Former Flipkart employees popularly referred to as the ‘Flipkart Mafia’ currently own 44 startups according to the data by PrivateCircle Research.
These companies collectively have a valuation of $25 billion. Six of these companies are unicorns, with PhonePe being the startup with the highest valuation of $12 billion.
In this article, we’ll highlight ten successful companies founded by former Flipkart executives, often called ‘Flipkart Mafia’, and explore their journeys.
1. Arzooo
Founded in 2017, Arzooo is an e-commerce platform that aims to empower offline electronic stores by offering them access to cost-effective prices and a logistics network, facilitating their acceleration of in-store sales transactions.
Founded by two ex-Flipkart associates, Rishi Raj Rathore, and Khushnud Khan, Arzooo aspires to strengthen small retail shops to compete with e-commerce titans like Amazon.
This cutting-edge logistics management startup was valued at $400 million as of July 2022. Its revenue reached Rs.1117Cr. in FY22, marking a significant growth of 4.3X from Rs.259Cr. in FY21.
On a contrasting note, the company witnessed its net loss spiking up to 250% from Rs.18Cr. in FY21 to Rs.63Cr. in FY22.
In the meantime, this B2B retail tech firm bagged $70 million in a series B funding round led by venture capital such as SBI investment, 3 lines, Trifecta, and DoorDash founder Tony Xu in June 2022 to empower its technological infrastructure and to strengthen operational efficiency.
Despite this improvement, reports as of March 2024 reveal that this Bangalore-headquartered firm has failed to pay salaries, frozen payments to its seller partners, and terminated many workers since October 2023.
2. Cult.fit
Bengaluru-headquartered Cult.fit is an offline and online health service provider offering customers fitness yoga classes and meditation sessions as per the membership plans. Along with the online mode, this startup has its gyms located in several cities across various states in India.
Established in 2016, this health tech startup generated a revenue of Rs.694Cr. in FY23 soaring by 221% from Rs.216Cr. in FY22. Additionally, the firm’s net loss was reduced by 20% to Rs.551Cr. from Rs.688Cr. in FY22.
This Zomato-backed fitness unicron, Cult.fit pocketed $10 million in February 2024 led by its existing investor Valecha Investments and others.
Valued at $1.5 billion as of February 2024, this startup has recently launched a smartwatch named Sprint for fitness enthusiasts and runners to enhance their exercise experience by offering multiple sports modes, tracking accurate health parameters, and guiding breathing exercises.
Led by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, Cult.fit in June 2024, has announced that it is ready to explore the D2C e-commerce vertical to expand its gym business. This strategic expansion marks the firm’s aspiration to achieve EBITDA profitability by 2025.
3. Exotel
Founded by Shivakumar Ganesan, Ishwar Sridharan, and Siddharth Ramesh, Exotel is a cloud telecommunication platform that aspires to strengthen small and medium-scale startups to seamlessly persist in their standard operations.
Exotel is based out of Bengaluru and showcased a revenue of Rs.420Cr. in FY23 which increased by 32% from Rs.318Cr. in FY22. During the same time, the firm filed a 153% surge in its net loss to Rs.109Cr. from Rs.43Cr. in the previous financial year.
On 26th August 2024, this customer engagement startup underwent a data breach within one of its cloud service platforms in Singapore. However, the company confirmed that no financial or personal information was unveiled due to this glitch which could have offended the customers.
Founded in 2011, Exotel in June 2024 disclosed the launch of its multilingual autonomous contact centers led by AI-driven advanced technology to provide a connected customer experience. Valued at $310 million as of January 2022, Exotel aims to expand its business portfolio through this launch.
4. Groww
The Groww Academy aims to promote financial literacy among its users by providing them with knowledge of various topics, from investment principles to advanced business strategies through specialized educational resources such as blogs, videos, webinars, and interactive tools.
Four Flipkart employees – Lalit Kehsre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal, during 2016 resigned from their positions and built Groww to make finance easy.
Valued at $3 billion as of October 2021, Groww filed a revenue of Rs.1294Cr. in FY23, growing by 252% from Rs.367.4Cr. in FY22. The startup’s net profit surged by 973% to Rs.73Cr. in FY23 from Rs.6.8Cr. in FY22.
this Bengaluru-headquartered fintech firm on August 2024 launched two new features called Safeguard and F&O Pause to restrict excessive speculation in derivatives trading. These two features aim to help traders manage risks and reduce potential losses.
On the other hand, founded in 2016 this financial services platform’s active customer base was expected to cross 1 crore in May 2024. Groww’s contribution to education and investment helped them to excel beyond trading-oriented rivals.
5. PhonePe
Established in 2015 and based in India, PhonePe is a digital payment and financial services company. The firm was acquired by the e-commerce giant Flipkart in 2016.
Led by Sameer Nigam, Burzin Engineer, and Rahul Chari, PhonePe generated Rs.5064Cr. in FY24 as its revenue, increased by 73% from Rs.2914Cr. in FY23. In the meantime, the startup achieved a net profit of Rs.197Cr. in FY24 excluding ESOP costs, and faced a net loss of Rs.738Cr. in FY23.
