Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal Achieve 200x Return on Urban Company Investment

• ByStartupStory     |    July 18, 2024

Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, the founders of Snapdeal and Titan Capital, have made a substantial exit from the at-home services platform Urban Company. Their Rs 57 lakh investment in 2015 has yielded an impressive return of Rs 111 crore, approximately 200 times their initial investment. The stake was sold to Vy Capital’s offshoot, Dharana Capital, in a $50 million secondary transaction that concluded earlier this month.

Alongside the Titan Capital founders, several Urban Company employees also sold their stock options as part of the deal. Following the transaction, Vamsi Duvvuri, founder and managing partner of Dharana Capital, will join Urban Company’s board as a non-executive director.

Bahl confirmed the exit but did not provide further details.

“Urban Company has built an enduring and growing business with a strong foundation. We have been fortunate to be part of this journey from its earliest days and immense credit is due to Abhiraj (Singh Bhal), Varun (Khaitan), and Raghav (Chandra) and their team for building it with great determination, resilience, and foresight,” Titan Capital said in a statement.

Bahl and Bansal emphasized their commitment to reinvest their gains. “100% of the gains from our Urban Company investment will be redeployed to fund the next generation of founders and in helping build and grow a stellar future cohort of Indian startups,” they said.

Titan Capital has a history of significant returns, including more than 100 times on investments in companies like Ola Cabs, OfBusiness, and Credgenics. While they have fully exited Ola Cabs, they partially exited Credgenics and continue to hold shares in OfBusiness.

The Snapdeal founders have made angel investments in 300 startups through Titan Capital and recently raised Rs 200 crore to bolster their investment portfolio.

Last year, Bahl and Bansal sold shares worth Rs 78 crore in Honasa Consumer’s IPO, achieving over 100 times return on the investment. They also committed to reinvest the gains into new startups.

Urban Company, led by co-founders Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan, and Raghav Chandra, reported Rs 282-283 crore in revenue for April-June this year, with a profit before tax for the quarter. The company expects to become profitable in FY25. For FY23, Urban Company reported a 45% increase in operating revenue to Rs 637 crore, while its loss before taxes narrowed to Rs 308 crore from Rs 514 crore in FY22. The company has not yet filed its financial statements for FY24.

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