Meet Asish Mohapatra, man who was rejected 73 times by investors builds Rs 44000 crore firm

Asish Mohapatra started his entrepreneurial journey in 2015 with OfBusiness. In a short period of eight years, not only his company is valued a whopping 5 billion dollars (Rs 44,000 crore), it is massively profitable as well. In a podcast last year, the IIT Kharagpur graduate aims to make his company the first startup with 100 million dollars PAT (profit after tax) firm. Despite doing so well, he doesn't have a much-deserved corner office.

Mohapatra, who did his MBA from the prestigious Indian School of Business (ISB), revealed in the podcast that he doesn't have an office, assistant or a driver. He doesn't even have a cabin. He has made these sacrifices in order to build an office culture founded on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.

He said the US is the world's richest country because the people of the nation believe in fundamental rights. He said he had thought he would champion these ideals when he became a successful man. When he indeed became very successful, he promoted a culture wherein every employee is equal. In his company, he said, no one has a fixed seat. He said no one even has a fixed parking space.

He said on business trips, every employee -- notwithstanding seniority -- travels economy class and shares the hotel room with colleagues.

His mantra for success is -- chase the unthinkable and make everyone else do the same.

His office is in Gurgaon. "We aim to disrupt the B2B landscape with technology," his LinkedIn profile said.

He is a native of Odisha.

OfBusiness is an industrial goods and services procurement platform. The company turned a unicorn in 2021. Within a few months, its valuation crossed the 5 billion mark.

In the financial year 2021-22, its revenue soared 400 times to Rs 7269 crore. It was Rs 1757 crore a year before that. The company sells industrial goods, chemicals and agricultural produce.

Before starting his startup, he worked four years for Matrix Partners, who are venture capitalists.

Profit after tax in FY 2022 is Rs 125.63 crore.

His wife is a co-founder in the company. They have also made another unicorn called Oxyzo, which is already a unicorn. It is also profitable.

He was rejected by dozens of investors. When he told an investor that he wanted to make a profit per transaction, the latter rebuked him by saying 'don't talk small'. The potential investor advised to burn and grow. However, he stuck to his mantra of remaining profitable. 

His mother was a physics professor. He learnt the principles of profitability from her. Their funding was rejected 73 times. However, they never lost hope.

He expects that his PAT will increase a lot. In the podcast, he said his PAT is expected to be around 80 million dollars in FY 2023.