India's E-Commerce Power List 2015

9/18/2015
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Indias e-commerce power list 2015

The 25 most powerful people in Indian e-commerce
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MintAsia profiles the 25 most influential peopleentrepreneurs, investors and deal

makersdriving Internet commerce in India. E-commerce start-ups have collectively
raised more than $8 billion from private equity and venture capital investors since the
start of 2014, including nearly $4 billion this year alone, pushing their valuations to
lofty heights. Meet the people who have made online commerce the next big thing in
Asias third largest economy.
AMAZONS MAN IN INDIA: Amit Agarwal, 41
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Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint
Vice-president and country manager, Amazon India

BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur; MS, Stanford University
Long-distance runner, former rock band member
Because Agarwal launched and heads Amazon India, which has become the biggest
challenger to local e-commerce firms. Agarwal has been the head of Amazons ecommerce business in India since 2013
The former technical advisor (2007-09; he has six patents in the US, while 13 more are
pending in the US and eight outside) to Amazon chief Jeff Bezos has charted the
companys course in India with the precision of an academic and the composure of a
Zen master. Maybe its because of the running. You learn the value of long-term
thinking and about running the distance, not against others, says Agarwal.
Under Amit Agarwals leadership, Amazon is keeping Flipkart, the poster boy of Indian
e-commerce founded by two former Amazon employees, on its toes.
Sample this. In the June quarter this year, Amazons salesnet of discounts, product
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returns and taxessurged more than 300% and unit sales grew more than 500% as
against the year ago period. In comparison, Flipkarts unit sales grew by 150% this far
in 2015 while Snapdeal reported a 222% increase in gross merchandise value in the
April-June quarter.
Despite the success of Amazon, Agarwal, a die-hard Amitabh Bachchan fan, maintains
that it is early days for e-commerce in India. He should know; he launched Amazons
business in Italy and Spain, before coming to India.
These are very early days for Indian e-commerce and theres a massive opportunity to
innovate on behalf of the customer. India is uniquely placed with its large,
entrepreneurial SME (small and medium enterprise) ecosystem keen to take
advantage of the digital economy and become national and global businesses, says
Agarwal.
***
TRACKING START-UPS: Abhishek Goyal, 35
Co-founder, Tracxn, the Gartner for start-ups

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BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur

Goyal is a sports buff
Because theres so much happening in the space that it requires special skills and a
start-up like Tracxn to keep track of it all. Goyal founded Tracxn in 2013
Abhishek Goyal is a man of many partstechie, entrepreneur, venture capitalist and
start-up tracker and champion (he admits he is irrationally optimistic).
With co-founder Neha Singh (formerly of Sequoia), he set up Tracxn Technologies Pvt.
Ltd, a data analytics firm to track start-ups around the world. It is currently used by
over 100 venture funds, including Andreessen Horowitz, Google Capital, Sequoia
Capital, even some companies such as Dropbox. It gives investors a perspective of
around 100 sectors ranging from legal tech to blockchain applications apart from
information about start-ups. Tracxn claims to have the largest team of analysts
tracking start-ups globally and data on about 20 million companies.
I think the current frenzy (about start-ups) is only the beginning of a mega-trend.
India is almost the last large consumer market and its openness is very excitingit
allows global players to come to India and push the boundaries of innovationand at
the same time, it open doors for Indian entrepreneurs to go global and open much
larger markets, said Goyal.
Still, no matter what Goyal achieves with Tracxn, he is always going to be known as
the man who convinced his employer Accel Partners to become the first investor in
Flipkart and Myntra. After Accel put up cash, Goyal worked closely with both start-ups
to build their teams. He also ran the beauty and fashion online retailer, Urban Touch,
from 2011 to 2013, until its sale to rival Fashionandyou. Now, Goyal is back to investing
in start-ups as a side job. He has invested in more than 30 start-ups, some in his
personal capacity and some through TracxnLabs, the start-up incubator. Some of his
investments include Delhivery, which most recently raised a series D round of funding
of $85 million, Travel Triangle and Zoomo. I am hoping to back more global companies
in future, said Goyal.
***
THE SURVIVOR: Avnish Bajaj, 45
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Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint
Co-founder, managing director and managing partner, Matrix Partners, a VC fund

BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur; MBA, Harvard Business School
Takes workcations, spends all his free time with kids, going trekking, playing chess
or even cycling
Because Bajaj was part of Indias first dot-com boom (and bust) and now backs some
of Indias largest start-ups. Bajaj sold Bazee in 2004 and co-founded Matrix in 2006
At one point of time in the past decade, Bazee, founded in 2000, at the peak of the first
dot-com boom, was the biggest e-commerce company in India. It was founded by
Avnish Bajaj and Suvir Sujan and built around the eBay model. Not surprisingly, it was
acquired by eBay in a deal that reportedly valued Bazee at $50 million.
Two years after the sale, Bajaj founded Matrix and while the firm missed out on early
e-commerce dealsBajaj, particularly, rues missing out on Snapdealit now boasts a
portfolio that includes ANI Technologies (which runs Ola), Quikr India Pvt. Ltd, and
Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd. The three are among the 10 most valuable start-ups in
India currently.
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True to his provenance, Bajaj backs entrepreneurs, not companiesone reason why
Matrix led the second round of investments in ANI. Over the past 18 months, Matrix
has made 10 seed-stage investments. It has so far exited (fully or partly) five-six firms,
and is looking to make five-six more next year. It also sees itself making around 12
investments every year.
***
THE TRANSPORTER: Bhavish Aggarwal, 29
Photo: OnlyPix
Co-founder and chief executive officer, ANI Technologies, operator of cab aggregator
Ola
BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay
Does not own a personal vehicle. Only uses Ola cabs to commute
Because Ola is a clear market leader, already a unicorn and also holding its own (so
far) against the worlds most highly valued start-up Uber. Founded Ola Cabs in 2010
(along with Ankit Bhati)
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ANI has raised $700 million of capital thus far and is raising $500 million more at a
valuation of $5 billion. It is up against San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc.,
recently valued at around $50 billion.
Yet, this is no David vs Goliath battle. The dominance and tactics of Ola (the brand
under which ANI operates), have made Uber the follower, not the leader in India. And
earlier this year, Bhavish Aggarwal moved quickly to buy smaller rival TaxiForSure for
$200 million in a deal that helped expand Ola its lead and consolidate its status as the
most attractive alternative to Uber for investors who want to bet on cab services.
ANI was quick to bet on the mobile Internet boom and Aggarwal is convinced the good
times will last.
Mobile penetration is growing really fast in India. India is on its way to becoming the
second largest smartphone market globally in the coming year after the US. My view
is that consumer Internet will be driven by mobile in the coming years. Positively
skewed demographics, lower data charges, better connectivity with superior options
like 4G and extremely affordable handsets are making this a reality. This is the time
for on-demand businesses to consider going mobile first if they already havent,
Agarwal said.
***
THE ORIGINAL: Deep Kalra, 46
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Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint
Founder and chief executive, MakeMyTrip

Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management, Indian Institute of ManagementAhmedabad
Because he pioneered online travel booking in India, and not just survived the dotcom meltdown but also went on to list on Nasdaq in 2010. Kalra founded MakeMyTrip
in 2000
Online travel and holiday websites, which facilitate the booking of air tickets and hotel
rooms, are dime a dozen in India. But MakeMyTrip has held its own. Just like it
survived the dot-com bust.
Deep Kalra, the companys founder, is also a member of the executive council of the
National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), charter member
of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), and angel investor; but back in 2000, he was just
another entrepreneur starting up a company in the biggest and worst market there is
for start-upsthe US. The company launched its Indian operations in 2005.
Kalra has seen it allthe dot-com bust, the crisis the travel industry went through
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after 9/11, and venture capitalists who pulled out. But Kalra persevered. In 2010, he
listed his company on the Nasdaq. This year, the company announced the creation of
a $15 million innovation fund in September to support early-stage companies in the
travel space.
In July 2015, it bought around a 28% stake in Indian travel community and holidays
planning recommendation engine HolidayIQ for $15 million. Besides this, it picked up
stakes in Simplotel Technologies Pvt. Ltd and Mygola, among others.
But Kalras biggest achievement is changing the way India travels.
***
THE SEED-CAPITAL MAN: Deepak Gaur, 38
Photo: PradeepGaur/Mint
Managing director, SAIF Partners

BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur
Fitness enthusiast. Meditates regularly, plays badminton
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Because he is the India pointsman for a firm that has, for 14 years now, been one of
the most active early-stage investors in India. Gaur joined SAIF in 2006
It may be fashionable to be an early-stage investor now. It wasnt in the middle of the
last decade, around the time Deepak Gaur joined SAIF.
SAIF counts online travel company MakeMyTrip and search services firm JustDial
among its successful exits, and Gaur has continued in the same vein, making big (and
early) bets on online furniture seller Urban Ladder, movie and events ticketing site
Bookmyshow, logistics provider Rivigo, budget accommodation start-up Treebo Hotels
and food delivery site Swiggy.
With stints in McKinsey and Co. and IBM Global Services in India, Gaur is well
equipped to look at investments in Internet, information technology services,
consumer and the industrial space. That should be seen in the context of the $350
million SAIF raised for a new India-focused fund in March, according to a filing with
US regulatory agency Securities and Exchange Commission.
We believe that the quality of execution and customer experience, in addition to
sound unit economics will be a big differentiator as the industry matures and capital
becomes less freely available. We saw that playing out in the last 2010-11 time frame
when there was some consolidation in e-commerce and is very likely to pan out in
next couple of years, said Gaur.
***
FIRST FOODIE: Deepinder Goyal, 32
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Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint
Co-founder and chief executive officer of Zomato, a food discovery and ordering site
BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi
Parents are teachers, while wife is a professor
Because he changed the way people looked at food ordering and created the first
global app from India. Goyal founded Zomato in 2008
Few entrepreneurs dare to expand in several international markets while they are in
their early stage of business. Deepinder Goyal, the co-founder of Zomato, took that
plunge headlong.
Goyal, 32, and friend Pankaj Chaddah founded Foodiebay, which was later renamed
Zomato in 2010. The idea was simple: to change the way customers browsed for
restaurants or eating joints.
Zomato started as a simple website carrying menus (usually scanned) and featuring
the phone numbers of restaurants. It is now a business valued around $1 billion that
allows customers to order food, book tables, and, in some markets, even pay for it.
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The idea, conceived when Goyal was a consultant at Bain and Co., has become an
enterprise that spans 10,000 cities across 22 countries, including the UK, Australia,
Canada and New Zealand.
Goyal has been an active and eager acquirer. In an acquisition binge last year, he
acquired seven companies including Urbanspoon in the US.
Goyal doesnt shy away from speaking his mind on public issues and is very active on
micro-blogging site Twitter. He stood up for Net neutrality when leading telecom
service provider Airtel launched a platform, Airtel Zero, which would allow free access
of some websites on it network.
He inspires many entrepreneurs by having a successful business globally. Now they
know that a company can build a product in India, for India and then that product can
succeed globally as well, said Mohit Bhatnagar, managing director with Sequoia
Capital, one of the investors in the company.
While Goyal stays away from mentoring new start-ups or playing an angel investor, he
has invested in hyperlocal business Grofers and a mobile marketplace for
crowdsourced work SquadRun.
***
EVERY START-UPS I-BANKER: Gaurav Deepak, 41
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Photo: Bloomberg
Co-founder of Avendus Capital, an investment bank

BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur; post-graduate diploma in business
management, Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta
Because Avendus is the biggest deal maker in the dot-com space
In a recent listing of bulge bracket investment banks released by Thomson Reuters,
Avendus came second only to Morgan Stanley. According to that listing, Avendus
made $7.8 million in terms of i-bank fees in the first half of 2015.
That position is courtesy the deals the bank has done in the digital space. And that is
largely because Gaurav Deepak decided Avendus would create a team to focus on the
space, and then went out and hired Aashish Bhinde to head it. Bhinde has since
emerged the No. 1 rainmaker in the e-commerce space.
Deepak himself is very hands-on as well, as the head of the firms financial advisory
business and the international operations.
The firm has raised capital for online classifieds business Quikr, Internet marketplace
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ShopClues, logistics firm Delhivery, music streaming company Saavn and furniture
and home products site Pepperfry. It also worked on the $200 million acquisition of
TaxiForSure by cab hailing company Ola this year.
***
THIRD TIME LUCKY: Kunal Bahl, 32
Photo:Hemant Mishra/Mint
Co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal.com, an e-commerce marketplace

Graduate from University of PennsylvaniaThe Wharton School
Foodie, passionate about adventure sports; wife has her own start-up supplying
cotton candy for parties
Because he may well be the dark horse in Indias three-cornered e-commerce race.
Bahl founded Snapdeal (along with Rohit Bansal) in 2008
Few entrepreneurs are brave enough to change their business model (termed pivoting
in start-up lingo) once.
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Kunal Bahl has done so twice.

First, he transformed his physical couponing business into an online deals-only
platform.
Then, in 2011, he transformed this into an e-commerce marketplace.
Its been third time lucky for Snapdeal (the companys name is Jasper Infotech), which
is backed by Japans SoftBank, Chinas Alibaba (the company it is modelled after in its
present form), Foxconn and a clutch of global and Indian investors.
Kunal isnt afraid to change gears, said Ken Glass, one of the early investors in
Snapdeal. Kunal also has an uncanny ability to see beyond the short-term and though
pressure is high at the moment, his clarity of vision allows him to consider the more
significant lasting effect of decisions.
Snapdeal isnt Bahls first tryst with entrepreneurship; he floated a detergent company
back in the US while he was a student at the Wharton Business School.
Since the time it was founded, Snapdeal has acquired around 12 start-ups.
In April, Snapdeal acquired mobile recharge services firm Freecharge for $450 million
in a move to create the largest mobile commerce business in the country.
Bahl, who now owns less than 5% in Jasper, turned an angel investor early on and
picked up stake in Ola, a company worth $5 billion today. He has also invested in food
tech start-up Tinyowl and hyperlocal services business Urbanclap.
***
RIDING THE TIGER: Lee Fixel, 35
Co-head of global PE and VC, Tiger Global Management, a venture capital firm
A graduate from the London School of Economics. Also studied science, business
administration, finance, accounting from Washington University
An Indian investor in the skin of an American
Because he is the man who bankrolled e-commerce in India and is the driving force
behind Flipkart
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He isnt seen much, although he is a frequent visitor to India, but until the entry of
investors such as SoftBank Corp. and DST Global last year, Lee Fixel was quite simply
the man who bankrolled e-commerce in India.
People who have worked with him say that Fixel is an Indian in the skin of an
American Jew.
His decisions, they say, arent just driven by the strength of ideas and the size of
market opportunities. There are other factors as wellage (the lower the better),
entrepreneurship track record (none preferred), and a high rank in the entrance
examination to the Indian Institutes of Technology..
New York-based Tiger Global Management has been on the prowl in India since early
2000. Globally, it is largely known as a tech-heavy hedge fund which once invested
mostly in late-stage companies. It was only after its successful exits from US and
Chinese start-ups that Tiger started looking at India, investing in companies such as
MakeMyTrip and JustDial. Both worked for it, and the company bought into the India
story.
Since Fixels first investment in MakeMyTrip in 2007, he has invested in around 50
start-upsfrom Flipkart to Ola to Chaayos to Ather Energy. Though Fixel spearheads
Tiger Global Managements India operations sitting out of New York, he is in the
country once in two months. Fixel moves swiftly on deals, giving him an edge over
other venture capital firms. What makes Lee such an amazing investor is his ability to
take quick decisions based on detailed research and homework. He has an uncluttered
vision of the big picture and tends to back his entrepreneurs to the hilt, said Deep
Kalra, founder of MakeMyTrip Ltd.
***
GLOBAL, BUT HYPERLOCAL: Mohit Bhatnagar, 46
Managing director, Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm
MBA from University of North Carolina
The former Airtel executive worked in various product management roles before
becoming an investor
Because Sequoia was the first real VC firm to enter India
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Sequoia is the 800-pound gorilla of the Indian venture capital business; the US West
Coast firm that was an early investor in Apple Inc., Oracle Corp., Cisco Systems Inc.,
Yahoo Inc., and Google Inc.
It was, for long, the only genuine venture capital firm to operate in the market. It
funded a spate of interesting start-ups that have gone on to become winnersHector
Beverages Pvt. Ltd, Vasan Eyecare and Micromax Informatics Ltd.
Yet, it was also a firm that chose to either sit out the Indian e-commerce opportunity
(for whatever reasons) or missed it entirely (depending on which version of the story
you buy). Mohit Bhatnagar is one of the men driving Sequoias strategy in India. It is a
strategy that is built around several consumer businesses, hyperlocal start-ups and
new media. Two of Indias most successful appsDailyhunt (formerly Newshunt) and
Zomatoare Sequoia portfolio companies.
Bhatnagar, who has worked for Bharti Airtel Ltd and Ericsson AB, believes the future is
in hyperlocal (which could explain why Sequoia has investments in seven such firms),
and that the concept of local rapid product and service delivery will become as allencompassing a trend as mobility.
Five, six years back we used to say, companies are going mobile because the mobile
trend was coming and every company will shift there. In a similar way, all companies
are going to go hyperlocal, said Bhatnagar, who describes his role in portfolio
companies as hands-off and akin to that of an air traffic controller.
***
THE THIRD BANSAL: Mukesh Bansal, 40
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Head, commerce platform, Flipkart

