Several former employees of the e-commerce giant Flipkart have emulated their former bosses, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, by launching their own companies.
According to a report by Hindu Business Line, based on data from PrivateCircle Research, approximately 44 startups have been founded by former Flipkart employees, popularly known as the ‘Flipkart Mafia’ or ‘Flipsters,’ with a combined valuation of $25 billion.
Of these 44 startups, more than a third (15) are exclusively in the e-commerce sector, including companies like Udaan, Spinny, and RentoMojo. Additionally, there are eight fintech companies among them.
Six of these startups have achieved ‘Unicorn’ status, with valuations exceeding $1 billion. These include PhonePe ($12 billion valuation), Groww ($3 billion valuation), Udaan ($1.75 billion valuation), Spinny ($1.55 billion valuation), cult.fit ($1.3 billion valuation), and Slice ($1.3 billion valuation).
It’s worth noting that data is only available for 44 publicly known firms, suggesting that the actual number of startups founded by former Flipkart employees could be higher.
Sachin and Binny Bansal, who previously worked at Amazon Web Services, quit their jobs within six months of each other to create Flipkart in Bengaluru in 2007. Now, nearly two decades later, several of their former employees have followed suit by starting their own ventures.
Eight of these startups are backed by Binny Bansal, whose earliest investment was in the health and fitness platform cult.fit, founded by ex-Flipkart employee Mukesh Bansal in 2018. Binny invested $41.8 million in cult.fit and has also invested in seven other companies, including Slice, Crido.do, and Exotel.
The report suggests that the emergence of new startups by the “Flipkart Mafia” is linked to the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) buybacks. Flipkart conducted ESOP buybacks worth over $100 million in December 2017 from over 3,000 current and former employees. Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart in 2018, and Flipkart conducted another ESOP buyback of $500 million that same year.
In 2018, six former Flipkart employees established six startups. In 2019, when Flipkart conducted a $100 million ESOP buyback, eight startups were created by Flipsters. Seven startups by ex-Flipkart employees were founded during the pandemic, with four startups each in 2021 and 2022.
The youngest among the 44 startups by Flipkart alumni are Virgio, Volt, Varaha, and Onwo, all incorporated in 2022.
