Kunal Bahl is an Indian entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of e-commerce company ‘Snapdeal’ and capital market company ‘Titan Capital’.
Wiki/Biography
Kunal Bahl was born on Sunday, January 1, 1984, in New Delhi, India (age 40 years 2024). His zodiac sign is Capricorn. Kunal completed his education from Delhi Public School, RK Puram, New Delhi. In 2002, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from the Jerome Fisher Management and Technology Program in 2006. Kunal earned two bachelor’s degrees in entrepreneurship, a bachelor’s degree in operations and information management from Penn State’s Wharton School and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Penn State’s College of Engineering and Applied Science (2002-2006). In 2006, Kunal completed a one-year marketing executive program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 5″
Weight (approximately): 75kg
Hair color: black
Eye color: dark brown
family
Parents and siblings
Kunal Bahl’s father Rasiklal Meswani was a businessman who died when Kunal Bahl was 14 years old. Kunal’s mother is a retired interior designer. Kunal has 2 brothers named Nikhil Bahl and Viraj Bahl. Viraj Bahl is the founder and managing director of VRB Consumer (Veeba Food Services Pvt Ltd).
Viraj Bahl
wife and children
Kunal married Yashna in 2012. Yashna is the owner of a sweet shop. In 2015, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter. In 2018, Kunal and his wife gave birth to a son named Aadidev.
(Left) Yashna Bahl and Kunal Bahl
interpersonal relationships
Kunal Bahl and his wife Yashna dated for a long time and later got married in 2012.
Profession
snapshot transaction
In 2007, Kunal Bahl along with his childhood friend Rohit Bansal started a company called ‘Jasper Infotech Private Limited’ which first sold discount coupons offline and then online. In 2010, the two partners founded a company called “Snapdeal”, which initially sold discount coupons for restaurants, hotels and movie theaters to customers. Later in 2011, Snapdeal transformed into a marketplace-based e-commerce company and now focuses on selling fashion, home and general merchandise.
Snapdeal founders Rohit Bansal (left) and Kunal Bahl
Kunal Bahl at Sanpdeal office
Titan Capital
In 2015, Kunal Bahl co-founded a new capital markets company called ‘Titan Capital’ with Rohit Bansal, which invests in entrepreneurs aiming to create large-scale businesses in the market. The company has invested in various successful businesses including Ola, Urban Company, Mamaearth and Ofbusiness.
Ace Vector Group
In 2022, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal founded ‘AceVector Group’, a holding company for Snapdeal, Unicommerce and Stellaro Brands. Kunal Bahl wrote a blog when the news was officially announced, stating
We should formalize a group structure that highlights the broader opportunities we have been pursuing as a company and the unique nature of each business, beyond our e-commerce marketplace – Snapdeal, which will bring together innovation across distribution channels, digital first Consumer brands and SaaS platforms. ”
Piramal Enterprises Ltd.
Kunal Bahl is an Independent Director of Piramal Enterprises Limited, the flagship company of Piramal Group active in the financial services sector, involved in retail lending, housing finance and automobile finance.
Investcorp India SPAC
Kunal Bahl serves as a Director of a leading Indian conglomerate and Investcorp India Acquisition Corp (SPAC).
dispute
Make an appointment online to sell medicines
In 2015, an FIR was filed against Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl for selling prescription drugs on its e-commerce website. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided the premises of Jasper Infotech, which owns Snapdeal in Mumbai. The FDA said reports surfaced that the website was selling some cough syrups and pills online and could only be dispensed with an official doctor’s prescription. The FDA issued a notice to the company asking it to remove all such products from the shelves, and a Snapdeal employee issued an official statement saying:
In this matter, we are assisting the FDA team in this investigation and we will continue to do so. We have removed these products and advised sellers that in addition to providing them with all information requested by the FDA team, we have also stopped payments. ”
Summons takeover marketing concept
In 2017, engineer and entrepreneur Gaurav Dua filed a complaint alleging that e-commerce company ‘Snapdeal’ had taken over his idea of connecting sellers and buyers through a platform. Delhi High Court Judge RK Tripathi issued legal summons to CEO Kunal Bahl, COO Rohit Bansal and former CFO Vijay Ajmera for defrauding Gaurav Dua by promising cooperation and stealing its “non-stock holding market” retail sales industry model. ” The complaint was filed under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), which was earlier dismissed by the trial court. Gaurav Dua later filed a revision petition in the court book. The cited legal claims state that,
Snapdeal’s founders claimed to support an approach that would put them ahead of other e-commerce companies, but they deceived Dua by pretending to partner with and raise venture capital for their proven business. ”
Charged with selling counterfeit goods
In 2019, Indermohan Singh Honey, a businessman and Congress leader from Kota, Rajasthan, filed a case at the Gumanpura police station in Kota, accusing Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal of supplying fake brand products. The founder was booked for cheating under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. The complainant complained of receiving fake products from Snapdeal website after ordering original Woodland belts and wallets.
Criminal cases permitting the sale of drugs
In 2021, Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal were sued by Mr. Amandeep Chawla, owner of M/s Adept Biocare, for allowing online sale of the drug Suhagra-100 tablets containing Sildenafil Citrate which was not effective License portal. An individual named Manjunath ordered the tablets online on Snapdeal and received the order in November 2020. M/s Adept Biocare is the manufacturer and seller of these tablets and claimed that Snapdeal does not have a drug license to sell SUHAGRA-100. The founder and his company were charged under Section 18(c) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (“DC Act”) and punished under Section 27(b)(ii) of the DC Act.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- 2014: Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the 36th Bombay Management Association (BMA) Awards.
- 2014: Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Startup 2014.
- 2014: Nasscom Next Generation Entrepreneurs.
- 2015: Economic Times Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
- 2015: AIMA Transformational Business Leader of the Year.
- 2015: India Affairs Business Leader of the Year.
- 2018: Joseph Wharton Youth Leadership Award.
- 2019: Revenge and prizes during economic times.
net worth
Shareholders have set Kunal Bahl’s remuneration at Rs 35 crore as fixed salary and Rs 15 crore as performance bonus; till 2024.
Facts/Trivia
- Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal were classmates at Delhi Public School, RK Puram, New Delhi. Kunal Bahl (left) and Rohit Bansal (right) went from friends to business partners
- In 2009, while running Jasper Infotech, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal didn’t have that much money in their company accounts to pay their employees. They all had to withdraw some money from their personal bank accounts to repay their dues, and the balance in each account was less than one lakh rupees.
- In 2011, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal visited China and saw firsthand how huge the Chinese online marketplace Alibaba was. That’s when the two decided to reinvent their company and build it into a marketplace.
- Kunal was included in ET’s list of India’s top 50 entrepreneurs in 2014.
- In 2014, he ranked 25th on Fortune’s list of the 40 most influential business leaders.
- In 2015, Kunal was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) as an elected member.
- Kunal is also an active angel investor and has invested in over 120 technology companies across India, the US and Southeast Asia across consumer internet, fintech, direct-to-consumer brands, artificial intelligence and deep tech.
- In 2019, he was appointed as a member of the Nasscom Executive Committee, which serves the interests of diverse members across sectors and regions and provides necessary governance to them.
- In 2020, Kunal Bahl was appointed Chairman of the CII E-Commerce Committee.
- He serves on the National Entrepreneurship Advisory Council, which advises the Government of India on the efforts required to build a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem.
- Kunal worked for Microsoft for a while in the United States until his application for a U.S. work visa was rejected and he was forced to leave the country.
Kunal Bahl’s LinkedIn post about his time at Microsoft and visa denial
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education