Freecharge founder Kunal Shah, who founded the online recharge venture in 2010 and subsequently sold it to Snapdeal for $400 million in 2015, is on verge of raising capital of $30 million for his new startup. The funds if raised will perhaps be largest Series A round of funding for an Indian startup, reported Economic Times (ET).
The ET report further said that Sequoia Capita along with Russian fund Ru-Net, and a financial-technology focused fund Ribbit Capital, will possibly be among a group of investors who will participate in the round for Freecharge founder's new startup.
It is to be noted that, before getting acquired by Snapdeal, both Sequoia and Ru-Net were investors in FreeCharge, when it was in control of Kunal Shah. Last year, Freecharge parted its ways with Snapdeal and got acquired by Axis Bank for mere $60 million.
Kunal Shah has been associated with Sequoia as an advisor and mentor, however that role came to an end this January. It is now being speculated that his new venture will be an incubator or a lab that will engage in multiple ideas such as consumer finance, healthcare, and education, said the ET report.
Notably, Kunal is also a prolific angel investor in quite a few startups such as Go-Jek, Unacademy, Voonik, TVF, Pianta and PocketAces, among others.
Kunal would now join a select group of high-profile, serial tech entrepreneurs in India, who sold out their earlier ventures to start new ones. For an instance, Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal, who sold off his company to Flipkart and started new firm Curefit, a healthcare and fitness startup, in 2016. Mukesh co-founded Curefit with former Flipkart senior executive Ankit Nagori in 2016.
Last November, InMobi’s co-founder Amit Gupta stepped down from his executive role within the company to launch IoT-driven bicycle sharing startup Yulu. Prior to this, Manmohan Agarwal who introduced India to the world of fashion e-commerce with his brainchild Yebhi.com, unveiled his second venture, Truxapp, in August 2017.
In March 2017, Aditya Verma, co-founder & CEO of real estate website Makaan.com launched 'The Office Pass', a technology platform that helps companies & professionals find office space. Adtitya left the Makaan.com in December 2016.
In May 2016, Oxigen Wallet’s founder Pramod Saxena launched a startup accelerator called Aarambh Ventures in partnership with IIT-Roorkee, specifically focusing on fin-tech and clean-tech startups. The accelerator partnered with several early-stage funds including Unitus Seed Fund, Ivy-Cap Ventures and LetsVenture, along with select HNIs and angel investors.
In the same year, Housing co-founder Advitiya Sharma, who quit the real estate portal in March 2016, had launched an education start-up - Genius, which offers software for neighborhood tutors to make learning more effective.
The ET report further said that Sequoia Capita along with Russian fund Ru-Net, and a financial-technology focused fund Ribbit Capital, will possibly be among a group of investors who will participate in the round for Freecharge founder's new startup.
It is to be noted that, before getting acquired by Snapdeal, both Sequoia and Ru-Net were investors in FreeCharge, when it was in control of Kunal Shah. Last year, Freecharge parted its ways with Snapdeal and got acquired by Axis Bank for mere $60 million.
Kunal Shah has been associated with Sequoia as an advisor and mentor, however that role came to an end this January. It is now being speculated that his new venture will be an incubator or a lab that will engage in multiple ideas such as consumer finance, healthcare, and education, said the ET report.
Notably, Kunal is also a prolific angel investor in quite a few startups such as Go-Jek, Unacademy, Voonik, TVF, Pianta and PocketAces, among others.
Kunal would now join a select group of high-profile, serial tech entrepreneurs in India, who sold out their earlier ventures to start new ones. For an instance, Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal, who sold off his company to Flipkart and started new firm Curefit, a healthcare and fitness startup, in 2016. Mukesh co-founded Curefit with former Flipkart senior executive Ankit Nagori in 2016.
Last November, InMobi’s co-founder Amit Gupta stepped down from his executive role within the company to launch IoT-driven bicycle sharing startup Yulu. Prior to this, Manmohan Agarwal who introduced India to the world of fashion e-commerce with his brainchild Yebhi.com, unveiled his second venture, Truxapp, in August 2017.
In March 2017, Aditya Verma, co-founder & CEO of real estate website Makaan.com launched 'The Office Pass', a technology platform that helps companies & professionals find office space. Adtitya left the Makaan.com in December 2016.
In May 2016, Oxigen Wallet’s founder Pramod Saxena launched a startup accelerator called Aarambh Ventures in partnership with IIT-Roorkee, specifically focusing on fin-tech and clean-tech startups. The accelerator partnered with several early-stage funds including Unitus Seed Fund, Ivy-Cap Ventures and LetsVenture, along with select HNIs and angel investors.
In the same year, Housing co-founder Advitiya Sharma, who quit the real estate portal in March 2016, had launched an education start-up - Genius, which offers software for neighborhood tutors to make learning more effective.
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