Fixel, 39, emerged as the most powerful investor in the early phase of Indian consumer internet and spotted the domestic opportunity way back in 2007-2008 with his investments in Just Dial and MakeMyTrip. Famously qualified as the 'maharaja' (King) of Indian e-commerce, Fixel to a large part was the most important investor and also an operator at Flipkart, through his close aide Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the present group CEO at the e-tailing major. He went on to orchestrate Flipkart’s sale to the US retail giant Walmart for $16 billion in May last year.
In a letter to its investors, Tiger Global said that Fixel will leave the firm by June 30, 2019, and will not be an active part of Tiger Global’s investment team beyond the $3.75 billion Private Investment Partners XI (PIP XI) fund raised last year.
"Lee has been a driving force behind the expansion of Tiger Global’s private equity investing activities in the United States and India, and he has distinguished himself as a world-class investor across multiple sectors and stages. We look forward to collaborating closely with him in the years to come" the firm said in the letter.
Going forward, Fixel will invest his own money and "may start an investment firm in the future,", the firm said. Scott Shleifer and Chase Coleman will now continue as co-portfolio managers of Tiger Global’s private equity business, and Scott will become Tiger Global’s Head of Private Equity.
"Lee will also assist in the management of certain existing portfolio companies for which he is responsible and will continue to serve on the boards of selected companies. We believe there is strong incentive alignment amongst all parties, as Lee has a substantial LP investment in each PIP fund and meaningful co-investments in many of the portfolio companies he sourced. In addition, he retains material economics in our PIP funds" the firm added in the letter.
Fixel's bullishness on India came post Tiger Global witnessing the exponential growth of Chinese e-commerce when it backed JD.com in 2009, an investment which is considered the most successful for Tiger after the e-tailer went for a $25-billion IPO in 2014.
The media-shy and reticent, fund manager along with Feroze Dewan, started Tiger's operations for India, as they wanted to get a beachhead in possibly what they thought would be the next China. This led to Fixel's wager on Flipkart- his most prized investment in India. In a few years, he had emerged as one of the most sought-after tech investors locally, credited for the funding boom of 2014-15, a move for which he drew criticism for driving up the valuations of young startups. Under Fixel, Tiger Global has invested around $2 billion in India with half of it going to Flipkart.
Fixel hit a pause button as things also started to look down for Flipkart. By 2016, he had pumped more than $1 billion in Flipkart with no exit in sight, which also meant that India started taking a backseat for the fund. From striking around 40 new investments in India in 2015, Tiger Global came down to laying zero bets in 2016.
After three years, Tiger Global renewed its focus on the country with its mega $3.75 billion Private Investment Partners XI fund, with India as one of the focus areas. This came on the back of Flipkart's acquisition by Walmart. Tiger Global made over $3.3 billion on its $1 billion bet in the Walmart transaction and still owns around 5% stake in Flipkart. Among the firm's new investments include Ola’s electric mobility unit, Facilio and Fyle.
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