Payments firm FreeCharge co-founder Kunal Shah has raised $30 million for his upcoming venture from a clutch of investors led by venture capital investor Sequoia Capital, reported LiveMint, citing two people familiar with the development.
According to the report, to start his new venture, which is launching very soon, Kunal has closed $30 million funding round, which reportedly got participation mostly from foreign investors including Sequoia Capital.
Kunal is planning to start an incubator which would help startups in consumer space, added the report.
www.indianweb2.com first reported about Kunal Shah raising funds close to $30 million, last month.
It is to be noted that, Sequoia, who reportedly led the funding of this round, has been associated with Kunal for quite some time. In February 2017, Kunal joined marquee venture capital firm Sequoia Capital as an advisor role, which came to an end this January.
The relationship between Kunal Shah and Sequoia goes back almost six years after the investment firm first backed Freecharge, in 2011.
Kunal founded FreeCharge in 2010, along with Sandeep Tandon, seeing the potential of online recharging in a growing market. In April 2015, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal for an estimated amount of $400 million. Shah was appointed as the new CEO of the company. Later, Freecharge got again acquired by Axis Bank from Snapdeal. Notably, Kunal also led the acquisitions of Wishberg and Preburn in 2014.
For a brief stint, Kunal was also on a role of chairman of industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which counts companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google as members.
Kunal would now join a select group of high-profile, serial tech entrepreneurs in India, who sold out their earlier startups 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.
According to the report, to start his new venture, which is launching very soon, Kunal has closed $30 million funding round, which reportedly got participation mostly from foreign investors including Sequoia Capital.
Kunal is planning to start an incubator which would help startups in consumer space, added the report.
www.indianweb2.com first reported about Kunal Shah raising funds close to $30 million, last month.
It is to be noted that, Sequoia, who reportedly led the funding of this round, has been associated with Kunal for quite some time. In February 2017, Kunal joined marquee venture capital firm Sequoia Capital as an advisor role, which came to an end this January.
The relationship between Kunal Shah and Sequoia goes back almost six years after the investment firm first backed Freecharge, in 2011.
Kunal founded FreeCharge in 2010, along with Sandeep Tandon, seeing the potential of online recharging in a growing market. In April 2015, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal for an estimated amount of $400 million. Shah was appointed as the new CEO of the company. Later, Freecharge got again acquired by Axis Bank from Snapdeal. Notably, Kunal also led the acquisitions of Wishberg and Preburn in 2014.
For a brief stint, Kunal was also on a role of chairman of industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which counts companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google as members.
Kunal would now join a select group of high-profile, serial tech entrepreneurs in India, who sold out their earlier startups 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.
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