Bansal played a key role in Flipkart’s PhonePe acquisition in 2016 and worked closely with PhonePe founder Sameer Nigam since then, including after the payments firm’s separation from Flipkart.
Bansal owns around a 1% stake in PhonePe. “He is still the largest individual minority shareholder,” PhonePe said.
The Walmart-owned firm also said Teamlease founder Manish Sabharwal has been appointed as an independent director and chair of its audit committee.
Typically, board resignations are linked to conflict of interest by board members and the company for various reasons including starting a venture in the same space or backing a rival firm in a meaningful manner. Sources close to PhonePe said Bansal’s board departure is largely due to his focus on the new venture.
Bansal declined to comment to ET on reasons for his departure from the PhonePe board.
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Curefoods, founded by former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori, is one of the large consumer internet startups where Bansal is still a board member. He had made an investment of around $70-80 million in the cloud kitchen firm.
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Binny Bansal for being one of PhonePe’s earliest and staunchest supporters. His active engagement, strategic guidance, and personal mentorship have profoundly enriched our discussions,” PhonePe founder Nigam said.
ET reported in March that Singapore-based Bansal is busy doubling down on his investments in India and the new venture, OppDoor. In line with that, he has increased his visits to India. Bansal, who had sold part of his holding in Flipkart to Walmart in 2018, sold his remaining stake in the ecommerce firm last year, netting about $650 million.
Acko, Flash, Bright Champs and Yulu are among his Indian portfolio firms. Bansal’s Three State Ventures had invested seed capital of around $2 million in OppDoor in multiple tranches, ET reported in March.
Bansal, along with CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti, has become an anchor LP (limited partner) in Bengaluru-based Xeed Ventures, an early-stage fund run by Sailesh Tulshan, ET reported in April. Bansal is also an investor in various other venture funds who are investing in Indian startups.
Content Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com