Meet man who founded Mukesh Ambani-backed Dunzo, now set to join Flipkart as...

Kabeer Biswas, co-founder of Dunzo, is all set to join quick commerce operations for Walmart-owned Flipkart as the head of Flipkart Minutes, sources said. Days have passed since Moneycontrol initially revealed Biswas' plans on January 5.

“Kabeer (Biswas) has accepted the offer and will join as the head of Flipkart Minutes next week,” one of the persons cited above told Moneycontrol. This will be Biswas’ second innings in the rapid delivery space after starting and scaling up Dunzo for over a decade.

The news comes days after Moneycontrol first revealed that Biswas, the lone surviving co-founder, is leaving Dunzo, the business he created in 2014, as it tries to stay alive in a market that is becoming more and more competitive.

The choice to hire Biswas also comes months after Google invested $350 million in Flipkart at a valuation of $36 billion, as reported by Moneycontrol in May, as part of the company's $950 million fundraising campaign.

Biswas, who will now lead Flipkart Minutes, brings over a decade of experience in the quick commerce industry, giving the Walmart-owned company an advantage over rivals like Blinkit (owned by Zomato), Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, Tata BigBasket, and others. He has been a part of the sector long before rapid delivery became a booming trend in recent months.

Biswas will collaborate closely with Hemant Badri, Flipkart’s Senior Vice President, who has also been overseeing the company’s quick commerce initiatives since April 2022, as first reported by Moneycontrol.

Biswas has left Dunzo at a challenging time for the company, which has significantly downsized and is struggling to sustain its operations. There were discussions with Swiggy and BigBasket about a possible acquisition, but no deal was reached.

Founded in 2014 as a WhatsApp group, Dunzo grew into a strong hyperlocal delivery player, raising over $400 million from investors like Reliance, Google, Blume Ventures, and Lightrock. However, despite competing with Swiggy Instamart, Tata BigBasket, and Blinkit, the company faced difficulties due to heavy cash burn and increasing competition in the market.

Dunzo-Reliance Link

In 2022, Reliance Retail led a $240 million fundraising round to acquire a 25.8% share in Dunzo, establishing the company's position in the ultra-fast commerce space. Dunzo struggled to stay afloat even after raising $449 million from investors such as Alteria Capital, Google, and Reliance Retail.

In May 2024, however, Google invested $350 million in Flipkart, valuing the e-commerce behemoth at $36 billion. Remarkably, Google owns shares in Flipkart (~1%) and Dunzo (~19%).