Mukesh Bansal
Founder & CEO, Nurix AI; Co-founder, Cult.fit; Founder, Meraki Labs
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Background
Mukesh Bansal is an Indian operator-investor best known as the co-founder of fashion e-commerce platform Myntra and the co-founder/CEO of fitness unicorn Cult.fit (formerly Curefit). He earned his B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1997, then began his career as a business analyst at Deloitte Consulting in Chicago before moving through Silicon Valley product and engineering roles at NexTag, Centrata, and NewScale 12.
In 2007, Bansal co-founded Myntra with Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena. Originally a personalized-gifts platform, it pivoted to fashion e-commerce and was acquired by Flipkart in 2014 in a transaction valued at approximately $330 million 1. He stayed at Flipkart as Head of Commerce and Advertising before launching Curefit (now Cult.fit) with former Flipkart colleague Ankit Nagori in 2016, building an integrated health platform across Cult.fit (fitness), Eat.fit (meal delivery), Mind.fit (meditation), and Care.fit (healthcare) 1.
In June 2021, Tata Digital committed up to $75 million to CureFit and appointed Bansal as President of Tata Digital Limited, while he continued in his leadership role at CureFit 34. He stepped back from Tata Digital’s Neu business in early 2023 to return to startup building 5. In 2020 he founded Meraki Labs, an India-focused venture studio that writes $250K-$5M seed checks and has incubated companies including Skyroot Aerospace, Groww, and Gigforce 6. In 2024 he founded Nurix AI, an enterprise conversational-AI company, which raised $27.5 million in seed/Series A funding co-led by Accel and General Catalyst 78. He also co-founded omnichannel women’s fashion startup Lyskraft with Zomato co-founder Mohit Gupta in 2024, where he serves as co-founder and strategic advisor while Gupta runs the company as CEO 910. He hosts the SparX by Mukesh Bansal podcast, which covers economics, politics, science, and entrepreneurship, and has authored No Limits (2020), Hacking Health (2023), and The Start-Up Code (2024) 1. He has served on the IIM Bangalore Board of Governors since December 2022 and on the board of Olympic Gold Quest 16. IIT Kanpur named him a Distinguished Alumnus in 2021 2.
Stated Thesis
Bansal does not maintain a public investor thesis page. In his own statements, he frames his investing as operator-led, focused on category-defining Indian consumer and technology companies, and oriented toward founders he can work with hands-on through Meraki Labs. On returning to startup building in 2023 he told TechCrunch: “I have been a startup guy all my life… I keep feeling that tug and I am now thinking how can I do more of that?” 5. Describing his AI thesis at Nurix’s funding announcement, he said: “AI is at the inflection point with the promise of completely transforming how work happens in the enterprise. At Nurix, we envision a future where AI agents, guided by human expertise, handle a significant portion of tasks…” 7.
Inferred Thesis
Sample size note: this analysis is based on 10 verified angel/Meraki Labs investments identified from press coverage and the investor’s profile. Tracxn and other aggregators report 26-28 total companies in his portfolio 11, so this sample represents roughly 35-40% of his known activity — large enough for qualitative patterns but too small for sector percentages with one-decimal precision.
Stage: Predominantly seed and pre-seed. Meraki Labs writes $250K-$5M checks at the seed stage 6. The companies in the verified set were all backed at seed/Series A.
Sector pattern (10 verified investments): 3 fintech (CRED, Groww, NuShala), 2 consumer/fashion (Mensa Brands, Virgio), 2 space/deeptech (Skyroot Aerospace, Kawa Space), 1 enterprise AI (Nurix AI — his own company), 1 health/fitness (Cult.fit — his own company), 1 commerce (FirstClub, Truva — both 2024). Consumer, fintech, and deeptech together account for roughly 70% of the verified portfolio. He has avoided the SaaS-for-US-buyer category that dominates much of Indian VC.
Geography: All verified portfolio companies are India-headquartered. He has not made any disclosed US or international angel investments.
Founder profile patterns: Heavy preference for repeat operators and IIT/IIM-educated technical founders. Skyroot was founded by former ISRO scientists; Groww by ex-Flipkart product managers; CRED by Kunal Shah (his second venture after FreeCharge). Bansal’s own co-founders (Nagori at Curefit, Mohit Gupta at Lyskraft) are similarly senior operators.
Co-investor patterns: Through Meraki Labs and direct angel checks he has appeared alongside Peak XV Partners (Sequoia India), Accel India, General Catalyst, Prosus, and DST Global. He has co-invested with Indian operator-angels Deep Kalra, Rajesh Magow (MakeMyTrip), and Deepinder Goyal (Zomato) on Lyskraft 10.
Notable gap between stated and inferred: He talks publicly about backing “deep tech” and AI 15, and the portfolio bears this out (Skyroot, Kawa Space, Nurix AI), but the majority of his verified bets are still consumer and fintech — reflecting his Myntra/Cult.fit operating background.
Portfolio
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRED | 2018 | Seed (angel) | 1112 |
| Groww | 2018 | Seed (via Meraki Labs) | 116 |
| Skyroot Aerospace | 2019 | Early (angel + board) | 116 |
| Kawa Space | 2019 | Seed (angel) | 1112 |
| Mensa Brands | 2021 | Seed (angel) | 12 |
| Cult.fit | 2016 | Founder / Series A onward | 13 |
| NuShala | 2021 | Seed (angel) | 12 |
| Virgio | 2022 | Seed (angel) | 12 |
| FirstClub | 2024 | Seed (angel) | 12 |
| Truva | 2024 | Seed (angel) | 12 |
| Nurix AI | 2024-09-24 | Seed/Series A — founder | 78 |
| Lyskraft | 2024-04-26 | Seed — co-founder / advisor | 910 |
| Gigforce | ~2020 | Seed (Meraki Labs) | 6 |
Note: Aggregators report 26-28 total companies in his investing portfolio 11; the table above reflects verified entries from independent press coverage and is approximately 35-40% of the claimed total.
