In what marks the end of an era for IPO-bound Flipkart, its only remaining co-founder who remained invested in the company, Binny Bansal has exited along with Accel, one of the company's earliest investors, and US-based Tiger Global Management.?
Flipkart was started by IIT alumni Sachin and Binny Bansal in 2007 when it only sold books online and operated out of an apartment in Bengaluru.??
Binny Bansal, Accel, and Tiger Global have all fully exited the e-commerce giant by selling their stakes to Walmart.
Accel, both India and US together held more than 20% in Flipkart initially when they backed the company in 2008, but gradually reduced their stake to about 6% before Walmart acquired a majority share in Flipkart in 2018, according to Tracxn, a private markets data provider.
However, unlike most other investors, Accel retained a small 1.1% stake more recently after the acquisition, only to fully exit the company in 2023, generating cumulative returns of around $1.5-2 billion, two people said, as per Money Control, thus generating a whopping 25-30X return on its total investment of about $60-80 million over the years.
Similarly, Tiger Global also held a minority stake in Flipkart after the Walmart acquisition but has now exited the company, making gains of approximately $3.5 billion, as per Wall Street Journal.
While Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, had already sold his entire stake to Walmart in 2018, his co-founder Binny Bansal continued to hold onto a small stake in Flipkart post-acquisition.
Binny Bansal has now also divested his remaining stake to Walmart, and according to three of the people cited above, Binny has made about $1-1.5 billion since inception to exit, another source added. The deal took place at a valuation of around $35 billion, reflecting Flipkart's growth.
¡°Binny (Bansal) has sold his remaining 1-1.5 percent stake in Flipkart but will continue to remain on the company¡¯s board,¡± one of the people cited above said.?At the same time, Binny Bansal is already an investor in PhonePe and sits on the payments giant's board.
¡°In total, Binny (Bansal) would have made a billion and a half just by fully selling his stake in Flipkart over time,¡± another person aware of the developments said.
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Confirming the developments, a Walmart spokesperson said the company has acquired additional shares of Flipkart from some investors, including Tiger Global, but did not reveal more names.
"We value Tiger Global¡¯s involvement and support over the last several years. We remain confident in the future of Flipkart and are even more positive about the opportunity in India today than when we first invested. We continue to be impressed with Flipkart¡¯s progress and remain focused on building a healthy, sustainable and profitable business for the long term, ensuring Flipkart continues to grow in an emerging and dynamic market," the spokesperson said.
The deal talks were in the works since last year when Flipkart still held a stake in PhonePe, reflecting some gains from the growth of the payments giant as well. PhonePe was first incorporated within Flipkart in 2015 but was hived off partially as a separate entity in 2020 and fully in 2022.
These developments also come five years after Walmart bought 77% stake in Flipkart for $16 billion in May 2018, and sources close to the developments said the exits could be linked to that timeline.
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