SACHIN BANSAL BUYS NBFC IN HIS BIGGEST BET SINCE FLIPKART EXIT
Over a year after exiting Flipkart, billionaire entrepreneur Sachin Bansal is returning to an executive role.
The co-founder of India’s mostvalued start-up has picked up a majority stake in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services (CRIDS), which runs a microfinance institution Chaitanya India Fin Credit (CIFCPL), and will be its new chief executive officer (CEO), a statement by his communications manager said.
Bansal has put in ~739 crore, roughly $104 million, of which ~600 crore is primary infusion in the company. The rest is spent on buying shares from existing shareholders. His exact stake in the company is undisclosed.
The development marks the first major step by Bansal, who cashed out $1 billion from selling his shares during the Flipkart-walmart deal last year, and confirms his move into financial services. However, little has been disclosed about his plans for CRIDS, the 10-year-old lender which focuses on rural, lowincome customers in Karnataka, Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
For a year and a half, Bansal has continued to dabble in the startup ecosystem. He has made debt investments in a variety of ventures like Vogo, Bounce, and Kissht and financing firms Altica Capital and Indostar Capital Finance. Some of these investments are from BACQ, a venture started last year with IITDelhi batchmate Ankit Agarwal last year.
In the recent past, his biggest bet is Ola, where he committed to invest $100 million in January. A source close to the deal said the equity investment was $25 million, while the rest is structured debt. Ather Energy, the electric scooter start-up, is the other substantial investment where he has put in close to $35 million. He has over a dozen angel investment from his time at Flipkart and beyond.
“This acquisition is our entry into financial services,” said Bansal. He added that CRIDS founder Anand Rao and Samit Shetty would continue to be with the firm and spearhead their existing roles.
CRIDS, which started in 2009, focuses on low-income borrowers for vehicle finance, housing loans, small business loans and education loans.