Rajesh Magow, co-founder and chief executive officer of MakeMyTrip, has again joined the board of one of India’s largest online retailer Flipkart. He is rejoining as a board member after two years of giving up his seat.
His appointment as a board member comes at a time when Flipkart has finished raising massive funding rounds this year, which are speculated to be the last before a potential public offering.
In a statement, confirming this development, Rajesh Magow said:
I have always admired Flipkart for the impact it has made in India’s e-commerce space over the years, so, happy to join Flipkart board.
It is believed that Flipkart’s move to bring back Rajesh Magow is associated with its IPO. Before becoming CEO of MakeMyTrip, Magow was the chief financial officer. At the time of going for IPO, he could prove to be instrumental.
Magow also helped take MakeMyTrip public in 2010, making it the first Indian Internet firm to list its shares in the US. He also has a good working relationship with Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy as well as co-founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal.
Another interesting scoop is that MakeMyTrip has deep links with Tiger Global Management and Flipkart’s current CEO Krishnamurthy is the former employee of Tiger Global. The VC firm was also one of the biggest backers of MakeMyTrip.
According to three people aware of the matter, Flipkart’s current board lacked people with a strong finance background, the gap that seems to have now been filled by Magow. The Bangalore-based company is looking to fill its board with more executives who have expertise in areas such as corporate finance, governance and technology.
Other board members at Flipkart include the Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Lee Fixel — MD of Tiger Global, and former Dropbox technology chief Aditya Agarwal.
In the coming weeks or months, SoftBank will also name a representative on Flipkart’s board, along with representatives from two other Flipkart investors — Accel Partners and Naspers.
Previously, Magow joined Flipkart’s board in March 2011, months after Flipkart’s first major fundraising from Tiger Global. He left the board in May 2015 at the time when Flipkart was trying to shift its business model and become more of a so-called product company from its roots.
According to experts, companies such as Flipkart needs more experienced corporate leaders on their boards to help them become more mature companies.