It's official: Dunzo founder makes the Reliance to Walmart 'switch'

Kabeer Biswas, co-founder of the Reliance-backed hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo, is joining Flipkart to lead its quick commerce business, Minutes. This move follows months of discussions between Biswas and the e-commerce giant.

Biswas, who played a crucial role in building Dunzo into a prominent player in the hyperlocal delivery sector, will be joining Flipkart on January 13th. He will work closely with Hemant Badri, Senior Vice President at Flipkart, who currently oversees the quick commerce division.

Biswas engaged in discussions with Flipkart throughout 2024, exploring potential roles within the company. These discussions coincided with Flipkart's exploration of a potential acquisition of Dunzo amidst the company's funding crisis. However, the deal ultimately fell through due to investor reluctance to relinquish the "Dunzo" brand."

This move comes months after Google invested $350 million in Flipkart during its $950 million funding round in May, valuing the company at $36 billion. Interestingly, Google is a common investor in both Dunzo and Flipkart, with stakes of roughly 19% and 1%, respectively.

This development comes as Flipkart Minutes seeks to strengthen its position in the competitive quick commerce market, where it faces strong competition from players like Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and Tata BigBasket.