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Entrepreneur of the Year Sachin Bansal Flipkart
THE
AWARD SEEKS TO
recognise the ability of a business leader to enter the big league and take
on the best in the world
With
a Cartful of Goodies, He Flipped Many Conventions on Their Head
It has taken Sachin Bansal, 32, a mere six years to
build Flipkart, the country’s best-known online retail brand. In awarding
him the Entrepreneur of The Year award, the jury recognised Bansal’s acumen
by saying he has “out-innovated everyone else” in the sector.
The IIT-Delhi alumnus started off with college friend Binny Bansal in a
small flat in southeast Bangalore in 2007 with 4 lakh.
The two, who are not related to each other, had worked in Amazon India for
a few months before they launched Flipkart.
Sachin, who leads the Bangalorebased ecommerce venture as its chief
executive officer, has battled scepticism and regulatory constraints to
build a company that expects to post sales of $1 billion, or over 6,200
crore, by 2015.
“This award is an honour and an important milestone that validates our
beliefs,” he said. “Many people have been sceptical of our strategy. But
now, not just our investors and customers, even the business community and
the press are recognising us,” he added.
In July, the company received 1,200 crore in funding from South African
Internet company Naspers, venture fund Accel Partners, investment firm
Tiger Global and San Francisco-based multi-family office ICONIQ Capital.
The deal cemented Flipkart’s position as the best-capitalised company in
the Indian ecommerce industry. It has raised around 3,000 crore of risk
capital, the most by an Indian ecommerce firm.
The year 2010 was when Flipkart pulled ahead of the pack. The company,
which had become the leader in online retail of books by then, diversified
into digital movies, music and games as well as electronics. It raised
money from international fund Tiger Global, which joined existing investor
Accel Partners to become the primary backers of Flipkart. The company
registered sales of 5 crore in 2008-09, 20 crore in 2009-10 and reached the
milestone of 100 crore the following year.
Flipkart’s cash-on-delivery model has been copied by almost every other
ecommerce company in the country and now accounts for a majority of
transactions across all online retail sites.
Flipkart’s success has come not just from online retail, but also from its
focus on building technology services at the back end. It has set up a
logistics arm that has ensured quick deliveries to customers. Flipkart Payment
Gateway Services, which launched an online payments solutions gateway
PayZippy earlier this year, will soon be available for use by other
merchants and end-customers.
The biggest change in the business model has been in response to regulatory
requirements. Multi-brand online ventures are not allowed to receive
foreign direct investment. The company has tweaked its business model and
is becoming an online marketplace, where numerous merchants can reach out
to customers through Flipkart, which does not own the inventory. The
company has around 500 sellers on its marketplace.
Flipkart claims to have over 95 lakh users, and employs around 6,000
people.
A ardent gamer, Sachin believes that mainstream recognition for startups
will encourage top talent to work with young companies or start out on
their own. “This will make a lot more people hungry for success.”
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