How Former Flipkart CEO is Expanding His Portfolio

In 2018, after stepping down from the CEO’s position at Flipkart, Sachin Bansal did not pause his entrepreneurial ambitions. Leaving his full-time C-level role, the entrepreneur began growing interest in various other domains and thus in little more than a year, Bansal has added 18 financial assets to his portfolio already. Recently, two new companies have become a part of his portfolio namely, Chaitanya India Finance and Kissht.

Both the invested companies are fundamentally lending institutions, which alludes Bansal’s inquisitiveness toward the financial and lending segment. Previously, in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, which was held in Bengaluru, Bansal said that he has chosen the financial services  and fin-tech sectors as his main focus areas after departing from Flipkart, as reported by the daily news, The Times of India.

Betting on the Financial Sector

Earlier in June, Bansal had invested INR 200 crore in the form of debt papers to Piramal Enterprises Ltd, which issued NCDs (Non-Convertible Debentures). The Mumbai-headquartered company essentially deals in the pharma and financial sectors. Following this, former Flipkart CEO also invested in the lending platform Kissht and micro-finance firm Chaitanya India Finance, a sum of INR 50 crore and INR 25 crore respectively, as reported by the daily news, TheEconomic Times.

According to the media reports, Bansal had invested in Kissht through his co-founded company, BAC Acquisitions.

These are some of the recent investments made by Bansal. Apart from the cited investments, the tech entrepreneur has bet on other companies as well.

Previous Investments

In the last six-years, Bansal has made several investments – equity investments, debt investments and angel investments – solely as well as collectively. According to the business intelligence platform, Venture Intelligence, Bansal has made $53 million investments till now, adding Ola and Ather Energy to his kitty. Alongside this, he has made numerous debt investments since he left Flipkart’s board.

So far, Bansal has pumped in $129 million as debt investments in 9 companies namely, Altico Capital ($35 million), Indostar Capital Finance ($35 million), Piramal Enterprises ($29 million), VOGO ($10 million), Kissht ($7 million), Bounce ($4 million), Chaitanya India Fin Credit ($4 million), Boat ($3 million) and KrazyBee ($3 million), according to Venture Intelligence.

In the period between 2013 to 2016, Sachin Bansal made numerous angel investments – Unacademy, Intelligent Interfaces, Sigtuple, Pandorum Technologies, Spoonjoy, Plabro, Wrig Nanosystems, Team Indus, Ather Energy, Madrat Games, Tripoto, Touchtalent, Inshorts, Zopper, and Tracxn.