Inspirational Stories: Jaynti Kanani, a man from Gujarat, overcame adversity to pursue an education and eventually became one of India’s first crypto billionaire co-founders. The founders of Polygon were able to reach a $10 billion market cap in just four years in 2021 after officially launching the company. Overcoming the non-IIT barrier, Kanani and Sandeep Nailwal constructed their billion-dollar comeback.
Growing Up in a Modest Flat in Ahmedabad
Kanani was raised in a modest flat outside of Ahmedabad, where his father was employed at a firm that made diamonds. The family struggled to maintain finances, making it impossible to pay for his education. Jaynti views it as a blessing that he was able to finish school. Kanani attended Dharamsinh Desai University in Nadiad to study engineering with the sole purpose of assisting his family in escaping poverty. After that, he secured a position in Pune paying Rs 6,000 per month. However, Jaynti was compelled to hunt for a job with a higher salary after his father was forced to retire owing to declining eyesight. He joined a startup and worked part-time on numerous projects. Even to get married, he took out a debt. Jaynti claimed that starting a billion dollar company never crossed his debt-ridden thoughts.
The Birth of Polygon Through Collaborative Vision
Kanani, Nailwal, and third co-founder Anurag Arjun established Polygon in 2017. A Serbian techie named Mihalio Bjelic joined the group later as their fourth co-founder. The company gained notoriety after they received funding from Shark Tank judge and one of America’s most well-known investors, Mark Cuban. Investments of $450 million were made by investors including SoftBank, Tiger Global, and Sequoia Capital India in 2022 for Polygon. Currently, the market capitalization is over $6.7 billion (more than Rs 55,000 crore).
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