Imagine being in the year ’97 where no one knows what a computer is, forget about the internet. A man called Sanjeev Bikchandani (SB) while waiting for a job interview observes that candidates are always circling Classifieds in newspapers all the time.
These are classifieds for job openings and that is how you get to know about jobs – no internet, no influencer network, no job portal, no “Careers” section. Above all, no favourite company. It is during this time, Sanjeev is parallelly introduced to the concept of ‘internet’ by his brother in the USA.
Sanjeev immediately thinks of having an online classified business and Naukri.com is hosted on a server in the USA, money for which is paid by his brother. In return, Sanjeev offers his brother a 5% stake in the Company.
That is ladies and gentlemen the commencement of India’s very own Internet Vision Fund, Info Edge Limited (IEL).
While history has always taught us, that diversification has always led to trouble amidst companies, IEL is one of the very few rare examples where diversification has provided immense benefit to the company. In an industry dominated by tons of cash flowing from all parts of the world through billion-dollar Private Equity, Venture Capital and Hedge Fund entities, IEL has managed to carve a unique niche for itself through prudent investing and making sure the investments pay off in the long run through a very simple focus on its investee companies – focus on generating a return on capital employed rather than trying to acquire customers through huge CAC (Customer Acquisition Costs) or Cash Burn.
But before becoming India’s Internet Vision Fund, let’s take a step back and understand the core business – Naukri.com.
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