Flipkart co-founder seeks $400m for fintech startup Navi: report

Sachin Bansal / Photo credit: Shahanadg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart, is in talks to secure the first major external funding round for his fintech startup, Navi Technologies. He aims to raise US$200 million to US$$400 million at a US$2 billion valuation via the negotiations, which were reported by *TechCrunch*.

This marks a shift for Bansal, who bootstrapped Navi since its 2018 founding following a lucrative Flipkart exit. The company, which offers personal loans, home loans, and health insurance, had originally planned a US$440 million listing in 2022, though it later abandoned those plans amid an IPO slump.

Adding to its woes, the Reserve Bank of India – the country’s central bank – denied the banking application of its microfinancing unit, Chaitanya. The rejection had also prevented Navi from also securing pre-IPO funding from SoftBank and other investors at a valuation of over US$4 billion.

Navi ultimately sold Chaitanya for US$178.5 million in August 2023 to streamline its focus. Regardless, Bansal said in an interview with Moneycontrol that he remained open to future IPO possibilities and securing a banking license for Navi.

Last year, Navi reported a profit of US$4.4 million for the six-month period ending September 2023.

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