Junglee Co-founder Who Invested ₹10 Lakhs in Flipkart in 2009 To Make Over ₹130 Crores

Back in 2008, when Flipkart was operating out of a two-storey house in Kormangala area of Bangalore, its co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal were hunting for investors and was getting number of rejections from investors including Accel Partners but eventually they managed to grab Rs.60 lakh from Accel in 2009.

In the same year, they met Ashish Gupta, co-founder of Helion Venture Partners and co-founder of price comparison site Junglee, which was sold to Amazon for $240 million in 1998. Ashish pitched in with ₹10 lakh from his own pocket, making him the first angel investor in Flipkart.

Now, after almost a decade, Ashish stands to make roughly $20 million ( ~ ₹137 crores) from a deal of Walmart’s $16 billion buyout of Flipkart.

Ashish Gupta is founder of venture capital firm Helion Ventures, which was dismantled in 2016 after a string of executives left to launch their own funds. But what's not known is Gupta is also one of the most successful angel investors in India.

Apart from Flipkart, Gupta has made several clever and intuitive bets, including MuSigma and MakeMyTrip. In his key exits, at least three of his investments in India have yielded big gains -- Makemytrip went public (IPO) in 2010, Merittrac was bought by Manipal in 2016, and cloud computing platform Minjar was bought by Nutanix this year.

Ashish's past investments include Daksh (sold to IBM), Obongo (sold to AOL), Tavant Technologies, Mu Sigma, FlipKart (sold to Walmart), Kaboodle (sold to Hearst), Make My Trip (IPO - MMYT), Odesk - now Upwork, Perfios, Metric Stream (sold to Manipal), Tenet (sold to Hughes), Snapfish (sold to HP), Danastreet (sold to Netscreen), Speedera (sold to akamai).

"Ashish has had a great track record as an angel investor and has made several smart bets that have paid off in a big way over the years. He’s had a knack of spotting and betting on smart ideas and founders," said Abhishek Goyal, founder of Tracxn.

Ashish is a US citizen, a PhD from Stanford University in California, and a computer science graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. After selling Junglee, he worked at Amazon for a while.

Gupta, a US citizen, is a PhD from Stanford University in California, and a computer science graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. After selling Junglee, he worked at Amazon for a while.

In 2000, Gupta and his wife Nita Goel, whom he met at Stanford, founded Tavant Technologies with two others. Gupta then did a Kauffman Fellows Programme to study the VC business. Two years on, he joined the Woodside fund, an early stage VC firm in Silicon Valley. He then founded Helion in 2006.

Gupta continued to make angel investments. In 2009, he wrote a cheque of ₹10 lakh to Flipkart when it raised its first-ever round of capital from Accel Partners, which had agreed to invest $1 million in three tranches. In the first tranche that amounted to ₹70 lakh, Gupta contributed ₹10 lakh. That bet will now yield $18-20 million.

Gupta stands to make an even bigger killing from his bet on software maker MuSigma in which he again made an angel investment, albeit a larger one than his Flipkart bet, and got an exit at roughly $50 million.

And even though Helion failed as a VC firm, Gupta is still respected and liked by entrepreneurs and investors alike.

“Ashish is one of the best investors I’ve ever met, both from an institutional and angel perspective. He’s usually 5-7 years ahead of the curve when it comes to betting on ideas. He likes to focus more on underlying trends than on what is happening right now. Most importantly, Ashish likes to genuinely help entrepreneurs and founders and work with them—and he doesn’t do it for money,” said Rahul Chowdhri, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners. Chowdhri was a colleague of Gupta’s at Helion.


Via - Hindustan Times | Top Image - TheHindu.com

Junglee Co-founder Who Invested ₹10 Lakhs in Flipkart in 2009 To Make Over ₹130 Crores

Back in 2008, when Flipkart was operating out of a two-storey house in Kormangala area of Bangalore, its co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal were hunting for investors and was getting number of rejections from investors including Accel Partners but eventually they managed to grab Rs.60 lakh from Accel in 2009.

In the same year, they met Ashish Gupta, co-founder of Helion Venture Partners and co-founder of price comparison site Junglee, which was sold to Amazon for $240 million in 1998. Ashish pitched in with ₹10 lakh from his own pocket, making him the first angel investor in Flipkart.

Now, after almost a decade, Ashish stands to make roughly $20 million ( ~ ₹137 crores) from a deal of Walmart’s $16 billion buyout of Flipkart.

Ashish Gupta is founder of venture capital firm Helion Ventures, which was dismantled in 2016 after a string of executives left to launch their own funds. But what's not known is Gupta is also one of the most successful angel investors in India.

