Sanjeev Bikhchandani and Family

Sanjeev Bikhchandani built Naukri.com before most Indians had internet access, and used the profits to back Zomato and Policybazaar before either was a known name.

Bikhchandani started Naukri.com in 1997 before broadband internet had reached most Indian homes and when the concept of online job search was unfamiliar to the employers and candidates he needed to convince to use it. The business took several years to find its footing and nearly ran out of money before the recruitment advertising model generated enough revenue to sustain it. That patience during the difficult early period established the foundation for what became India's dominant online recruitment platform.

Info Edge listed in 2006 and subsequently invested IPO proceeds in a portfolio of early-stage internet companies, most consequentially in Zomato and Policybazaar, both of which have grown into multi-billion-dollar public companies. Bikhchandani's record as an investor, identifying and backing consumer internet businesses at the seed stage before their categories were established, has proved as commercially significant as Info Edge's own operating businesses. He co-founded Ashoka University and has been consistently public about the lessons from his entrepreneurial career, making him an influential figure in the Indian startup community beyond the financial scale of his own businesses.