From Kunal Bahl to Aman Gupta: This Delhi school has produced multiple startup founders
This one school from Delhi has produced 20+ founders building $1B+ companies in the last decade, says an investor
- Mar 17, 2026,
- Updated Mar 17, 2026 2:37 PM IST
An investor has pointed to a pattern in India's startup ecosystem: a cluster of founders behind major technology and consumer companies who all studied at the same school in Delhi.
Mrunal Jhaveri, founding partner at Ice.VC, said alumni of Delhi Public School, RK Puram, have founded or built companies valued in the billions of dollars over the past decade.
Also read: Youth in labour market: Graduate unemployment remains high in India
"This one school from Delhi has produced 20+ founders building $1B+ companies in the last decade," Jhaveri wrote in a post on LinkedIn. "Delhi Public School - RK Puram."
He said alumni from the campus have collectively built companies worth more than $4 billion and raised around $1.2 billion over the past 25 to 30 years. Jhaveri cited several founders linked to the school, including Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, co-founders of Snapdeal, which once reached a peak valuation of about $1.8 billion, and Aman Gupta, the co-founder of audio electronics brand boAt, which achieved a valuation of around $1.4 billion.
Other entrepreneurs he listed include Vineeta Singh of SUGAR Cosmetics, Tanay Kothari of Wispr Flow, Karan Goel of Cartesia, Aditya Grover of Inception Labs, Abhishek Chandra of Recora, and venture investor Karanveer Mohan of General Catalyst CVF.
Jhaveri said the connections among many of these founders trace back to a student initiative started decades ago. "...& dozens more across AI, VC & consumer from a ‘school computer club’ started in 1992 (yes, really)."
The investor compared the network of founders linked to the school with the so-called PayPal Mafia, the group of entrepreneurs who went on to build major technology companies after leaving PayPal. "Only one network in history has done something close to this," he said, adding that PayPal's founding team built Tesla, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Palantir Technologies after breaking up in 2002.
"The world called it the 'PayPal Mafia' and spent 20 years trying to recreate it. "India created the 'DPS Mafia' from a computer lab 6 years before PayPal even existed," he added.
Reacting to Jhaveri's post, Amit Aroa, a senior rural and agri finance specialist at the World Bank, said the outcome may also reflect the school's large student base and academic environment.
"Incidentally, I passed out from RKP in the same yr when this 'school computer club' started. However, its not surprising - same school has probably produced more IAS officers, IITians, IIM pass outs, politicians et all than any other school or very few schools would come close...simply because of schools student intake strength, it being in Delhi and that it gets to absorb kids from elite class plus academically brilliant students (kids who score very well in class X in other schools get into DPS in class xi)."
Delhi Public School, RK Puram, was established in 1972 and is one of the flagship schools of the Delhi Public School Society. Located in South Delhi's RK Puram neighbourhood, the co-educational CBSE-affiliated school offers education from grades 6 to 12 with both day and boarding options.
An investor has pointed to a pattern in India's startup ecosystem: a cluster of founders behind major technology and consumer companies who all studied at the same school in Delhi.
Mrunal Jhaveri, founding partner at Ice.VC, said alumni of Delhi Public School, RK Puram, have founded or built companies valued in the billions of dollars over the past decade.
Also read: Youth in labour market: Graduate unemployment remains high in India
"This one school from Delhi has produced 20+ founders building $1B+ companies in the last decade," Jhaveri wrote in a post on LinkedIn. "Delhi Public School - RK Puram."
He said alumni from the campus have collectively built companies worth more than $4 billion and raised around $1.2 billion over the past 25 to 30 years. Jhaveri cited several founders linked to the school, including Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, co-founders of Snapdeal, which once reached a peak valuation of about $1.8 billion, and Aman Gupta, the co-founder of audio electronics brand boAt, which achieved a valuation of around $1.4 billion.
Other entrepreneurs he listed include Vineeta Singh of SUGAR Cosmetics, Tanay Kothari of Wispr Flow, Karan Goel of Cartesia, Aditya Grover of Inception Labs, Abhishek Chandra of Recora, and venture investor Karanveer Mohan of General Catalyst CVF.
Jhaveri said the connections among many of these founders trace back to a student initiative started decades ago. "...& dozens more across AI, VC & consumer from a ‘school computer club’ started in 1992 (yes, really)."
The investor compared the network of founders linked to the school with the so-called PayPal Mafia, the group of entrepreneurs who went on to build major technology companies after leaving PayPal. "Only one network in history has done something close to this," he said, adding that PayPal's founding team built Tesla, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Palantir Technologies after breaking up in 2002.
"The world called it the 'PayPal Mafia' and spent 20 years trying to recreate it. "India created the 'DPS Mafia' from a computer lab 6 years before PayPal even existed," he added.
Reacting to Jhaveri's post, Amit Aroa, a senior rural and agri finance specialist at the World Bank, said the outcome may also reflect the school's large student base and academic environment.
"Incidentally, I passed out from RKP in the same yr when this 'school computer club' started. However, its not surprising - same school has probably produced more IAS officers, IITians, IIM pass outs, politicians et all than any other school or very few schools would come close...simply because of schools student intake strength, it being in Delhi and that it gets to absorb kids from elite class plus academically brilliant students (kids who score very well in class X in other schools get into DPS in class xi)."
Delhi Public School, RK Puram, was established in 1972 and is one of the flagship schools of the Delhi Public School Society. Located in South Delhi's RK Puram neighbourhood, the co-educational CBSE-affiliated school offers education from grades 6 to 12 with both day and boarding options.