Kunal Bahl is an Indian entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of e-commerce company ‘Snapdeal’ and capital markets company ‘Titan Capital’.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Kunal Bahl was born on Sunday, 1 January 1984 (age 40 years; as in 2024) in New Delhi, India. Their zodiac sign is Capricorn. Kunal completed his schooling from Delhi Public School, RK Puram, New Delhi. In 2002, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania and in 2006, he graduated from the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology. Kunal earned two graduate degrees in the field of entrepreneurship, operations and information management from the Wharton School of Technology, Pennsylvania, and engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania (2002-2006). In 2006, Kunal completed a one-year Executive Program in Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, United States.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 5″
Weight (Approx): 75 kg
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: dark brown
Family
parents and siblings
Kunal Bahl’s father Rasiklal Meswani was a businessman and he died when Kunal was just 14 years old. Kunal’s mother is a retired interior designer. Kunal has 2 brothers named Nikhil Bahl and Viraj Bahl. Viraj Bahl is the Founder and Managing Director of VRB Consumer (Veeba Food Services Pvt. Ltd.).
Viraj Behal
wife and children
Kunal married Yashna in the year 2012. Yashna is the owner of a confectionery business. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, in 2015. In 2018, Kunal and his wife had a son named Adidev.
(Left) Yashna Bahl and Kunal Bahl
relationships
Kunal Bahl and his wife Yashna dated for a long time and later got married in 2012.
livelihood
snapdeal
In 2007, Kunal Bahl, along with his childhood friend Rohit Bansal, started a company named ‘Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd.’, which sold discount coupons first offline and then online. In 2010, the two partners founded a company called ‘Snapdeal’, which initially sold discount coupons for restaurants, hotels and movie theaters to customers. Later in 2011, Snapdeal was transformed into a marketplace-based e-commerce company, which now focuses on selling fashion, home and general merchandise.
Snapdeal founders, Rohit Bansal (left) and Kunal Bahl
Kunal Bahl at Sanpdeal office
Titan Capital
In 2015, Kunal Bahl along with Rohit Bansal founded a new capital markets company called ‘Titan Capital’, which invests in entrepreneurs who aim to build large-scale businesses in the market. The company has invested in various successful ventures including Ola, Urban Company, Mamaearth and OffBusiness.
acevector group
In 2022, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal founded ‘Acevector Group’, the holding company for Snapdeal, Unicommerce and Stellaro brands. Making it official, Kunal Bahl wrote a blog and said
It is appropriate for us to formalize a group structure that highlights the distinct nature of each business, as well as the broader scope of opportunities we are exploring as a company, beyond our e-commerce marketplace – Snapdeal and This will simultaneously bring innovation across distribution channels. , digital-first consumer brand and SaaS platform.”
Piramal Enterprises Limited
Kunal Bahl is the Independent Director of Piramal Enterprises Limited, the flagship company of the Piramal Group, which is active in financial services and is involved in retail lending, housing finance and vehicle financing.
Investcorp India SPAC
Kunal Bahl serves as a director of Investcorp India Acquisition Corp, a SPAC, a leading Indian conglomerate.
controversies
Booked for selling medicines online
In 2015, an FIR was filed against Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl for selling prescription medicines on his e-commerce website. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department raided the premises of Snapdeal owner Jasper Infotech in Mumbai. The FDA said the report claims the website sells some cough syrups and tablets online, which are prescribed only if officially prescribed by a physician. The FDA issued a notice to the company to delist all such products and an official statement was made by Snapdeal associates stating that
In this matter, we are helping the FDA team in this investigation and will continue to do so. We have already removed the products and the said vendors from the list and have also stopped payments, besides providing all the information to the FDA team as per their requirement.’
