While entrepreneur Kunal Shah is being celebrated across media platforms for building consumer-facing startups like Freecharge and CRED, a senior consultant from Deloitte, Adarsh Samalopanan, has taken a contrarian view by spotlighting Shah’s track record of financial losses and lack of profitability.In a recent LinkedIn post, Samalopanan scrutinized Shah’s first venture, Freecharge, co-founded in 2010. He noted that while the company posted ₹35 crore in revenue by FY15, it also incurred ₹269 crore in losses, primarily driven by cashback offers. Freecharge was acquired by Snapdeal in 2015 for ₹2,800 crore, but the e-commerce company later sold it to Axis Bank for just ₹370 crore in 2017 — a steep fall to 14% of its earlier valuation. Samalopanan also reviewed Shah’s current venture, CRED, launched in 2018. According to publicly available data he cited, CRED has earned ₹4,493 crore in cumulative revenue over seven years but reported net losses of ₹5,215 crore, raising questions about the long-term financial sustainability of the business model. While Shah remains a prominent figure in India’s startup ecosystem and continues to draw attention for his fundraising abilities and product design, the consultant’s post brings focus back to unit economics and profitability — often side-lined in high-growth, valuation-driven narratives. The post has triggered active debate online, with users split between applauding Shah’s bold vision and others agreeing with the call for stronger financial fundamentals in startups.
Source link