B Tech, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur
Loves working in start-ups. Bansal founded Myntra in February 2007; firm was
acquired by Flipkart in May 2014 for an estimated $350 million
Because Myntra held its own against deep-pocketed rivals before its sale, and,
because, since then, Mukesh has become the third Bansal at Flipkart
Mukesh Bansal scripted one of the most valuable deals in Indian e-commerce when he
sold Myntra, an online fashion store he co-founded in 2007, to cross-town rival
Flipkart for an estimated $350 million. At that time, it was the biggest deal in the
homegrown consumer Internet space until Snapdeal coughed up $400 million for
Freecharge almost a year later.
Start-ups have been Bansals bread and butter, barring a two-year stint at Deloitte. In
earlier interviews, Bansal said he worked with four start-ups, two of which bombed.
This, however, did not deter him from launching Myntra with his personal savings of
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Rs
3
.0 lakh. The company started out with personalized products, but pivoted soon to
online apparel sales. Subsequently, Myntra went on to raise about $160 million before
merging with Flipkart, where Bansal has risen the ranks to become the chief of
Flipkarts commerce business and a board member.
Under Bansals stewardship, Myntra pioneered online fashion retail. The company
convinced people to buy fashion by offering a wide selection, deep discounts and fast
and free delivery. Myntra also launched private brands, which was then unheard of in
Indian e-commerce. Until its sale in May 2014, Myntra had held off competition from
two rivals, which had far deeper pockets: Flipkart and Jabong. The sale catapulted
Bansal into one of Indias most successful entrepreneurs. Even so, his rise at Flipkart
has surprised many analysts. Bansal is one of the top three leaders at Indias most
valuable e-commerce firm, along with its founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.
As head of Flipkarts commerce platform, Mukesh Bansal is in charge of the
companys bread and butter. This is somewhat of an exception in the Indian start-up
ecosystem, where big-ticket takeovers entail exit of the founding team of the acquired
company (TaxiForSure and RedBus for instance).
With Flipkart taking up most of his time, Bansal recently decided to step down as
Myntras CEO. He is now chairman, while former McKinsey India director Ananth
Narayanan has taken over as CEO.
Bansal believes that the spurt in Internet penetration and mobile phone adoption will
boost the growth of e-commerce in the next five years or so.
The Internet is evolving rapidly with almost 85% of traffic generated through mobile
phones and almost all of it being on the app. This year alone, over 120 million
smartphones will be sold in India, as compared with three million laptops, clearly
indicating the move to a mobile-focused economy, he said.
***
SECOND ACT: Nikesh Arora, 47
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Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint
President and chief operating officer, SoftBank Corp.

