The worth of startup founders has fluctuated along with stock prices over the last 12-14 months. Some like Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal and Policybazaar’s Yashish Dahiya and Alok Bansal have reaped mega rewards while Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has seen his wealth eroded, an analysis of stock prices and shareholding patterns by ET has shown.
With the exception of omnichannel beauty and personal care retailer Nykaa, founders of new-age public companies only hold minority stakes in their firms. Nykaa’s promoters, the family of founder Falguni Nayar, together owned more than 52% of the company as of December 31.
Zomato founder and CEO Goyal’s 4.2% stake in the Gurugram-based food-delivery company was worth nearly Rs 6,000 on February 27, almost three times the Rs 2,200 crore it was worth on December 31, 2022. Goyal’s stake hasn’t changed during the period, as per BSE data.
Zomato’s share price has surged in the 14 months, rising to Rs 161.25 at the February 27 close, up 172% since the December 31, 2022, price of Rs 59.3 on the National Stock Exchange. Zomato was among the first listed new-age companies to make a quarterly profit, for the April-June 2023 period. It’s been profitable every quarter since then.
Analysts have pointed to Zomato’s quick-commerce arm Blinkit as the driver of its next phase of growth, and for a potential upside on the stock.
Also read | Zomato hits pause on Blinkit integration to focus on building super brands
Paytm swing
Sharma, who relinquished his seat on the board of Paytm Payments Bank on February 26, saw the value of the 9.1% stake held in his name fall to below Rs 2,500 crore on February 27, compared with Rs 3,071 crore at the end of December 2022.
However, the worth of Sharma’s stake in Paytm parent One 97 Communications Ltd, had fallen to almost Rs 1,841 crore on February 16, when the stock hit its 52-week low. This followed the Reserve Bank of India’s action against Paytm Payments Bank for alleged non-compliance. Since January 31, the day when the RBI announced its action, One 97’s stock dropped by more than 50%.
ET had reported on February 23 how one of Paytm’s earliest backers – Elevation Capital – was staring at a massive erosion in the value of its holding, which hasn’t changed since the fintech company’s 2021 listing.
The value of Sharma’s holding does not account for the 10% stake transferred by investor Ant Financial in August 2023 to Resilient Asset Management – an entity held by him – in an intricately structured deal that gave the founder greater control over the company. The total worth of Sharma’s own stake, and that held by Resilient, was worth over Rs 5,200 crore as of February 27.
Policybazaar surge
The stock price of Policybazaar parent PB Fintech has more than doubled in the past 14 months, as have the stakes of its founders Dahiya and Bansal, who together hold over 6% of the company.
While the value of Dahiya’s stake increased to Rs 2,372 crore from Rs 937 crore on December 31, 2022, Bansal’s stake is now worth Rs 856 crore against Rs 338 crore. Both Dahiya and Bansal also haven’t changed their stakes over the last 14 months, and hold 20.9 million and 7.5 million shares, respectively.
PB Fintech clocked its first ever quarterly profit for the quarter ended December 2023, following through on the guidance it provided in previous quarters.
On February 16, the company said it secured in-principle approval from the insurance regulator to upgrade its broker licence, allowing its entry into the reinsurance business.
Ecommerce overhang
The share prices of both FSN E-commerce, the parent company of Nykaa, and new-age logistics player Delhivery have stayed under pressure in the last several quarters on account of weak signals in overall consumption and ecommerce trends.
The value of the Nykaa promoter group’s holding in the company was at Rs 22,811 crore as of February 27, marginally lower than Rs 23,094 crore as of December 31, 2022. In addition to Nayar, who is the company’s MD and CEO, the promoter group directly or indirectly includes former KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar, Adwaita Nayar, Anchit Nayar, and their family trusts.
Nykaa’s promoter group hasn’t changed its stake in the company during this period.
Meanwhile, Delhivery’s founders have increased or decreased their stakes in the company. While cofounder and CEO Sahil Barua now holds 12.5 million shares worth Rs 589 crore, he held 13 million shares in December 2022 worth almost Rs 431 crore.
Delhivery’s stock has recently been rising owing to the company’s maiden quarterly profit reported in the October-December period.
The Gurugram-headquartered company’s other cofounders, who still own a part of the logistics firm, are Suraj Saharan and Mohit Tandon.
Saharan’s 11.1 million shares are now worth Rs 521 crore. He has increased his stake since December 2022, when he held 10.9 million shares worth Rs 364 crore. Meanwhile, Tandon has been selling stakes in Delhivery and held 10.2 million shares worth Rs 480 crore as of February 27, compared to 10.8 million shares worth Rs 359 crore as of December 31, 2022.
