Flipkart billionaire Binny Bansal breaks his silence after Walmart ouster

He’s moving on from an episode that roiled India’s tech arena

Companies News: It’s been less than three months since Binny Bansal’s shock ouster from Flipkart, the e-commerce giant he founded over a decade ago. The entrepreneur once celebrated for jumpstarting India’s internet retail industry is now dedicating himself to helping other founders get their startups off the ground.

Bansal, who departed after Flipkart’s new owner Walmart Inc. investigated alleged personal misconduct, is now focused on xto10x Technologies, a startup he co-founded with former colleague Saikiran Krishnamurthy. It’s aimed at helping entrepreneurs navigate the often-tricky Indian startup scene. Binny Bansal’s already put together an early team, set up an office at a co-working space and even snagged several “leading” startup customers.

“I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my life,” the 37-year-old said in his first interview since the episode. “Person to person, I can help 10 startups but the ambition is to help 10,000 early and mid-stage entrepreneurs, not 10,” he said, seated across a table at a restaurant in a Bangalore neighborhood, not far from where he and Sachin Bansal (no relation) set up Flipkart in a two-room apartment to sell books. While Binny Bansal was his usual loquacious self, he mostly clammed up when the topic of his 2018 departure came up. That followed Walmart’s $16 billion acquisition of the company, a deal that stunned the domestic tech industry and made him and Sachin billionaires…

Flipkart's Bansals are officially out of the billionaire club

Net worth may have dropped to $870 mn after Flipkart's latest funding

 

Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are no longer a part of the billionaire club after the company closed a $1.4-billion funding round.

The two men, in their mid-thirties, became India’s first start-up billionaires after Flipkart closed a $700-million round, at a valuation of $15.2 billion, in July 2015. Forbes had then reported they owned 7.5 per cent each in the company, making each of them worth $1.15 billion.

However, with Flipkart’s latest funding round seeing its valuation drop by a little over 23 per cent to $11.6 billion, and if the shareholding of each founder hasn’t changed, their net worth will drop to around $870 million. 

Considering that the company was forced to go in for a fresh funding round, the founders’ shareholding is likely to have been diluted further. Hence, it’s clear they are out of the billionaire club.| read more...

Flipkart loses top talent yet again, CFO Sanjay Baweja quits

Flipkart co-founder and chief executive Binny Bansal’s struggle to retain top talent continues as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sanjay Baweja quit a little under two years after joining the company from Tata Communications.

Baweja’s exit comes at a time when Bansal’s push to revive growth after a year’s gap was beginning to work.

At the same time, Flipkart’s efforts to raise fresh funds from investors to fuel business and fend off aggressive competition from global rival Amazon faces a setback with this exit.

Confirming Baweja’s exit, a Flipkart spokesperson said the company was looking for a replacement.

Baweja will continue to be with the company till December-end.

Since the top management rejig in January this year, which saw Bansal take over the reins as CEO, exits in the top echelons of Flipkart have become common. Punit Soni, the star hire from Google, quit the company less than a year after he joined.

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Flipkart loses top talent, CFO quits

Flipkart co-founder and chief executive Binny Bansal’s struggle to retain top talent continues as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sanjay Baweja quit a little under two years after joining the company from Tata Communications.

Baweja’s exit comes at a time when Bansal’s push to revive growth after a year’s gap was beginning to work.

At the same time, Flipkart’s efforts to raise fresh funds from investors to fuel business and fend off aggressive competition from global rival Amazon faces a setback with this exit.

Confirming Baweja’s exit, a Flipkart spokesperson said the company was looking for a replacement.

Baweja will continue to be with the company till December-end.

Since the top management rejig in January this year, which saw Bansal take over the reins as CEO, exits in the top echelons of Flipkart have become common. Punit Soni, the star hire from Google, quit the company less than a year after he joined.

Read more....