Top 10 Indian Startup Founders Who Are MBAs

Over the course of the year, startups in the nation were able to add an estimated 40,000 new jobs, bringing the overall number of employees in the start-up ecosystem to 1.6–1.7 lakh. The contribution of women is approximately 14% as compared to 10 and 11% in the previous years. 

Together with Ola, Flipkart was one of the first unicorn start-ups in India with a valuation of over $11.6 billion in the year 2017. The Indian startup ecosystem has flourished exponentially since the launch of Shaadi.com and Rediff. 

Here are some interesting facts related to the Indian startup economy: – 

1. India is the world’s youngest startup nation, with the majority of founders being under the age of 35.
2. The 2019 Startup Genome Project rating includes Bangalore among the top 20 startup cities worldwide. Additionally, it is listed as one of the top five startup cities in the globe.
3. India has the third-largest startup environment in the world and is predicted to expand by 12 to 15 percent annually. 
4. In 2018, there were roughly 50,000 startups in India, with 8,900 to 9,300 of them being technology-focused. There were 1300 new tech businesses founded in 2019 alone, which suggests that two to three startups are founded every day.

Contribution of MBA to the startup economy 

Definitely, a lot of questions pop up when you think about starting a business or becoming an entrepreneur. 

Approximately 50 percent of start-up founders hold an MBA, with Harvard Business School and IIM Calcutta creating the most millionaire start-up founders. You can avoid a lot of the problems involved with launching a business by getting an MBA. In fact, the most sought-after MBA specialization is entrepreneurship as is evident from the reference image by ET Tech. 

According to a survey of 198 Indian startup founders, 65 of them had an MBA degree. Among them, 35 founders have completed their course in India while others have pursued from foreign business schools in England, the United States, or Canada. 

Alumni from IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, ISB Hyderabad, and IIM Lucknow are well-represented among upcoming start-ups. It is evident that the majority of start-up founders have graduated from India’s top B-Schools. Along with that, in the private sector founder of NMIMS also seem to have a flair for entrepreneurship.

Top 10 Indian Startups Founders who are MBAs 

1. 9Stacks

With over 1 lakh customers opting to play big money poker on the nation’s safest, only fully legal online poker platform, 9stacks is India’s fastest growing online poker platform. 

This startup was introduced as a joint venture by Sudhir Kamath and Rishab Mathur. Among the two Sudhir Kamath was an IIM Ahemdabad graduate. 

2. Airpay

Airpay is the first holistic multichannel financial services platform in India. Established in the year 2012 to open up official financial services to everyone, driven by a love of technology and rooted in Indian tradition. 

Airpay was founded by Kunal Jhunjhunwala, Rohan Deshpande, and Amit Kapoor. All the three visionary founders have done their MBA from various top Business Schools namely – the London School of Economics, Mumbai University, and NMIMS Mumbai respectively. 

3. Ask Arvi

Customers may purchase insurance online using Ask Arvi, a messaging personal insurance assistant platform. Allows users to create a risk profile and respond to the user’s queries. Based on the user’s risk profile and factors like cover amount, premium, perks, etc., the website suggests insurance products.

The platform was established by Sushant Reddy, a graduate of Columbia Business School, Mandar Zope, and Ashwin Narkhede. 

4. Active Intelligence

A fintech firm with headquarters in Singapore and affiliates in the US and India. They use artificial intelligence to provide Multimodal Financial services. We work with banks and credit unions to develop virtual assistants that are smart, offering automation and thoughtful consumer involvement. The company’s conversational banking platform leverages cutting-edge NLP and artificial intelligence to let consumers have natural conversations using SMS, phone, or IoT devices.

5. Chimple Learning

The Sutara Learning Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to children’s fundamental education, created the Chimple Learning app in 2015. The platform was introduced by Srikanth Talapadi who graduated from IIM Bangalore.

6. Dunzo 

Established in the year 2014, Dunzo is headquartered in Bangalore. The platform was built to deliver groceries and essentials and other edible things. The platform is operative in 8 cities of India namely –  Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.

This startup was established by Kabeer Biswas, a Narsee Monjee Institute of Management graduate along with co-founders Dalvir Suri, Ankur Aggarwal, and Mukund Jha. 

7. FingerLix

FINGERLIX is a platform that prepares family-friendly food and produces, founded by Shree Bharambe who was an IIM Bangalore graduate. The parent firm of Bengaluru-based Swiggy, the undisputed leader in food delivery, Bundl Technologies, has invested in Fingerlix.

Fingerlix has received a Rs 31.2 crore investment from Bundl Technologies, according to the company’s RoC filings.

8. Snapdeal 

Based in New Delhi, India, Snapdeal is an e-commerce business established in February 2010. The business was established as a joint venture by Kunal Bahl, a graduate of Kellogg School of Management, and Rohit Bansal. 

9. ReNew Power Ventures

In terms of operating capacity, ReNew Power is the largest renewable energy provider in India. They run approximately 110 projects in 18 different states with the major roles in planning, constructing, acquiring, and managing utility-scale wind and solar energy projects, as well as distributed solar energy generation for industrial and commercial customers.

The startup was founded by the alumnus of IIM Calcutta, Sumant Sinha. 

10. Hike

Founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal an alumnus of Imperial College London (EEE & Management). Hike Messenger, also known as Hike Sticker Chat, is a downloadable, cross-platform instant messaging and Voice over IP application that is currently owned by Hike Private Limited. With compatibility for several platforms, Hike also operates offline through SMS.

Indian cities that contribute the most to startups 

Sr. No.	City	Percentage
1	Bangalore	34.78%
2	Mumbai	20.90%
3	NCR	9.09%
4	Hyderabad	9.88%
5	Chennai	9.09%
6	Ahmedabad	6.71%
7	Pune	1.97%
8	Other	7.58%