Called to handle marketing concept
In 2017, Gaurav Dua, an engineer and entrepreneur, had filed a complaint on alleged allegations that e-commerce company ‘Snapdeal’ had taken over his idea of connecting sellers and buyers through a platform. Delhi High Court Additional Sessions Judge RK Tripathi has booked CEO Kunal Bahl, COO Rohit Bansal and former Chief Financial Officer Vijay Ajmera under legal action in connection with defrauding Gaurav Dua by promising cooperation and stealing his “non-inventory holding marketplace”. Summons issued. Model for retail.” The complaint was filed under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), which was earlier dismissed by a trial court. After this Gaurav Dua filed a revision petition before the Sessions Court. Cited legal claim stating that
Snapdeal’s founders, who claimed to support the vision that puts them ahead of other e-commerce companies, betrayed Dua under the guise of collaborating with her and raising venture funds for her legitimate business.
Case registered for selling fake products
In 2019, businessman and Congress leader Indramohan Singh Honey of Rajasthan’s Kota had filed a case against Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal at Gumanpura police station in Kota for distributing fake branded products. The founders were booked for fraud under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. The complainant reported receiving a counterfeit product from the Snapdeal website after ordering the original Woodland Waist Belt and Wallet.
A criminal case for permitting the sale of a drug
In 2021, Snapdeal founders, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal were sued by Mr. Amandeep Chawla, owner of M/s Adept Biocare, for allowing online sale of the drug – Suhagra-100 Tablets, which contains Sildenafil Citrate Was. Portal without valid license. A person named Manjunath placed an online order on Snapdeal for the tablet and received the order in November 2020. M/s Adept Biocare is the manufacturer and seller of the tablet and claimed that Snapdeal had no drug license to sell SUHAGRA-100. The founders and their company were charged under Section 18(c) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (‘DC Act’), which is punishable under Section 27(b)(ii) of the DC Act.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- 2014: Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the 36th Bombay Management Association (BMA) Awards.
- 2014: EY Entrepreneur of the Year – Startup 2014.
- 2014: NASSCOM NextGen Entrepreneur.
- 2015: The Economic Times Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
- 2015: AIMA Transformational Business Leader of the Year.
- 2015: Indian Affairs Business Leader of the Year.
- 2018: Joseph Wharton Award for Youth Leadership.
- 2019: The Economic Times Comeback Award.
net worth
Shareholders have fixed Kunal Bahl’s remuneration at fixed compensation of Rs 3.5 crore and performance bonus of Rs 1.5 crore; Till 2024.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal were classmates in Delhi Public School, RK Puram, New Delhi. Friends turned business partners, Kunal Bahl (left) and Rohit Bansal (right)
- When running Jasper Infotech in 2009, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal did not have enough money in their company’s account to pay salaries to their employees. Both of them had to withdraw some money from their personal bank accounts to clear the dues and were left with less than Rs 1 lakh in each of their accounts.
- In 2011, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal visited China and saw how huge the Chinese online marketplace Alibaba.com was. That’s when the two decided to remodel their company and market it.
- Kunal was included in ET’s list of India’s Top 50 Entrepreneurs of 2014.
- In 2014, he was ranked 25th on the Fortune 40 list of the 40 most influential business leaders.
- In 2015, Kunal was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and serves as an elected member.
- Kunal is also an active angel investor, having invested in 120+ technology companies in India, US and Southeast Asia across consumer internet, fintech, direct-to-consumer brands, AI and deep-tech.
- In 2019, he was appointed as a member of the NASSCOM Executive Committee, which serves the interests of its diverse members from different sectors and regions and also provides them with the requisite governance.
- In 2020, Kunal Bahl was appointed as the Chairman of the E-Commerce Committee of CII.
- He serves on the National Startup Advisory Council, a committee advising the Government of India on the efforts required to build a strong startup ecosystem.
- When Kunal was in the United States, he worked with Microsoft for some time, until he was forced to leave the country because his US work visa application was rejected.
Kunal Bahl’s LinkedIn post about his experience at Microsoft and visa rejection
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn