Most founders build one startup and call it a career. Ashish Kashyap has built four. And honestly it feels like he's just getting started.
Let me walk you through the journey of one of India's most quietly remarkable entrepreneurs.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐
- Ashish built Ecommerce and online travel businesses during the Web 1.0 era.
- Became Country Head of Google India, setting up the entire India-facing operations from scratch.
- He helped build Google's foundation in India before most of us even had smartphones.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐๐ผ๐๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ผ
- Built from scratch in 2009, GoIbibo grew into one of India's largest online travel aggregators.
- Took on MakeMyTrip head-on in one of the most competitive internet battles India had seen.
- Changed how millions of Indians booked flights and hotels making it seamless, digital and affordable.
๐ ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ก๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐๐๐
- While building Goibibo, Ashish also backed and scaled redBus under the ibibo umbrella.
- Became the platform that completely transformed bus ticket booking in India
- redBus brought real-time seat selection, online booking, instant confirmation
- Expanded beyond India into Southeast Asia and Latin America, proving it wasn't just an India story but a global one.
๐๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐
- Not content with travel, Ashish moved into fintech way before it became India's favourite buzzword.
- PayU was built as a payments company under ibibo, enabling digital transactions at scale.
- Was way ahead of its time, laying groundwork for the kind of digital payments infrastructure India now runs on.
The entire ibibo Group journey ended with a landmark merger with MakeMyTrip in 2017, one of the biggest exits in Indian startup history
Most people would have retired. Ashish went back to the drawing board.
๐๐ป๐ฑ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ โ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป'๐ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐
- In 2019, Ashish launched INDmoney with a mission to democratize personal finance delivering easy and transparent access to financial services.
- One app for everything โ tracks investments, loans and expenses across every account in a single dashboard.
- US Stocks for Indians โ INDmoney is today the market leader in enabling Indians to invest in US stocks, starting with as little as โน100.
- Unlike many fintechs operating in regulatory grey zones, INDmoney built its growth around compliance, securing a US stocks license through GIFT City
- Automatically maps your global investments to ITR formats so tax filing doesn't feel like a punishment.
As Ashish himself once saidย "Indians do not lack ambition to go global. They lack access and awareness." Indmoney is his answer to that.