In 2019, India claimed it’s placed in being the third-largest startup unicorn ecosystem accounting to over 21 unicorn startups followed by China and the US. Being the leading startup ecosystem, it has given rise to some of the most innovative and widely uses services.
Startups like Paytm, Flipkart, Oyo, and Ola have established their presence in their market niches. Where Flipkart is considered as the largest Indian ecommerce website, Paytm is used by millions to perform transactions on a daily basis. On the other hand, CCD is our own Indian Stratbuck that has set its irreplaceable bars in the coffee industry.
Here’s all you need to know about the founders of these companies.
1. Paytm Founder – Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Born: 8 July 1978
Alumni: Delhi College of Engineering (now called Delhi Technological University)
Net Worth: $2.4.4 billion b on January 2020 (1)
Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, is one of the leading Indian billionaire businessmen, consider Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma and Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, one of his most significant sources of inspiration in his entrepreneurial journey.
He started One97 Communications, Paytm’s parent firm, in 2000, which provides mobile content including news, cricket scores, ringtones, jokes, and exam results related content and services to its users. It was in 2011 that he came up with the idea of the introduction of the Paytm payment ecosystem in front of his board, after launching the platform in 2010.
2. Flipkart Founder
Binny Bansal
Born in: 1983
Alumni: IIT Delhi
Net Worth: $1 billion on January 2020 (2)
The Chandigarh born businessman, Binny Bansal, co-founded Flipkart with Sachin Bansal, one of the leading ecommerce platforms in India in 2007. Before co-founding Flipkart, Binny served his tenure of 9 months as an Amazon employee.
The firm was initially started as an online bookselling platform, which was later expanded into other product categories like consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials & groceries, & lifestyle products. The ecommerce platform was acquired by US retail giant Walmart for $16 billion, taking over 77% controlling stake in the company.
Sachin Bansal
Born: 5 August 1981
Alumni: IIT Delhi
Net Worth: $1 billion on January 2020 (3)
Sachin Bansal, the co-founder at Flipkart, hails from Chandigarh, the city beautiful, teamed up with Binny Bansal, his classmate at IIT Delhi, to launch the ecommerce platform Flipkart. The Flipkart founder once considered leaving his engineering seat to pursue a career in gaming. (4)
Surprisingly, it was not until the duo met in Bangalore when they pooled in a combined amount of $6,000 and decided to launch the ecommerce platform that would turn out to be the biggest ecommerce platform in India in constant cut-throat competition with Amazon.
3. CCD Founder – V. G. Siddhartha
Born: 23 August 1959
Death: July 2019
Alumni: St. Aloysius Mangalore; Mangalore University
V. G. Siddhartha, the founder of cafe chain Cafe Coffee Day, was one of the leading Indian businessmen from India who built India’s own cafe brand that spread across six countries with 1.8 billion cups of coffee being served annually throughout. (5)
Sadly, the CCD founder reportedly committed suicide in July 2019, and his body was found at the aHoige Bazaar on 31 July by local fishermen. A letter (6), apparently written by V. G. Siddhartha, surfaced a few hours after he went missing where he addressed his company board, shareholders, and family.
Siddhartha launched CCD in 1996, which became one of the most popular ‘hangout’ spots for the youth and an excellent workspace for professionals.
4. Oyo Founder – Ritesh Agarwal
Born: 16 November 1993
Alumni: Indian School of Business and Finance
Net Worth: $1 billion on January 2020 (7)
The Odisha born businessman is one of the youngest billionaires in India that established India’s budget hotels and hospitality chain Oyo Rooms. The Oyo founder completed his schooling from St Johns Senior Secondary School After which he moved to Delhi for his college. He dropped out of his college at the age of 23.
Agarwal started Oravel Stays, a budget accommodation portal, which pivoted to Oyo in 2013. Oyo has expanded its products and services, bringing in a multi-brand approach in the market, including Oyo Townhouse, Oyo Home, Oyo Vacation Homes, Oyo Life, and more in addition to emerging as the third-largest hotel chain in the world. (8)
5. Ola Founder – Bhavish Aggarwal
Born: 28 August 1985
Alumni: IIT Bombay
Net Worth: Rs 3,100 crore on January 2020 (9)
Bhavish Aggarwal was born and brought up in Ludhiana, Punjab, and has emerged to be one of the successful leading entrepreneurs in India with his cab-hailing platform Ola Cabs. Ola Cabs is the leading cab-hailing platform in India that has expanded its presence in several other countries.
Ola founder Aggarwal began his career as an employee at Microsoft, after which he moved ahead to co-found the platform with Ankit Bhati in 2011 in Bangalore. The idea of starting Ola struck once when Bhavish was left stranded in an unknown location by a cab driver due to a misunderstanding created among both while commuting.
Conclusion
These founders have served as essential individuals that have assisted in upping the game in the market with their disruptive innovations. Today, the people of India are able to book budget hotels because of Oyo easily, book cab instantly because of Ola, transfer finances smoothly because of Paytm, indulge in ecommerce because of Flipkart, and relax at the best Indian cafe chain because of CCD.
