Startup Street mints new founder millionaires

The three founders will list their companies this month—electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric, baby products retailer FirstCry, and Unicommerce (a SaaS company which helps businesses through their post-purchase journey), respectively—effectively getting access to greater liquidity through their shares. They will be followed by at least one more big listing, of food delivery company Swiggy, later this year.

 

 

Aggarwal, especially, will join an exclusive club of startup billionaires, which includes Deepinder Goyal of Zomato and Falguni Nayar of Nykaa. Aggarwal’s stake in Ola Electric is worth at least ₹9,900 crore ($1.1 billion), as per Mint's analysis of data from its red herring prospectus.

Maheshwari and Bahl will also be sitting on hundreds of millions. In addition, Aggarwal owns stakes in Ola Cabs and Krutrim AI, both of which are unicorns (startups with valuation of a billion dollars or more).

Also read |  Startups, investors buoyed by twin tax wins in “dream budget"

To be sure, many other Indian startup founders are billionaires by virtue of their private holdings. These include broking business Zerodha’s Nithin and Nikhil Kamath; Zoho’s Vembu siblings Sridhar and Radha; and Sachin and Binny Bansal, who burst into the billionaire club after they cashed out their stakes in Flipkart in 2018 and January 2024, respectively.

However, unlike privately held companies, listed companies provide greater liquidity to their founders and the spate of startup IPOs over the past three years has also produced certified millionaires.

The cry of commerce

Maheshwari sold ₹300 crore worth of FirstCry shares this January, and his balance 5.94% stake will be worth at least ₹1,271 crore ($151 million) at ₹440 apiece, on the lower end of the price band.

Other cofounders of FirstCry also own stakes that turns them into millionaires—Amitava Saha ( ₹424 crore), Prashant Jadhav ( ₹308 crore) and Sanket Hattimattur ( ₹123 crore). Further, more than 30 employees, including Maheswari, will offload over 7.5 million shares in the offer for sale (OFS).

Maheshwari told Mint that young entrepreneurs will be able to take inspiration from the number of startups that have gone public. “It is also a ratification of venture capitalists and private equity investors; that they can put their money to use in this country," he said.

Also read |  As late-stage startups undergo deep correction, HNIs pivot

For Bahl, who has seen teething troubles while building e-commerce platform Snapdeal, the listing of Unicommerce is a milestone. Although Bahl is not selling any of his stake as part of the OFS (offer for sale), listing of Unicommerce will unlock the potential to liquidate his stake in future.

In an interview with Mint, Bahl, Kunal Bahl, who owns stake in Unicommerce through Snapdeal (now called Ace Vector) as well as through Titan Capital, called the listing of Unicommerce a poignant moment.

“(When) you are going through a tough time, you are reminded that this is the end of the road. But I think staying resilient, staying resolute, keeping your head down, knowing where your strengths lie, enabling the success of incredible operators like Kapil (Unicommerce CEO) and his team, just focusing on things that need to be done," he said, adding that over a period of time, all storms pass. “And, at some level, at the end of the storm, you find the strength that helped you," he said.

Bahl and his Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal collectively own approximately 10% of Unicommerce.

They also run Titan Capital, which has backed scores of other startups across India, notably Razorpay, Urban Company and Ola Cabs, among others. These companies are also expected to go public over the next few years.

The millionaire employee

To be sure, startups have created wealth for a rising number of employees, too, who are able to encash their employee stock options or Esops for shares and create generational wealth.

“We have seen through the listings of tech startups such as Zomato, Nykaa, Policybazaar, Ola and FirstCry, among others, that true value has been created for all stakeholders," said V. Jayasankar, managing director and head of equity capital markets for Kotak Mahindra Capital Co, adding that the depth of the Esop pool indicates that the number of employees who can realise their holdings is significant.

Also read |  Funding, market framework for deep-tech startups in two months

“These stories of success and people making money are likely to attract more founders and employees to the startup ecosystem," said Jayasankar.

As many other startups line up public offerings, several founders are expected to join their peers sitting on hundreds of millions worth of public company stakes.

Later this year, when Swiggy goes public, cofounder Sriharsha Majety, who owns around 4% stake, could see at least $440 million worth of shares in the public market (assuming a conservative $11 billion valuation for Swiggy based on the $10.7 billion valuation in its last private funding round).