When most Indian internet companies were still figuring out how to turn eyeballs into earnings, billionaire Sanjeev Bikhchandani was writing cheques into startups nobody had heard of. One went into a food delivery app at a pre-money valuation of Rs 9.4 crore. Another backed an insurance aggregator at Rs 21 crore. Both are now listed juggernauts - Eternal (Zomato) and PB Fintech (Policybazaar). Together, they have changed how India eats and buys insurance.
That early discipline of entering before consensus forms, holding longer than most investors are willing to, has now produced one of the most striking capital compounding stories in Indian venture. Info Edge (India) Limited, the NSE-listed parent behind Naukri.com, has deployed approximately Rs 4,900 crore across 135 startups since 2007. That capital is now valued at roughly Rs 41,300 crore — an 8.4x multiple and a ~33% gross IRR, according to a shareholder letter written by Bikhchandani.
