Three IIM graduates become billionaires after selling their fintech start up

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The global consumer internet group Prosus NV, on August 31, announced the acquisition of Indian digital payments provider BillDesk for $4.7 billion. “The proposed acquisition will see PayU, the payments and fintech business of Prosus which operates in more than 20 high-growth markets, become one of the leading online payment providers globally by total payment volume (TPV),” Prosus said in a statement.

This was one of the biggest deals of the fintech space in recent times with the three co-founders of BillDesk, MN Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy, earning $500 million (Rs 3,600 crore) each for their combined stake of 31%.

Unconventional attitude

Their story is something that “runs counter to rules in India’s startup textbook”, according to Bloomberg. One instance cited by the publication is that BillDesk had never hired a PR firm and Prosus-owned PayU had to take charge of the entire acquisition announcement. This comes at an age where almost every company spends significantly on PR machinery and indulges in swanky press conferences, events and parties for every company event.

Srinivasu said that they were not like the typical young startup founders. He also said that when they started off in January 2000, they didn’t have a startup idea and had a gut feeling which suggested that it would be great to build something in the juncture of financial services and technology, Bloomberg reported. Without elaborating further, Srinivasu added that even though the three of them have sold their stakes in entirety, they will remain to be part of the business.

Origin story

The three founders met when they were working at accounting giant Arthur Andersen. They quit in 1999 just years before it went bust in 2002 due to the Enron Corporation scandal. They are alumni of Indian Institute of Management, the country’s premier B-school, and had left lucrative careers to venture into the entrepreneurial space.

During its early days, BillDesk was backed by Bank of Baroda and a fund that was run by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Both are government-owned banks in contrast to the high-profile global private equity and venture capital firms that fund Indian startups today.

Over the years, BillDesk became a key player in the digital payments market and offered payment gateway services to millions of customers. It was mulling to go public this year and had also hired investment bankers to explore the possibilities. Prosus got hold of this crucial piece of information and arrived on the scene a while back and finally bought the company.