MS (Boston College); MBA (Northeastern University); Bachelors in Electrical
Engineering; Institute of Technology in Varanasi
Because Arora runs the VC business of SoftBank, which has become one of the most
influential investors in Indian e-commerce. Arora has been investing in India since
2014
As second acts go, Nikesh Aroras will take some doing to beat. In the first, he was
head of sales at Google, perhaps the fourth most visible figure at the firm, after Eric
Schmidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. India and Indian industry adopted him in the
overwhelming way in which they make their own any Indian who has achieved
success on the global stage. Then he quit, to join SoftBank Corp. And was soon named
the person in charge of the firms venture capital business. Many see him as a heir to
the legendary Masayoshi Son.
The big bang entry of SoftBank, an early backer of Chinas Alibaba, has changed the
Indian start-up scene. SoftBank is a genuine tech investing powerhouse. The company
owns roughly one-third of Alibaba, which has a market value of more than $180 billion.
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It is also one of the most prolific start-up investors with a portfolio of anywhere
between 1,300 and 1,500 companies.
Since joining SoftBank last year, Arora helped lead large investments of more than
$900 million in Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd-run Snapdeal, Ola and Housing.
In July, Arora announced that SoftBank will avoid investing in early-stage firms, and
shift its focus entirely towards backing more established start-ups.
***
PEACEKEEPER: Rahul Matthan, 44
Partner at Trilegal, a legal firm

BA LLB (Hons), National Law School of India University
A photography and travel enthusiast who is also a gastronome/food connoisseur
Because he is rapidly emerging as the go-to person for clarity on several legal
aspects of Indias emerging digital landscape
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If there is a company whose business model relies on user-generated content, and

some users post obscene or anti-national content, who will be held liable? How do ecommerce companies deal with users private personal information? Who is liable
when a logistics delivery person gets into an accident because of over-speedingthe
e-commerce company whose parcel he was delivering or the logistics firm he is a
contract-employee of? Are the steep discounts given by these firms anti-competitive?
New-age companies have to deal with new-age challenges and old-world laws.
There are few lawyers who deeply understand technology and the structural
challenges that these companies face. Rahul Matthan, a founding partner at the legal
firm Trilegal, is one such. He advises firms such as Flipkart , Practo and InMobi.
My clients find that the old regulations which apply in the real world are the ones
which come in the way, says Matthan.
Investors in several new-age companies, who are for the most part, foreign, also face
some restrictions as they need approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion
Board, Matthan adds, even as he questions the restrictions on foreign investment in ecommerce.
A foodie and travel enthusiast, Matthan edits two sections related to these on the
blogging platform Medium. His eponymous website directs you, not to a bio of his
work, but to a collection of photographs of people and places from all around the
world.
***
THE ORIGINAL BANSAL: Sachin Bansal, 35
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Co-founder and CEO, Flipkart

BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi
Father and brother are both businessmen, wife is a dentist
Because he (and co-founder of Flipkart, Binny Bansal, no relation) remain the first
names that come to mind when one talks of e-commerce in India
It started with books. It started with Sachin Bansal and co-founder Binny Bansal
standing outside the once iconic Gangaram bookstore in Bengalurus MG Road and
handing out Flipkart bookmarks to anyone who came out with a book. It started as a
Amazon clone.
Eight years on, Flipkart is valued at $15 billion, the posterchild of Indias e-commerce
boom. It has staved off (so far, at least) competition from Amazon (and its $2 billion
war chest for India). And Sachin and Binny Bansal have backed companies such as
electric scooter maker Ather, online art platform TouchTalent, news portal News In
Shorts, Internet-first kitchen Spoonjoy, start-up incubator TracxnLabs and offline
games start-up MadRat Games.
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People who have worked with Sachin Bansal say the hard-earned success and
personal wealthhe holds about 8-9% stake in Flipkarthas not got into his head.
They claim he is still grounded and spends more than 12 hours a day devising
Flipkarts next big leap. With a bevy of senior executives from Google and Motorola on
board, Sachin Bansal is gradually moving away from overseeing day-to-day operations
in the company and increasing focus on strategy and new projects. To begin with,
Bansal is spearheading the companys entry into the advertisement business.
***
INDIAS JOBS MAN: Sanjeev Bikhchandani, 52
Founder and executive vice-chairman, Info Edge, an e-commerce/online classifieds

firm
Post-graduate diploma in business management, Indian Institute of ManagementAhmedabad
Because he is one of the few Internet entrepreneurs in India who managed to survive
the 1999-2000 dot-com bust, now runs an Internet conglomerate, and is an investor to
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boot. Bikhchandani founded Info Egde in 1995

In 2000, after saying no for years, Info Edges Sanjeev Bikhchandani finally said yes
and raised $1.7 million from ICICI Venture for his jobs site Naukri.com. But the dot-com
bust happened. So, Bikhchandani put the money in a fixed deposit.
Today, Info Edge is a conglomerate. It runs real estate classifieds site 99acres.com,
matrimonial website Jeevansathi.com and education classifieds business
Shiksha.com, apart from Naukri.com. And Bikhchandani himself has sort of emerged
the elder statesman of the Internet space in India, although his pet cause is education
(he is involved in Ashoka University, which aims to push the case of liberal arts
education in India).
Naukri was born at a time when print ruled the jobs classifieds business. For its first
six months, the website just uploaded appointment ads from newspapers and
magazines (for free).
Bikhchandani is an early investor in food discovery and ordering site Zomato. He
made a $1 million investment in it in 2010 and has followed it up with investments
worth a total of Rs
3
.27 crore. As of September 2015, Info Edge owns a 47% stake in
Zomato. Besides Zomato, Bikhchandani has invested in insurance advisory and lead
generation site Policybazaar India and education site Meritnation.
***
START-UP SHAMAN: Sharad Sharma, 51
26/44
9/18/2015
Co-founder and CEO of BrandSigma

BE, Delhi College of Engineering
Because hi-tech product start-ups need a voice, a cheerleader and a champion, and
Sharma is all rolled into one
Sharad Sharma is a bear and that is not an entirely bad thing. Even as the valuations
of consumer Internet unicorns soar, his is a singular voice of reasonurging people to
be cautious, innovative and understand that blindly following precedents set
elsewhere in the world will not do. Through iSpirt, the active angel investor and CEO of
BrandSigma (he was previously head of Yahoos research and development arm in
India), has been pushing his innovation agenda and championing the cause of new
software product start-ups. There is copy-paste entrepreneurship, and theres
innovation-led entrepreneurship and in China copy-paste entrepreneurship has
worked because its a closed market. Global competitors cannot operate in that space.
But India is not China. So copy-paste entrepreneurship will not work. And, therefore,
India has to focus on innovation-led entrepreneurship, and all the Chinese, Japanese,
Russian and American private equity money that has come to support copy-paste
27/44
9/18/2015
entrepreneurship will be disappointed in the future, says Sharma.

Sharmas own angel investments include Stayzilla, Ezetap, Druva software, MyPoolin,
Wishberry, LetsVenture, Ciafo and Frrole.
***
DIE-HARD ANGEL: Sasha Mirchandani, 40
Photo: Mint
Founder and managing director of Kae Capital, an early-stage investment fund

Post-graduate diploma in business management, Indian Institute of ManagementAhmedabad
Hails from the Onida family (Mirc Electronics Ltd); his wife, an alumnus of LSE, helps
make investment decisions at the fund
Because hes one of the most respected angel investors and has backed companies
such as InMobi and Myntra. He founded Kae in 2011
Sasha Mirchandani, the buzz in Indias start-up world goes, is the man to call if you
28/44
9/18/2015
have an idea. He understands both traditional and new-age businesses, the first the
result of his lineage and the second, his experience. He is also very well connected to
investors with deep pockets as well as investment bankers. Both combinations are
difficult to find in one personand they are just the things young start-ups need.
After trying his hand at a healthcare back office company and running the Indian
operations of a global venture capital fund, Mirchandani decided to become an angel.
In 2006, at a time when few people realised what angel investing meant, he set up
Mumbai Angels (an individual investment network). He has made personal
investments in companies such as InMobi, Healthkart and Myntra (acquired by
Flipkart). In 2011, he set up Kae Capital. Its investments include companies like
Trulymadly (dating app), Frsh (food tech) and Porter (logistics). The fund has seen one
international exit through Zipdial that was bought by Twitter in 2015. He is in the
process of raising a second fund this year.
While he backs some companies even in later stages, Mirchandani has a strict rule of
not putting more than 10% of his fund in any single company. In short, he doesnt bet
his house on one start-up.
***
THE CHIEF OPERATING INVESTOR: Subrata Mitra, 49
29/44
9/18/2015
Partner, Accel Partners, a venture capital firm

BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur; PhD in computer science, University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Because Accel has invested in companies that have become the standard-bearers in
their respective domains. Mitra has been involved in four acquisitions
Subrata Mitra, a former entrepreneur, has been a part of four successful acquisitions:
Flipkarts buyout of Myntra; Western Digita Corp.s all-cash acquisition of Virident Inc.
for $685 million; Ameriquest Mortgage Co.s acquisition of Tavant Technologies Inc.,
where Mitra served as managing director; and Ubiquio Corp.s acquisition of Firewhite
Inc., a company he founded.
Before Accel, Mitra, Prashant Prakash and, a third Accel partner, Mahendra
Balachandran, ran Erasmic Venture Fund. Erasmic was bought by Accel in 2008.
Mitra is a hands-on investor. Be it guiding Myntra during its transition from a
personalized products business to a fashion destination, helping Flipkart figure out
which operating metrics mattered in its early days to helping Virident hire a software
team, he has done it all. I was effectively the first chief operating officer for Mu-Sigma
30/44
9/18/2015
for the first six to eight months, helping hire the entire senior team, talking to early
customers..., says Mitra, who serves on the board of Flipkart, Myntra, Mu-Sigma,
CommonFloor and Virident.
These investments, and more like them in Bookmyshow, TaxiForSure and Freshdesk
have made Accel, the venture capital firm to watch in India.
***
THE SOCIAL RETAILER: Suchi Mukherjee, 39
Founder, LimeRoad.com, an e-commerce marketplace for womenswear

MSc, London School of Economics
A hands-on mother of two girls; Mukherjee is married to a Royal Bank of Scotland
Plc banker
Because she launched social commerce firm LimeRoad, which is trying to take on
the likes of Myntra and others by selling fashion in a new format. She is also one of
the few Indian women entrepreneurs who has created a valuable business online
31/44
9/18/2015
Its a bad name to mention in September, but Suchi Mukherjees first job was as an
investment banker at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Thats where she learned about
telecom. In 2003, she moved to the consumer division of Virgin Media Inc. And in 2006,
she moved to eBay Inc., where she was part of the teams managing Skype and
Gumtree.
The launch of LimeRoad can, in some ways, be explained as the distillation of all those
experiences. Mukherjee was always passionate about fashion, clothing and
accessories; she clubbed this passion with a mission to reach out to Indian and global
markets through an online medium. Her idea was to create an online magazine that
would capture current trends and make women feel the need to buy into them
instantly.
Mukherjees business model was way ahead of time, but fashion discovery, a curated
marketplace, and content were the pillars that build LimeRoad. She didnt go down the
discounting route. And she wanted her business to always generate more cash than it
burned; the company looks at margins of between 20% and 25%. LimeRoad has raised a
total of $50 million in funding so far. Matrix Partners, Lightspeed Ventures and Tiger
Global are investors in the company. While many e-commerce companies in India
have male founders, Mukherjee is one of the few women (others include Richa Kar of
Zivame ) who has created a valuable business and a name for herself in the Internet
business.
***
THE INDIAN VC TO WATCH: Suvir Sujan, 43
Founder and managing director at Nexus Venture Partners, a VC firm
MBA, Harvard Business School
Because, with Sequoia and Accel, Nexus completes the trio of VC firms that has been
most active in India, and it is a home-grown firm
With partner Avnish Bajaj, also a venture capitalist now, Suvir Sujan, a former Boston
Consulting Group consultant, founded Bazee, modelled on eBay Inc., and then sold it
to, who else, eBay. In 2006, he co-founded Nexus with Naren Gupta and Sandeep
Singhal.
Sujans headline investments include online marketplace Snapdeal, logistics provider
32/44
9/18/2015
Delhivery, food ordering app TinyOwl and real estate portal Housing. Of these,
Snapdeal and Delhivery, valued at an estimated $4.5 billion and $400 million,
respectively, are two of the top six most valuable start-ups in India. Sujans other highprofile investments include advertisement technology firm Pubmatic and classifieds
site Olx. These bets have helped make Nexus the pre-eminent Indian venture capital
firm. Nexus invested in both Snapdeal and Delhivery before their business models
became popular with investors. We took a contrarian bet and focused on
marketplaces and e-commerce enablers (b2b) when inventory and consumer b2c
were the buzzwords a few years ago. So far, we feel that most of our bets are market
leaders in their spaces and are playing out well, Sujan says.
As a former entrepreneur himself, Sujan prefers the light touch while dealing with
start-up founders.
We like to be invited guests on the board. (We) help where the entrepreneur wants
help. (But) generally entrepreneurs seek our help given our operating backgrounds,
Sujan adds.
***
BAD COP: Vani Kola, 51
33/44
9/18/2015
Photo: Jagadeesh NV/Mint
Managing director at Kalaari Capital Partners

MS, electrical engineering (Arizona State University); BS, electrical engineering
(Osmania University)
Went to engineering school at 16. Climbed Mt Kilimanjaro; runs marathons
Because she has been more adept than most other investors in identifying inflection
points. Kola has been investing in India since 2006
In our first meeting, she asked us so many tough questions that I thought the meeting
didnt go well. I expected never to hear from her again, says Kunal Bahl, co-founder of
Snapdeal, one of Kalaaris investments.
Indeed, Vani Kola has something of a bad cop image in the start-up ecosystem.
But she called back in a couple of hourswith more questions, adds Bahl.
Kola, a successful tech entrepreneur in the US for two decades, returned to India in
2006. Along with her partners Rajesh Raju and Kumar Shiralagi, she has built an
enviable portfolio: Snapdeal, Myntra (acquired by Flipkart), Zivame, Urban Ladder,
34/44
9/18/2015
SimpliLearn and HushBabies, among others. Kola has been ahead of others in
identifying inflection points, and encouraging her companies to pivotrefine or
change their business models. For instance, she encouraged Mukesh Bansal of Myntra
to pivot the start-up to a full-fledged online fashion retailer from a seller of
personalized products and backed Snapdeals Bahl when he wanted to shift to an
online marketplace from a deals site.
***
SPEED RACER: Vijay Shekhar Sharma, 37
Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint
Founder, One97 Communications and Paytma mobile wallet and e-commerce

marketplace; Sharma also holds a payments bank licence
BE, Delhi College of Engineering
Because the Indian economy is rapidly becoming a cashless one and he is at the
vanguard of the transformation. Sharma founded his first start-up when he was 18
Vijay Shekhar Sharma loves speed. Whether it is driving at 200km per hour, sky diving
35/44
9/18/2015
or creating a $100 billion company, he wants pace in his life.

One company differs from other not in ideas and strategy, but only in the speed of
execution, says the entrepreneur, who hails from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Sharma, founder of Paytm, a mobile wallet and e-commerce marketplace, is among
the 11 recipients of a payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He
is also the most recent entrant to jump into the fray in Indias hyper-competitive ecommerce space. He was derided by some analysts when he announced he wanted to
enter the marketplace business and take on Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. He stuck
to his plans and convinced Chinas Alibaba to pump in at least $575 million into Paytm
earlier this year. He is betting that Paytms large customer base of 22 million people
can be converted into shoppers for mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other products.
Sharma was only 18 years old when he founded his first company in the digital
services spaceXs Corp.; three years later, he sold it for $1 million. He then founded a
mobile content company, One97 Communications, in 2001. In 2006, the company
expanded into mobile marketing. The business generates over Rs
1.
00 crore of profits
every year, Sharma claims.
In 2011, Sharma launched Paytm with the aim of creating Indias largest payments
network. Born to a retired school principal and a home maker, Sharma is known for
his humility and a sharp mind. And his unrivalled ambition. He claims he will build
Paytm into a global business. I believe India has the potential to generate their own
Alibaba, Tencent and Taobao, he says.
***
THE LISTINGS MAN: Venkatachalam Sthanu Subramani (VSS Mani), 49
36/44
9/18/2015
Photo: Getty Images
Founder and CEO, JustDial.com

