Fintech company Cred's Kunal Shah is top startup founder-investor

Shah has invested in 266 startups, followed by Anupam Mittal, founder of shaadi.com, who has funded 213

Kunal Shah, the 41-year-old founder of fintech company CRED, which currently has a valuation of $6.4 billion and is among the top 10 unicorns in India, has another feather in his cap: He is also the top startup founder-investor in the country, having funded over 266 startups, according to data from the research agency Traxcn. 

Shah’s portfolio includes online payments company Razorpay, e-commerce platform Snapdeal, manufacturing services company Zetwork, the electric ride hailing company BlueSmart, edtech firm Unacademy, online garments company Bliss Club, and Spinny, an online platform for second-hand cars, amongst others. 

As many as 11 of these are unicorns, according to Traxcn.

Shah has been on an investment spree in 2024. He signed his latest deal on June 17, with a seed investment in Propperr, a fintech company. This year he has also invested in financial services company Sipay, mobile play Lightfurry Games, mental health startup Mave Health and US-based AI risk management company SydeLabs. 

Traxcn does not track specific investments of individuals as most of them put in money as part of a consortium of partners in a fund raise. Hence, individual stakes are not divulged.

Shah is in good company in the prestigious list of the top five startup founders based on the numbers of companies in which they have put in money. In the second spot is Anupam Mittal, 52, the Boston College alumnus who founded the matrimonial site shaadi.com, with investments in as many as 213 companies. Shaadi.com, according to reports, is valued at Rs 2500 crore.

Mittal came into prominence as one of the startup founder participants in the controversial yet popular television reality show “Shark Tank”, where new startups pitched to raise funds from founder-investors. He has invested in a range of marquee companies, which include Bhavish Aggarwal’s Ola, Tata controlled BigBasket, two-wheeler ride hailing platform Rapido, Fab Hotels, payments app Mobikwik and Sugar Cosmetics. Three of these are unicorns — Ola, logistics company Porter and Mobikwik.

Like Shah, Mittal too has been prolific in 2024, and his investments this year include some made on 'Shark Tank’, such as in the Bangalore-based “Uncle Peter's Pancakes”.

Occupying the third and fourth spot in the list of top startup founders are Snapdeal’s co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. The fortunes of their own company has seen many ups and downs — once valued at a staggering $6.5 billion Snapdeal has battled survival challenges alongside a failed merger with Flipkart. But it has now filed a draft red herring prospectus for floating an initial public offering to raise Rs 1250 crore.

Bahl, who also co-founded Titan Capital, a seed-stage venture capital fund which supports entrepreneurs with funding and mentorship, has  invested in over in 195 companies, including Ola, Razorpay, skin care brand Mamaearth, hyper-local e-commerce delivery platform Shadowfax, beer band Bira 91, amongst others. 

According to Traxcn, Bahl has seven unicorns in his portfolio  —   OfBusiness, a platform for buyers and suppliers, Mamaearth, Ola, grocery app DealShare, Razorpay, Snapdeal and messaging app Hike.

Rohit Bansal, Bahl’s co-founder in Snapdeal, is also a prodigious investor. He has put money in as many as 165 companies, many of which are the same as the ones where Bahl has invested. 

In the fifth spot is 67-year-old Raman Roy, one of the earliest BPO entrepreneurs who helped establish the business in the country. He is also the oldest member in the group, but he too has the magic touch. He has invested in 111 companies, most of it in the form of seed funding. According to Traxcn, he has one unicorn amongst his investments — Uniphore, a conversational automation technology company based in the US.