Apart from Flipkart, Gupta has made several clever and intuitive bets, including MuSigma and MakeMyTrip. In his key exits, at least three of his investments in India have yielded big gains -- Makemytrip went public (IPO) in 2010, Merittrac was bought by Manipal in 2016, and cloud computing platform Minjar was bought by Nutanix this year.

Ashish's past investments include Daksh (sold to IBM), Obongo (sold to AOL), Tavant Technologies, Mu Sigma, FlipKart (sold to Walmart), Kaboodle (sold to Hearst), Make My Trip (IPO - MMYT), Odesk - now Upwork, Perfios, Metric Stream (sold to Manipal), Tenet (sold to Hughes), Snapfish (sold to HP), Danastreet (sold to Netscreen), Speedera (sold to akamai).

"Ashish has had a great track record as an angel investor and has made several smart bets that have paid off in a big way over the years. He’s had a knack of spotting and betting on smart ideas and founders," said Abhishek Goyal, founder of Tracxn.

Ashish is a US citizen, a PhD from Stanford University in California, and a computer science graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. After selling Junglee, he worked at Amazon for a while.

Gupta, a US citizen, is a PhD from Stanford University in California, and a computer science graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. After selling Junglee, he worked at Amazon for a while.

In 2000, Gupta and his wife Nita Goel, whom he met at Stanford, founded Tavant Technologies with two others. Gupta then did a Kauffman Fellows Programme to study the VC business. Two years on, he joined the Woodside fund, an early stage VC firm in Silicon Valley. He then founded Helion in 2006.

Gupta continued to make angel investments. In 2009, he wrote a cheque of ₹10 lakh to Flipkart when it raised its first-ever round of capital from Accel Partners, which had agreed to invest $1 million in three tranches. In the first tranche that amounted to ₹70 lakh, Gupta contributed ₹10 lakh. That bet will now yield $18-20 million.

Gupta stands to make an even bigger killing from his bet on software maker MuSigma in which he again made an angel investment, albeit a larger one than his Flipkart bet, and got an exit at roughly $50 million.

And even though Helion failed as a VC firm, Gupta is still respected and liked by entrepreneurs and investors alike.

“Ashish is one of the best investors I’ve ever met, both from an institutional and angel perspective. He’s usually 5-7 years ahead of the curve when it comes to betting on ideas. He likes to focus more on underlying trends than on what is happening right now. Most importantly, Ashish likes to genuinely help entrepreneurs and founders and work with them—and he doesn’t do it for money,” said Rahul Chowdhri, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners. Chowdhri was a colleague of Gupta’s at Helion.


Via - Hindustan Times | Top Image - TheHindu.com

Sports Tech Startup Play Your Sport Gets Pre Series A Round of Funding

Delhi based sports tech startup, Play Your Sport, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-series A round of funding led by Ashish Gupta, ex co-founder of E-valueserve.

Ashish is passionate about two things- angel investing and promoting entrepreneurs with a purpose, particularly with helping entrepreneurs to achieve their vision of ‘making sports and fitness a reailty for everybody’. He is an avid yoga practitioner and passionate about sports and fitness.

With the vision of ‘making sports and fitness a reality for everybody” the company is on a mission to put India on the map in the fast growing global sports and fitness industry.

The company will use the funds to expand its team, strengthen technology and increase its footprint across the nation. The company plans to hire over 50 people across functions in the next 6 months.

Founded by Supriya Mamgain and Varoon Kapoor, Play Your Sport is a sports technology venture that helps coaches, trainers, sports and fitness enthusiasts, from young sports enthusiasts to working professionals who miss playing sports, to rediscover their joy of playing. Currently, Play Your Sport is being used by more than 1000 sports facilities across sports such as cricket, football, swimming, badminton and basketball to run acquistion/ retention campaigns, manage memebership and stream-line opearations.

According to the founders, the sports person in you never dies no matter at which stage of life you are at, but people stop playing because of the lack of convenient options. There is enough good sports infrastructure and talent in the country that goes unused and unrecognized because of the un-organized nature of the business. With the growing sports culture in the country along with the influx of sport leagues the company believes to bring the athlete in you close to your chosen sports.

‘Found this team, Supriya and Varoon very diligent and capable entrepreneurs who are committed to their purpose of redefining the sports culture in India,’ said Ashish Gupta.

Tpot, A Startup Specialized in ‘Chai-Nashta’ Segment, Raises Seed Round of Funding

Tpot, a start-up specialized in ‘chai-nashta’ segment has secured its seed funding from Ashish Gupta, Founder & Trustee of Ashoka University and Co-founder of Evalueserve and the principal investor at Tpot Café. With the infused fund, Tpot plans to expand its presence by taking its outlet count to over 50 by the end of the year. Currently, there are 20 functional Tpot outlets across the Delhi/NCR region. The fund will be used in channelizing the team expansion and on the ideation of introducing innovative products involving tea.