Valued at $12 billion as of May 2023, PhonePe on August 2024 launched ‘Bolt’, a pioneering payment gateway to strengthen in-app transactions for traders by offering the fastest payment experience with a success rate of 99%.
Bengaluru-headquartered financial services firm, PhonePe’s CEO recently confirmed that the startup will not launch its IPO until there is full transparency in market share regulations for UPI, marking PhonePe’s IPO strategy.
6. RentoMojo
Established by former Flipkart employee, Geetansh Bamania along with Achal Mittal, Ajay Nain, and Gautam Adukia, RentoMojo is a furnishing rental company that provides customers with a viable alternative to traditional EMIs by offering them rental options across various product categories.
Formed in 2014, the firm has a valuation of $110 million as of March 2024. RentoMojo’s revenue from operations stood at Rs.121Cr. in FY23, spiking by 22.7% from Rs.98.6Cr. in FY22 while the company reported a net profit of Rs.6.19Cr. in FY23 but saw a net loss of Rs.13.5Cr. in FY22.
In February 2024, this Bengaluru-headquartered firm pocketed Rs.210Cr. in a late-stage funding round led by Edelweiss Discovery, aiming to expand its business portfolio.
Meanwhile, the company has recently launched an innovative ad campaign titled ‘’Keep it Casual’’ to encourage India’s youth with a new approach towards furnishing homes.
7. Slice
Founded by a former Flipkart personnel Rajan Bajaj, Slice aims to offer a simple and fair way to make payments and access loans with its essential products such as slice account, slice UPI, and slice borrow.
This fintech firm had a valuation of $1.8 billion as of March 2023 and showcased a 200% surge in its revenue from Rs.283Cr. in FY22 to Rs.847Cr. in FY23. Although, the firm witnessed a net loss of Rs.406Cr. in FY23 rising by 59.8% from Rs.254Cr. in FY22.
As per reports, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger of Guwahati-based North East Small Finance Bank with Bengaluru-headquartered startup Slice. This move received clearance in October 2023 from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Additionally, founded in 2016, Slice bagged $20 million in a debt funding round led by Neo Asset Management’s Credit Opportunities fund as per the filings. Reports confirmed that the funding was part of a larger $30 million debt round.
8. Spinny
Founded in 2015, online used-car retailing platform Spinny makes buying and selling pre-owned cars easier for its customers by bringing transparency to the pre-owned car market.
Gurugram-headquartered startup, Spinny’s revenue skyrocketed by 30X to Rs.3260Cr. in FY23 from Rs.109Cr. in FY22 while the firm’s net loss rose by 67% from Rs.490Cr. in FY22 to Rs.820Cr. in FY23.
According to media reports, Spinny has increased its ESOP Pool by issuing 23.7 million additional options, bringing the total ESOP Pool size to 170.8 million.
Founded by Niraj Singh, Ramanshu Mahaur, and former associate of Flipkart, Mohit Gupta, the pre-owned car platform Spinny launched ‘Lady Luck’ in celebration of International Women’s Day. Through this initiative, the company offered discounts up to Rs.25000 on car purchases led by women from 5th to 10th March 2024.
Valued at $1.75 billion as of November 2021, Spinny witnessed a 20% growth in first-time SUV buyers in Q1 2024 up from 10% in 2023 with Tata Motors, as per May 2024 reports.
9. Suki
Led by ex-Flipkart member Punit Soni, Suki is an AI-driven voice-enabled digital assistant that aspires to assist healthcare workers in their routine tasks, so that the doctors can only focus on managing diseases and not files.
Founded in 2016, Suki was awarded a national group purchasing agreement with Premier, Inc. on May 1, 2024. This agreement allows over 4,350 member hospitals and health systems to access special pricing for Suki’s voice AI scribe technology, helping to mitigate administrative burdens for clinicians.
Based in Redwood and valued at $400 billion as of December 2021, Suki has collaborated with the telehealth platform Amwell to avail converge platform and connect with Amwell providers’ existing workflows.
10. Udaan
B2B trading platform Udaan started its journey in 2016 with a vision of empowering small businesses and transforming the trade ecosystem by utilizing technology through facilitating connections and aiding traders in India’s small and medium enterprises.
Founded by Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta, and Sujeet Kumar, Udaan is valued at $1.8 billion as of January 2024. The firm witnessed a 43% decrease in revenue to Rs.5629Cr. in FY23 from Rs.9900Cr. in FY22. Although, its net loss also reduced by 33% from Rs.3132Cr. in FY22 to Rs.2076Cr. in FY23.
Meanwhile, this Bengaluru-headquartered startup confirmed that it reduced its absolute EBITDA burn by 33% during the January-March 2024 quarter. The company has been improving efficiently by concentrating on high-performing categories and a micro-cluster approach.
However, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Aditya Pande resigned from the B2B e-commerce startup, Udaan in January 2024. After this resignation, the CFO’s role is now divided between the Group Financial Controller, Kiran Thadimarri, and the Head of Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations, Vishnu Menon.