In Their Own Words
On the pull of startup building, after stepping back from Tata Digital in 2023:
“I have been a startup guy all my life… I keep feeling that tug and I am now thinking how can I do more of that?” — TechCrunch, July 17, 2023 5
On enterprise AI and the Nurix thesis:
“AI is at the inflection point with the promise of completely transforming how work happens in the enterprise. At Nurix, we envision a future where AI agents, guided by human expertise, handle a significant portion of tasks…” — Inc42, on Nurix AI’s $27.5M round, September 24, 2024 7
On joining Tata Digital after the CureFit deal:
“Joining Tata Digital marks an exciting new step for me and my team and is a recognition of the value we have created with CureFit.” — Tata Group newsroom, June 7, 2021 3
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials about working with Mukesh Bansal as an angel investor or Meraki Labs partner were found during this research pass. Press coverage of his portfolio companies (CRED, Groww, Skyroot, etc.) focuses on the companies’ own narratives rather than on Bansal’s investor support. This section should be revisited as additional founder interviews and podcast appearances become available.
Connections
- Co-founder, Myntra (2007-2014) — with Ashutosh Lawania and Vineet Saxena 1
- Co-founder & CEO, Cult.fit / Curefit (2016-present) — with Ankit Nagori 1
- Founder, Meraki Labs (2020-present) 6
- Founder & CEO, Nurix AI (2024-present) 7
- Co-founder & strategic advisor, Lyskraft (2024-present) — with Mohit Gupta (CEO; Zomato co-founder) 910
- Former President, Tata Digital Limited (2021-early 2023) — appointed under Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran 35
- Former Head of Commerce and Advertising, Flipkart (2014-2016) 1
- Board member, IIM Bangalore Board of Governors (since December 2022) 1
- Board member, Olympic Gold Quest 16
- Co-investor on Lyskraft seed: Peak XV Partners (lead), Prosus, Sofina, DST Global partners, Deep Kalra, Rajesh Magow, Deepinder Goyal 10
- Co-investors on Nurix AI: Accel, General Catalyst, Meraki Labs 7
Sources
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“Mukesh Bansal,” Wikipedia, accessed June 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukesh_Bansal↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Mr. Mukesh Bansal (BT/CSE/1997),” IIT Kanpur Distinguished Alumnus profile, accessed June 2026. https://iitk.ac.in/dora/mr-mukesh-bansal↩↩
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“Tata Digital to Invest in CureFit Healthcare,” Tata Group newsroom, June 7, 2021, accessed June 2026. https://www.tata.com/newsroom/business/tata-digital-curefit-healthcare-mou↩↩↩↩
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“Tata Digital to invest $75 Mn in CureFit; appoints Mukesh Bansal as president,” Entrackr, June 2021, accessed June 2026. https://entrackr.com/2021/06/tata-digital-to-invest-75-mn-curefit/↩
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“Mukesh Bansal seeks over $100M valuation in new venture’s maiden funding,” TechCrunch, July 17, 2023, accessed June 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/17/mukesh-bansal-new-venture/↩↩↩↩↩
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“Mukesh Bansal: From Myntra to Cult.fit & Beyond,” Business Outreach, accessed June 2026. https://www.businessoutreach.in/mukesh-bansal-life-legacy/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Nurix AI Funding: Mukesh Bansal’s AI Venture Nets $27.5 Mn,” Inc42, September 24, 2024, accessed June 2026. https://inc42.com/buzz/mukesh-bansals-ai-venture-nets-27-5-mn-from-accel-general-catalyst-others/↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Myntra and Cultfit Co-Founder Mukesh Bansal’s Nurix AI Raises USD 27.5 Mn From Accel and General Catalyst,” Entrepreneur India, accessed June 2026. https://www.entrepreneur.com/en-in/news-and-trends/myntra-and-cultfit-co-founder-mukesh-bansals-nurix-ai/480273↩↩
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“Former Zomato Exec Mohit Gupta And Myntra Founder Mukesh Bansal’s Venture Lyskraft Bags $26 Mn,” Inc42, April 2024, accessed June 2026. https://inc42.com/buzz/former-zomato-exec-mohit-gupta-and-myntra-founder-mukesh-bansals-venture-lyskraft-bags-26-mn/↩↩↩
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“Lyskraft, founded by Mohit Gupta and Mukesh Bansal, bags $26 Mn in seed round,” Entrackr, April 26, 2024, accessed June 2026. https://entrackr.com/2024/04/lyskraft-founded-by-mohit-gupta-and-mukesh-bansal-bags-26-mn-in-seed-round/↩↩↩↩↩
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“Mukesh Bansal - 2026 Portfolio & Founded Companies,” Tracxn, accessed June 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/mukesh-bansal/__ejRhzdgBOvGbZzyqw_AuvKyiyb5Vbq6rH1p1nvMNmDo↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Mukesh Bansal: The Entrepreneurial Visionary Behind Myntra,” StartupTalky, accessed June 2026. https://startuptalky.com/mukesh-bansal-success-story/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