DISASTER STRUCK Mandeep Manocha and Nakul Kumar — batchmates at Punjab University — after they completed their MBAs in 2009. The 2008 U.S. financial crisis dried up all opportunities for employment. “Both of us didn’t have jobs. So, we decided, if we want to start something, we should do it now,” recalls Manocha.
Leveraging Manocha’s background in waste management (his father worked for a recycling company), the two zeroed in on recycling. “We wanted to do something which not only built a business, but also had a social impact,” adds Kumar. They first started out with solid waste management, but then changed gears and moved on to electronic waste management. And finally, in 2014, the duo started Cashify, a recommerce platform for electronic devices.
Today, Cashify sells 1,50,000 devices every month, and works with major OEMs, including Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and enable their exchange and trade-in programmes. In FY22, it raked in revenues of ₹498 crore. The topline for FY23 is in the vicinity of ₹800 crore, and the projection for FY24 is ₹1,200 crore. The company has also expanded to ancillary services, including refurbishing and recycling — and the vertical generated revenues of ₹33 crore in FY22. In 2022, Cashify raised $90 million in a Series E Round led by NewQuest Capital Partners and Prosus. — Rishi Kant