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Dunzo(ed) and Dusted: Can Kabeer Make It in Minutes?

Tulsi Jayakumar, Richa Kadambari, Apoorva Jain, Sanya Sheikh

Product #:W46129
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Setting:India, 2025
Details:Case (PDF) • 12 pages • 2025-10-30

Subjects:

Strategy

Industries:

Goods, trade, and consumer services

Geography:

IndiaAsia
Your Price:$9.71

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In January 2025, Kabeer Biswas—the founder of Dunzo, India’s first hyperlocal delivery platform and an early mover in the quick-commerce segment—joined the new quick-commerce vertical of Flipkart Pvt. Ltd. (Flipkart), Flipkart Minutes, which was backed by Walmart Inc. (Walmart). Dunzo’s business had just unravelled under financial strain and operational missteps, despite early traction and marquee investors such as Reliance Retail Ltd. (Reliance) and Alphabet Inc. (Google), after its asset-heavy pivot to a dark-store-led quick-commerce model proved unsustainable. A combination of high burn rates, overdependence on external capital, strategic constraints imposed by a dominant corporate investor, and intensifying competition eventually led to Dunzo’s downfall. Biswas had been handed both a chance at redemption and a dilemma: how could he apply Dunzo’s hard-won lessons to design a scalable, sustainable model this time? Should he replicate proven quick-commerce playbooks or rewrite them entirely?

Learning Objectives

This case can be used in strategic management courses within undergraduate, MBA, and executive education programs focused on platform businesses, where it could be used in modules on topics such as platform strategy and capital scaling risks. It would ideally be placed midway through the course, after students are familiar with the basics of two-sided platforms, network effects, and scaling strategies. It could also be part of a course on entrepreneurial strategy, where it could be a part of modules on topics such as founder dilemmas. After working through this case, students will be able to do the following:
  • Explain the two-sided platform market dynamics in the hyperlocal quick-commerce sector.
  • Evaluate and compare asset-light and asset-heavy scaling strategies in emerging digital markets.
  • Examine competitive dynamics and strategic positioning in fast-growing, highly contested markets and assess alternative go-to-market strategies for late entrants.
  • Apply platform and unit-economics frameworks to recommend a viable scaling strategy.
  • Outline leadership dilemmas in managing failure and personal reputational risk.
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Case Study: Dunzo(ed) and Dusted: Can Kabeer Make It in Minutes? (English version) | Ivey Publishing