Former Flipkart employees turn bosses, own more than 40 startups: Report

According to a report by Hindu Business Line, based on the data by PrivateCircle Research, around 44 startups have been founded by former Flipkart employees (popularly known as ‘Flipkart Mafia or Flipsters), having a cumulative valuation of $25 billion.

According to the English Business Daily, of the 44 startups, more than a third (15) of them are e-commerce only. The list includes Udaan, Spinny, and RentoMojo. Then, there are eight fintech companies.

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Besides, six of them have achieved ‘Unicorn’ title, such as PhonePe ($12 billion valuation), Groww ($3 billion valuation), Udaan ($1.75 billion valuation), Spinny ($1.55 billion valuation), and cult.fit ($1.3 billion valuation) and Slice ($1.3 billion valuation). A ‘Unicorn company’ has a valuation of over $1 billion.

However, the data is available only of 44 firms publicly but the real numbers could be higher, the report mentioned.

Sachin and Binny Bansal worked at Amazon Web Services, and within a period of around six months, both of them quit their job and created their own company in 2007 Flipkart in Bengaluru. Now, two decades later, several of Bansals’ former employees have followed similar paths by starting their own ventures.

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Among the 44 startups, eight are backed by Binny Bansal.

Binny Bansal’s earliest investment was in the health and fitness platform cult.fit, founded by ex-Flipkart employee Mukesh Bansal in 2018. Binny invested $41.8 million in the cult.fit. Binny also invested in seven other companies including Slice, Crido.do and Exotel, the oldest start-up founded by a former Flipkart employee. He also invested in Curefoods thrice.

According to the report, the formation of new startups by the “Flipkart Mafias” has a correlation with the company’s Employee stock ownership (ESOP) buybacks.

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In December 2017, Flipkart bought back ESOPs worth over $100 million from over 3,000 current and former employees, and months later, Walmart bought a majority stake in Flipkart in 2018.

Flipkart again exercised ESOP buyback in the same year of $500 million.

In 2018, six former Flipkart employees established six startups.

In 2019, when Flipkart exercised a $100 million ESOP buyback, that year eight startups were created by Flipsters.

During the pandemic, seven startups by ex-Fliokart employees were incorporated. Four startups each were created in 2021 and 2022.

The youngest among the 44 startups by Flipkart Mafias are–Virgio, Volt, Varaha, and Onwo, incorporated in 2022.

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Published: 22 Feb 2024, 10:25 AM IST