Binny Bansal, the co-founder of Flipkart, is in advanced talks to purchase a stake in the Bengaluru franchise of the volleyball team competing in the Prime Volleyball League (PVL), according to sources familiar with the situation. Binny Bansal has stepped up the pace of his investments over the past few months.
About eight teams from Bengaluru, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and other cities compete in the PVL, a competition similar to the Indian Premier League (IPL). One of the primary proprietors of Bengaluru Torpedoes, the local team, is Ankit Nagori, founder of cloud kitchen startup Curefoods and former senior executive at Flipkart.
When the agreement is finalized, Bansal will hold about 10% of the squad, while Baseline Ventures, a sports management company, will own the remaining 50%. Nagori now owns slightly under 50% of the team.
Approximately 10% of the company would be acquired by the entrepreneur-turned-investor, according to reports, for around Rs 10 crore, valuing the team at roughly Rs 100 crore. Mumbai Meteors, the Mumbai franchise of the Prime Volleyball League, was acquired by PhonePe founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari last year.
A time when non-cricket events were also gaining popularity in India was when Bansal invested in the Bengaluru Torpedoes. 206 million people watched PVL in 2017, up more than 50%, according to reports quoting BARC data.
Big investments by Bansal
In a capital round that included both primary and secondary investments in April, Bansal’s Three State Ventures contributed Rs 240 crore to Nagori’s Curefoods. He had a 5% ownership stake in Curefoods at the time of the investment, but it has since crept up to almost 12%. According to a March story from ET, Bansal is also placing a significant wager on PhonePe, where he plans to invest up to $100–150 million.
Bansal, who left Flipkart in 2018 and moved to Singapore, has backed early-stage and angel investments in Indian firms, but he also doubles down on certain bets by investing through later stages. He is on the boards of companies like Curefoods and PhonePe.
His investments are made through a variety of organizations, including the Singapore-based Three State Ventures, the 021 Capital investment fund started by Bansal’s financial advisor Sailesh Tulshan, and the xto10x Technologies company he co-founded with former Flipkart senior executive Saikiran Krishnamurthy. In 2022, Bansal oversaw a $25 million financing round for xto10x. His other portfolio companies include the manufacturer of electric scooters, Ather Energy; the startup for urban mobility, Yulu; the loan site Rupeek; and the insurance business, Acko.
The IIT Delhi alumnus had intended to start his own fund, but those plans fell through. In December 2021, ET reported that he sold a portion of his ownership in Flipkart for roughly $200 million. Bansal has also made investments using this money. He still holds a 1.8% stake in the Walmart-owned online retailer.
