one had seen success,” Snapdeal and Titan Capital’s co-founder Kunal Bahl reminisces.
There’s been a sea change since then.
(This story appears in the 31 May, 2024 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)