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Newly-minted Indian millionaire reveals how his life changed after selling startup for $200M
Wingify founder Paras Chopra, now a millionaire, humorously notes minor lifestyle changes post-acquisition.
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Bengaluru-based Paras Chopra has sold a majority stake in his bootstrapped startup Wingify to private equity firm Everstone for about $200 million. The acquisition has made Chopra, who owned 71% of Wingify, a very wealthy man. The Bengaluru founder has seen his net worth soar – rivaling, and in some cases, surpassing, that of top Hollywood stars. But has his lifestyle undergone a dramatic transformation?
Not quite, if you take him at his word.
Biggest change
In a lighthearted X post this afternoon, Paras Chopra, 37, revealed the “biggest change” in his life after exiting Wingify.
“The biggest change in my life after Wingify exit is that I've started taking Uber Premier instead of Uber Go,” he wrote, adding a smiley face emoji to end his quip.
The newly-minted millionaire made approximately $142 million from the acquisition. However, since he is retaining a minority stake, his total net worth could be higher, depending on the value of his remaining stake and any other assets he owns.
Despite this, Chopra does not own a car, nor has plans to buy one. He clarified as much when asked on X.
On Wingify acquisition
With a background in machine learning, Paras Chopra started Wingify in early 2009. He was 22 at the time. In the last 15-plus years, Wingify has grown from a two-people startup to a global software provider with over 6,000 clients, reported TechCrunch.
The company’s flagship product, Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), helps businesses improve their online conversion rates through A/B testing, behavioural targeting, visitor segmentation and more.
Chopra announced the acquisition on Hacker News, writing: “I'm Paras Chopra, founder of VWO. We're an A/B testing platform that was born here as a Show HN in 2009. Today, I sold the company to a private equity firm for $200mn.
“I was a 22 year old fresh graduate when I launched VWO on HN and got initial users… Thank you HN for sharing inspiration and wisdom all along. I honestly don't think I would have been an entrepreneur had it not been for Hacker News,” he said.
TechCrunch has reported that Chopra will retain a minority stake in the firm and will also remain on the board of the company.