The idea of Tpot was initiated by a team of three young corporate individuals, (CA’s and MBA), who turned into food entrepreneurs for their love of chai-nashta. Going by its current revenue figure of Rs 6 crores, the company has set itself a target of Rs 12 crores by the year end; implying 300 per cent YoY growth. It aims to serve 0.5 million cups of tea per month by December, 2016.

While analysing the recent development of the brand Robin Jha, Co-founder and CEO stated, “Chai-Nashta is an under-served opportunity in India and is primarily unorganised. Our team has built a strong foundation in Delhi/NCR region. Having gained a good traction of consumers here, we are confident to establish our brand presence in the other markets too,”He further added, “Our motto and value proposition will remain the same. Our customers will get the same Tpot essence in each outlet they choose to visit. It is a favourite hangout place, for smart, casual and family visit.”

Prominent outlets of Tpot are located at T3 Airport Delhi, Rajiv Chowk Metro Station, Make my trip, Go ibibo, BPTP Park Centra, World Trade Tower and Malviya Nagar.

“Being an ardent tea lover, I met Robin in an event and the love for the herbal teas brought us together. Over subsequent meetings, I realized the magnitude of the problem that they were solving,” emphasized Ashish on the problem Tpot were solving. “I was quite impressed by the concept of Tpot and the team of Robin, Asad and Atit. The team had spent considerable amount of time in understanding the consumer preferences and are capable to create a niche for themselves in this highly fragmented market. Therefore I decided to be a part of this journey,” he added further.

Tpot plans to realize its target in a phased manner by opening over 50 outlets by Decemebr 2016, and is also planning a muti-city launch by next year. Besides, the company is also expected to go high on packaged tea and delivery of refreshments at home. Through its offerings, Tpot wants to be a part of the growing story of health and wellness market in India.

“With our retail expansion, we are hopeful to expand the team. We are looking to hire a lot of fresher’s and train them to work with us. This will be our contribution to the “Skill India” initiative of the government. We will also look to do our bit for the society by working for the people in tea growing areas of India,” Robin concluded.

Education ECommerce Startup Fastudent Raises Seed Funding From Group of Angel Investors

Noida-based Fastudent, an education e-commerce start-up, has announced that it has raised a round of seed investment from a group of marquee angel investors led by Mr. Ashish Gupta, Founder and Trustee at Ashoka University.

Founded by IIT-IIM alumunus, Gaurav Barman and Geetanjali Khanna, Fastudent claims to be India’s first complete education e-commerce start-up offering an innovative educational products aggregator – helps Students, Parents, Schools and Teachers across the bandwidth - from Play Groups to Post Graduation to fulfill their academic needs. It offers one of its kind e-commerce enabling technology platforms to enable education Institutes to bring e-Commerce in their own fold of offerings. The change drives a lot more convenience and access to high quality academic content for their students in Metros and Tier – 2 & 3 cities as well.

Gaurav Barman, built a career solving technology problems for global companies, and Geetanjali Khanna, is a retail industry veteran and an expert on operations and supply chain management, planned to use technology extensively to reduce the operational inefficiencies of the Indian education market. This enables access to the best quality of education products for education institutes across India, even in the remotest parts of the country.

This round of funding will be leveraged for team expansion, strengthening the technology and increasing the geographical footprint. The company plans to hire over 90 people over the next 6 months. Currently Fastudent offers more than 20,000 SKUs across 8 categories - Books & Stationery, Academic Accessories, Uniforms, Games, Sports, Digital products & Customized Merchandize. They intend to extend their categories to niche and focused 32 categories, in the coming months.

More than a million learners throng this e-commerce portal, looking for a variety of products apt for fulfilling their learning needs. Fastudent, currently services more than 20,000 pincodes all across India. They are rapidly expanding their operations and plan to acquire over 10 million paying customers by the year 2018.

Speaking on the funding, Ashish Gupta, Founder, adds "Fastudent is trying to solve a very fundamental problem of education which is the accessibility of academic needs. I am excited and happy about the fact that Fastudent is envisioning to make education reach the underprivileged sector where the core need of the education lies. The complementary skill-sets this dynamic duo brings on-board are unique and absolutely required for this business. In the last few months, the team has experimented on the minutest of details and the understanding of the business they now have, is unprecedented. They are working to enhance and bind the highly fragmented Indian education sector."

Geetanjali Khanna, Co-founder & COO, Fastudent added, "With Fastudent we aim to compliment the shift in consumption patterns of the education fraternity. The blended model of physical educational needs coupled with Consultative, Customized and Modularized Digital learning - that's our focus. We are working relentlessly to streamline the difficulties students go through on a daily basis and let them focus on what they do best viz study."