Dinesh Agarwal

Dinesh Agarwal
Born Dinesh Agarwal
(1969-02-19) 19 February 1969
Residence Noida
Nationality Indian
Alma mater Harcourt Butler Technological Institute
Occupation Founder and CEO of IndiaMART
Spouse(s) Chetna Agarwal[1]

Dinesh Agarwal (born 19 February 1969) is an Indian entrepreneur, founder and CEO of IndiaMART,[2] an online B2B marketplace in India.[3]

Early life

Born to a business family in India, Agarwal completed his high school from Maharaja Agrasen Vidyalaya Inter College, Lucknow and spent most of his childhood there. After completing an engineering degree with a specialization in computer science from the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur,[4] he worked with several firms in India for five years[1] including HCL Technologies before moving to the US and joining CDOT.[4] With an eye toward fulfilling his entrepreneurial desires, he quit his job in 1996 and moved to India with an outlook of starting his own startup.[5]

Entrepreneurial activities

In early 1996, Agarwal returned to India and started working on building an online platform for businesses.[5] The objective of the platform was to build focused web pages, where businesses can display their products through it. In the same year, he launched IndiaMart as export-import servicing company[6] which currently serves more than 1.7 million registered sellers.[7] Agarwal believed the company could be "bootstrapped", he put his savings of Rs. 40,000 and faced several challenges, including costly computers, slow Internet speeds and influencing buyers, in the early Indian market.[8]

The company's first client was Nirulas, a fast-food chain.[5] In 1999, Agarwal launched a new platform (auto.indiamart.com) with the objective of providing users with the latest information about the auto sector.[9] The platform did not receive enough traction, as a result of which, the venture was shut down.

With the development of the Internet and mobile telephone connectivity, Agarwal changed the focus of IndiaMart from that of a total export-import servicing company to 100 per cent B2B model.[10] The company grew substantially and by 2012 became the second-largest B2B marketplace after Alibaba.[11] In September 2015, during an interview with Hindu, Agarwal stated the projection of the company to expand its Gross Merchandise Value to Rs. 1 lakh crore in the next 3–5 years, strengthening on the expected growth in industrial segments and also to enter into the non-English speaking countries.[12]

Other domain ventures by Dinesh Agarwal include www.indiangiftsportal.com and www.abcpayments.com.[13] He later became an investor, providing the first major funding for Tolexo and Innerchef, a Gurgaon-based ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook meals delivery startup.[14][15] He further went on to invest in Wishberry, a Mumbai based crowdfunding platform.[16]

Recognition

References

  1. 1 2 "The Founder of IndiaMart- Dinesh Agarwal". 19 February 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "Warburg Pincus in talks with IndiaMart for Rs 150 crore investment". Economic Times. 7 May 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Our Bureau. "IndiaMART targets Rs 30k cr biz in FY16". The Hindu Business Line.
  4. 1 2 "Six inspirational stories of entrepreneurs who made it big". Economic Times. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "How Dinesh Agarwal built a Rs 200-crore firm IndiaMart from a seed capital of Rs 40,000". timesofindia-economictimes.
  6. ↑ "IndiaMART targets Rs. 30k cr biz in FY16". The Hindu. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Avinder Batra (4 August 2015). "Indiamart shifts focus to buyers from sellers as it targets Rs 350 crore revenue this fiscal". Times of India. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  8. ↑ Business Standard (27 September 2011). "Q&A: Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART.com". business-standard.com.
  9. ↑ "An online gateway to the Indian marketplace". Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "Exclusive: The 'been there, done that' Man – Dinesh Agarwal". 3 December 2015. Business Insider. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  11. ↑ Vinod Mahanta & Moinak Mitra (27 April 2012). "How Dinesh Agarwal created the world's second-largest B2B marketplace Indiamart". Times of India. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  12. ↑ Rajesh Kurup (11 September 2015). "IndiaMART.com plans to enter overseas markets". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  13. ↑ "The brand quandary: Indiamart still carries the ‘India’ tag". Economic Times. 5 April 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  14. ↑ Digbijay Mishra (17 November 2015). "Now, InMobi founder Naveen Tewari backs Innerchef". Times of India. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  15. ↑ Shrutika Verma. "Indiamart to launch online marketplace Tolexo.com". http://www.livemint.com/. External link in |work= (help)
  16. ↑ "Wishberry, The Kickstarter Of India, Raises INR 1 Cr. Through TiEcon's Live Funding Event". 21 October 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "Council - IAMAI". iamai.in.
  18. ↑ "Mr. Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART.com". Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "Mr. Dinesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO, IndiaMART bags top honors at the prestigious NCCI AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE 2015". Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  20. ↑ "IndiaMART Emerging Business Forum grand finale on April 26". 23 April 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "Industry Stalwarts Underline Need To Wire Up Indian SMEs". Firstpost.
  22. ↑ "Global Super Angels Invests In Medical Devices Startup Biosense". IndiaMART.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.