Exclusive: Sachin Bansal pumps Rs 888 Cr into Navi Technologies

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal is betting big on his second venture as an investor. He has been making bets on tech-based startups in his personal capacity and through his one-year-old venture, BAC Acquisitions.

To ensure that it continues to achieve scale, Bansal has poured capital worth Rs 888.5 crore ($125 million) in the company, which was recently renamed as Navi Technologies.

According to the latest RoC filings of the company with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Bansal has picked up 6,83,45,451 shares in Navi Technologies priced at Rs 130 each for a total consideration of Rs 888.5 crore ($125.14 million).

Notably, only 1,15,38,461 shares were allotted for a cash consideration of around Rs 150 crore by the company. The rest 5,68,06,990 shares were issued against receipt of financial securities, which are valued at Rs 738.5 crore by a registered valuer, revealed the RoC filings.

The financial securities are primarily listed and unlisted coupon-bearing non-convertible debentures, which were received by Navi Technologies in two tranches on 7th and 10th October.

Last December, Bansal, along with his IITD batchmate Ankit Agarwal, had launched his first venture after exiting Flipkart - BAC Acquisitions Private Limited. Interestingly, Agarwal received one of the highest annual remunerations in the ecosystem - over Rs 5 crore for his services.

The Bansal-led firm, in its four months of operations, has posted a net profit of Rs 1.93 crore in FY19 along with a total income of Rs 16.7 crore in the fiscal.

Through BAC Acquisitions, Bansal aims to develop platforms which can optimise business automation and enable digitisation of processes. Importantly, the company had increased its authorised share capital to over $1 billion with Bansal investing $7 million in January this year.

Since his exit from Flipkart, Bansal has become a prominent investor in the ecosystem, and he has - directly and via BAC - invested about $129 million into debt funding. BAC's investment portfolio includes Vogo, BoAt Lifestyle, Kissht, Altico Capital India and IndoStar Capital Finance.

Bansal has shown an unprecedented interest in the fintech segment. Besides placing bets on promising startups, he had acquired a controlling stake in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services Private Limited (CRIDS) for Rs 740 crore ($104 million) and took over as the CEO of the NBFC firm.

Bansal also had plans to get into the banking business. However, he’s yet to get regulatory permission. Meanwhile, Navi Technologies is in the last leg to acquire Zee group’s Essel Mutual Fund and its ancillary entities.