The rise and fall of Dunzo's Kabeer Biswas

Though the company's FY24 financials are not available, internal sources suggest Dunzo now operates with 40,000 daily orders and 50 employees

- ANEES HUSSAIN

IN THE STREETS of Bengaluru in 2014, Kabeer Biswas used to coordinate deliveries through WhatsApp groups, personally responding to customer requests and managing the first 8,000 deliveries of what would become Dunzo.

The rise was spectacular for Biswas. By 2016, Dunzo became a verb synonymous with convenient hyperlocal delivery in India and boasted millions of users. By 2022, the company achieved a billion-dollar valuation, well and truly setting in motion the habit of convenient delivery as second nature in India – effects of which are now being enjoyed by the likes of Zepto, Blinkit, and Instamart.

But the world has since turned upside down for the 40-year-old MBA from Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies. After going without a salary for 20 months and watching his co-founders depart, and investors pulling the plug, Biswas is orchestrating what could be his final act at the company: Finding a buyer willing to assume Dunzo’s mounting debt and liabilities.

Biswas, holding a 3.39% stake, remains tied to the company by necessity – corporate law requires a minimum of two directors, preventing his departure until either a sale is completed or the company is liquidated. A plan to sell is currently underway, marking the conclusion of Biswas’s journey at Dunzo.