In the streets of Bengaluru in 2014, Kabeer Biswas used to coordinate deliveries through WhatsApp groups, personally responding to customer requests and managing the first 8,000 deliveries of what would become Dunzo.
The rise was spectacular for Biswas. By 2016, Dunzo became a verb synonymous with convenient hyperlocal delivery in India and boasted millions of users. By 2022, the company achieved a billion-dollar valuation, well and truly setting in motion the habit of convenient delivery as second nature in India — effects of which are now being enjoyed by the likes of Zepto, Blinkit, and Instamart.
But the world has since turned upside down for the 40-year-old MBA from Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies. After going without a salary for 20 months and watching his co-founders depart, and investors pulling the plug, Biswas is orchestrating what could be his final act at the company: Finding a buyer willing to assume Dunzo’s mounting debt and liabilities.
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Biswas, holding a 3.39% stake, remains tied to the company by necessity – corporate law requires a minimum of two directors, preventing his departure until either a sale is completed or the company is liquidated. A plan to sell is currently underway, marking the conclusion of Biswas’s journey at Dunzo.
Early Dunzo users remember a founder deeply involved in the day-to-day operations. One customer shared a WhatsApp screenshot where she requested delivery of a large electronic appliance that wouldn’t fit on a bike. Biswas’s response was characteristic of his hands-on approach – he didn’t dismiss the request but instead proposed a solution, suggesting a four-wheeler at an extra cost. This approach of not saying no to any problem-solving needs the consumer had, became Dunzo’s early differentiator in the market, — from regular parcel deliveries, to leaky faucets, Dunzo could get it all done.
Its popularity with consumers attracted Google’s first direct startup investment in India – a $12.3 million Series B round in 2017, for a 19.3% stake. This came when many investors were hesitant about the hyperlocal delivery space,
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