Didnt complete either his bachelors degree in commerce or CA
Because hes one of the very few tech entrepreneurs whos delivered actual value to
shareholders by taking his company public. Mani had started JD (AskMe) in 1989
Venkatachalam Sthanu Subramani, the chief executive officer of Indias largest search
engine JustDial.com (JD), has successfully managed to digitize the telephone
directory and his company owns one of the biggest databases in the country.
In a business that is increasingly become data-oriented, that is a big advantage.
Originally conceived as AskMe in 1989, Mani has made JustDial synonymous with
classifieds after its reincarnation in 1998.
His efforts attracted over $60 million in venture capital funding before the company
went public in 2013 and decided to sell shares worth up to Rs
9
.50 crore. It remains the
second biggest initial public offer by a domestic Internet company. And unlike tech
entrepreneurs who are left with single-digit stakes in their companies after a few
years, Mani and his family still own 32.6% of the companys shares.
37/44
9/18/2015
The company has a market capitalization of Rs

7
.,600 crore; it posted a net profit of Rs
3
.3.17
crore in the first quarter of 2015-16 and directly employs close to 11,000 people.
JD has helped local handymen widen their reach and laid the foundation for the boom
in the on-demand service sector in India. While JD is facing competition from a host
of new start-ups, it still gets over two million enquiries per day.
We have not even scratched the surface as yet, Mani says and adds that only 2.5% of
the businesses listed in JD pay money. JD is now launching lifestyle apps and
entering new segments to further expand the scope of a company which started off by
merely getting and listing phone numbers.
***
SERIOUS ABOUT TECH: Yuri Milner, 54
Photo: Reuters
Founder DST Global, a venture capital firm

Theoretical Physics (Moscow University); MBA (Wharton Business School)
Married to contemporary artist Julia Milner
38/44
9/18/2015
Because hes one of the few genuine tech investing powerhouses operating in India
and holds stakes in several large start-ups
Billionaire investor Yuri Borisovich Milner has time and again proved his keen eye for
a profitable venture. The 62nd richest man on the planet with an estimated $3.1 billion
of wealth, according to Forbes, Milners early bets include social media giant Facebook
Inc. and Twitter Inc.
His venture capital firm DST Global is now trying to replicate that success in India.
DST holds significant minority stakes in two of the three largest start-ups: Flipkart and
Ola. Milner, in his personal capacity, has also invested in Practo and Grofers, two other
fast-growing start-ups. The four start-ups referred to above are collectively worth
nearly $20 billionnot bad for an investor who entered India barely 15 months ago.
DST, with its large international network, and experience in helping take large startups public will be an important adviser to Indian start-ups such as Flipkart and Ola
that are expected to go public eventually. DST is also one of the few serious large tech
investors operating in India. Such large firms form an essential component of any
successful start-up ecosystem.
Compiled by Ashna Ambre, Mihir Dalal, Priyanka Sahay, Sadhana Chathurvedula,

Sayan Chakraborty, Sharan Poovanna and Shrutika Verma.
Ashna Ambre |
Sayan Chakraborty |
Mihir Dalal |
Priyanka Sahay |
Sharan Poovanna |
TOPICS: E-COMMERCE ONLINE RETAIL
CEOS
Sadhana Chathurvedula |
Shrutika Verma
FLIPKART
AMAZON
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First Published: Fri, Sep 18 2015. 01 03 AM IST
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MintAsia profiles the 25 most influential peopleentrepreneurs, investors and deal

Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

Vice-president and country manager, Amazon India

Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

Co-founder, Tracxn, the Gartner for start-ups

BTech, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur

Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint

Co-founder, managing director and managing partner, Matrix Partners, a VC fund

Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

Founder and chief executive, MakeMyTrip

Managing director, SAIF Partners

Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

Co-founder of Avendus Capital, an investment bank

Co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal.com, an e-commerce marketplace

Kunal Bahl has done so twice.

Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

Head, commerce platform, Flipkart

Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

President and chief operating officer, SoftBank Corp.

Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

Partner at Trilegal, a legal firm

If there is a company whose business model relies on user-generated content, and

Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

Co-founder and CEO, Flipkart

Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

Founder and executive vice-chairman, Info Edge, an e-commerce/online classifieds

boot. Bikhchandani founded Info Egde in 1995

Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint

Co-founder and CEO of BrandSigma

entrepreneurship will be disappointed in the future, says Sharma.

Founder and managing director of Kae Capital, an early-stage investment fund

Partner, Accel Partners, a venture capital firm

Founder, LimeRoad.com, an e-commerce marketplace for womenswear

Photo: Jagadeesh NV/Mint

Managing director at Kalaari Capital Partners

Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

Founder, One97 Communications and Paytma mobile wallet and e-commerce

or creating a $100 billion company, he wants pace in his life.

Photo: Getty Images

Founder and CEO, JustDial.com

The company has a market capitalization of Rs

Founder DST Global, a venture capital firm

Compiled by Ashna Ambre, Mihir Dalal, Priyanka Sahay, Sadhana Chathurvedula,

TOPICS: E-COMMERCE ONLINE RETAIL

First Published: Fri, Sep 18 2015. 01 03 AM IST

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Emami: Fuelling ambition by acquisition