Exclusive: Sachin Bansal appointed Navi's MD; raises 204 Cr from Gaja Capital

Sachin Bansal made his second entrepreneurial move loudly clear by betting most of his fortune scored from Flipkart on Navi Technologies. The 38-year-old recently led an over Rs 3,000 crore round in the Bengaluru-based venture and has now been appointed the managing director of the company.

Bansal’s elevation as the MD of Navi has come just after a week of the megafund infusion in Navi Technologies (formerly known as BACQ Acquisition). According to regulatory filings, the company’s board passed a resolution to approve the appointment. 

At the beginning of this month, Bansal had invested Rs 253 crore cash and securities worth Rs 2,675 crore in Navi which include his entire stake of 94% in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services (CRIDS). He also transferred his stake in financial instruments worth Rs 1,636.1 crore along with his ownership in Kissht, OfBusiness, Lendingkart and Wheels EMI.

Entrackr had exclusively reported Bansal’s mega bet on Navi last week.

A separate filing also reveals that Gaja Capital has invested Rs 204 crore for 1.45 crore shares in the 18-month-old venture with financial services veteran Ramesh Sundare investing Rs 6 crore as well. High-net-worth individuals including  Sharad Sundarmony, Rao Family, Nitin Jagpratap and Sunil Edward among others have also invested Rs 2.55 crore altogether in the fresh round. 

After making a billion dollars by selling Flipkart to Walmart in 2018, Bansal had invested over Rs 1,800 crore as debt in several startups including Vogo, Bounce and KrazyBee. He also made an equity investment in ride-hailing major Ola and electric bike manufacturer Ather Energy. 

Successfully kick-starting the e-commerce revolution in India a decade ago, Bansal is now hoping to ride the fintech wave with a universal banking licence. His investments in NBFCs such as CRIDS, Altico Capital, U Gro Capital and IndoStar Capital as well as the acquisition of Essel Group’s mutual fund business were done with the goal to procure a banking licence.

Bansal has already invested over half of his wealth from Flipkart’s exit on Navi and now taking on the role of managing director clearly indicates that Bansal is taking a long shot at the burgeoning financial sector.