Ankur Warikoo

Ankur Warikoo (born August 25, 1980) is an Internet entrepreneur, motivational speaker and angel investor based in India.

Ankur Warikoo
Born (1980-08-25) August 25, 1980
NationalityIndian
Alma materIndian School of Business (MBA)
Michigan State University (MS, Physics)
Hindu College (BS, Physics)
OccupationEntrepreneur, motivational speaker, angel investor, mentor
TitleCo-founder of Nearbuy
Spouse(s)Ruchi Budhiraja Warikoo
Websitewww.ankurwarikoo.com

He is the co-founder of Nearbuy (where he served as the CEO from 2015-2019). Warikoo was previously the CEO of Groupon India + APAC, MD of at Rocket Internet India, Co-founder at Accentium Web, and a management consultant at A.T. Kearney.[1]

Warikoo holds an MBA degree from The Indian School of Business, an MS Physics from Michigan State University and a BS from Hindu College, Delhi University.

Education

Warikoo completed his schooling from Don Bosco School, New Delhi, post which he joined Hindu College (BSc, Physics). He then pursued Ph.D. in Physics from Michigan State University (MS, Astrophysics), which he dropped out from after completing his MS. Post coming back from the US, he pursued his MBA from The Indian School of Business, graduating in 2006.

Career

He is the co-founder of Nearbuy and Little App. He served as the CEO from Aug 2015 (when nearbuy.com started) to October 2019. He announced his step down as the CEO in a LinkedIn post,[2] in October 2019.

Warikoo started the Groupon India business in April 2011, which is when Groupon entered India through an acquisition. In addition to serving as the CEO of the India business, between 2013-2015 Warikoo also managed the Groupon APAC business of Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines.[3] In August 2015, Groupon India went through a management buyout, where the India management team (led by Ankur) bought out the majority shareholding of Groupon, partnering with Sequoia Capital.[4]

In Dec 2017, nearbuy.com and Little App merged.[5] The merged entity was led by Warikoo till 2019, along with two other co-founders from nearbuy.com - Snehesh Mitra (co-founder and CTO) and Ravi Shankar (co-founder and COO). Paytm made a strategic investment to acquire the majority of the merged entity.[6] Post stepping down as the CEO of nearbuy.com, Ravi Shankar assumed the role of the CEO and Snehesh Mitra that of the COO.

Prior to Groupon, Warikoo was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Rocket Internet Gmbh. Warikoo was the Managing Director of the Rocket Internet India Founding Team and set the foundation for Jabong.com, before moving to help set up Groupon India.

Previously, Ankur was the co-founder of Accentium Web, which owns and operates several websites in the Indian Consumer Space, namely SecondShaadi (a matrimonial service for remarriages), Gaadi.com (a car portal which got later sold to Naspers Group in 2011[7] and was acquired by CarDekho.com in 2015[8]), amongst others. Ankur joined Accentium, which was founded by Vivek Pahwa (CEO) and exited the venture in September 2010.

Post ISB, Ankur joined A.T. Kearney in their consulting practice in India. While at Kearney, Warikoo worked in the Real Estate and Media & Entertainment Sector - in Dubai, New York and India. Accentium was founded in 2007, while he was still at Kearney (and continued to work until 2009 and assist Accentium in a part-time capacity). He moved full-time to Accentium in May 2009.

Personal life

Ankur is married to Ruchi Budhiraja Warikoo. They have 2 children named Vidur and Uzma.

Social Media Presence

Warikoo is a social media personality and posts videos on entrepreneurship, life, and motivation. He is most known for his weekly series called "Warikoo Wednesdays" where he posts a life question in the form of a short video.

Honors and awards
  • LinkedIn India Spotlight 2019[9]
  • LinkedIn India Top Voice 2018
  • LinkedIn India PowerProfile 2018[10]
  • ISB Young Leader Award 2005-06 Indian School of Business
  • India's Most Promising Entrepreneur Award (2013) Enterprise Asia March 2014[11]
  • FORTUNE India 40 Under 40 List Fortune Magazine (India) March 2013
  • FORTUNE India 40 Under 40 List Fortune Magazine (India) March 2014
  • Top Executives Below 40 Years (2014) - Business Today Magazine[12]
  • "30 Entrepreneurs of the year 2017" by SiliconReview[13]

References
  1. "Read @ATKearney: Ankur Warikoo". www.atkearney.com. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  2. "Ankur Warikoo on LinkedIn: Personal Update: nearbuy.com hit an important (and emotional) milestone | 560 comments". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  3. "Groupon Restructures South Asia Team; Ankur Warikoo Is APAC Emerging Markets Head". MediaNama. 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
  4. "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  5. Bansal, Varsha (2017-12-07). "Nearbuy and Little Internet merge, Paytm gets majority stake". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  6. Malik, Yuvraj (2017-12-07). "Paytm acquires Nearbuy and Little, to merge both". livemint.com. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  7. "MIH Group Naspers Arm Buys Majority Stake In Auto Portal Firm Gaadi". Techcircle. 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  8. "CarDekho acquires Naspers-controlled automobile site Gaadi.com". VCCircle. 2014-09-30. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  9. "Announcing the launch of LinkedIn Spotlight for 2019 in India!". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  10. "Celebrating LinkedIn Power Profiles for 2018 in India". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  11. "Past Winners - APEA India". Enterpriseasia.org. Archived from the original on 2010-01-30. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  12. "Hottest Young executive: Groupon Ankur Warikoo on his breakthrough moment - Business Today". Intoday.in. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  13. "30 Entrepreneurs of the Year 2017". thesiliconreview.com. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
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