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60% of Indian unicorn founders achieved $1-billion valuation in maiden attempt: report

Economic TimesEconomic Times · 9m ago
60% of Indian unicorn founders achieved $1-billion valuation in maiden attempt: report
Medial

- 60% of India's unicorn founders built their startups valued at over $1 billion in their first attempt. - India's startup ecosystem has produced over 100 unicorns, but the pace of unicorn creation has slowed down in the last two years. - Fintech sector in India is projected to have 150 unicorns worth $500 billion by 2030 in areas like payments, lending, insurtech, wealthtech, and neobanking. - Venture capital firms and investors value founders who have previously faced failure and bounced back, seeing them as individuals with grit and adaptability. - Late-stage funding and the presence of investors like SoftBank and Tiger Global greatly influence the creation of unicorns. - Founders sometimes get carried away with valuations, which may not always be the best thing for the company's growth and sustainability.

Infra.Market raises $50 Mn from Mars Unicorn Fund

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Infra.Market raises $50 Mn from Mars Unicorn Fund
Medial

Infra.Market has raised $50 million from MARS Unicorn Fund which is a joint venture of Liquidity Group and MUFG. With this, MARS and Liquidity investment in the company touched $100 million. The two funds previously invested $50 million in Infra.Market in 2022. While the company didn’t disclose its valuation in fresh funding, Infra.Market was reportedly valued at $4 billion in 2022. Founded by Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda in 2016, Infra.Market sells construction materials, infrastructure goods, and technical equipment. It is targeting the $140 construction materials market, with a strong focus on the infrastructure sector. The company caters to both institutional customers (B2B) and retail outlets (D2R) in the construction materials sector. As per the company, it supplies across 16 states in India and exports to markets such as Dubai, Singapore, Jordan, and Italy, among others. Last year, Infra.Market had divested 10% of its stake worth $20 million in RDC Concrete to investors led by Ashish Kacholia. The former had acquired RDC Concrete for $90 million in September 2021. It also has a majority stake in Strata Geosystems, Equiphunt and Halonix. As of now, Infra.Market has raised around $500 million across equity and debt. According to the startup intelligence data platform TheKredible, Tiger Global was the largest external stakeholder with 21.33% followed by Accel and Nexus Ventures which commanded 16.87% and 8.46%, respectively, before this round. Infra.Market is one of the handful of unicorns in the country which managed over nine-fold growth in gross scale between FY21 and FY23 and remained profitable. As per TheKredible, its gross revenue rose to Rs 11,846 crore in FY23 from Rs 1,240 crore in FY21. During the fiscal year ending March 2023, the firm’s profit slipped 17% to Rs 155 crore from Rs 187 crore in FY22. It competes with Zetwerk, OfBuisness and Moglix.

Exclusive: Bluestone expands ESOP pool, COO Sudeep Nagar receives $11 Mn worth grant

EntrackrEntrackr · 1m ago
Exclusive: Bluestone expands ESOP pool, COO Sudeep Nagar receives $11 Mn worth grant
Medial

Exclusive: Bluestone expands ESOP pool, COO Sudeep Nagar receives $11 Mn worth grant Omnichannel jewellery retailer Bluestone has expanded its existing ESOP plan to $80 million by adding additional employee stock options for its employees. The board at Bluestone has passed a resolution for approval to add 42,43,312 employee stock options to its existing plan, bringing the total ESOP pool to 1,17,27,642 options, its regulatory filing accessed through the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. According to Entrackr’s estimates, the newly added ESOPs are worth around Rs 245 crore or around $29 million. Out of the newly added stock options, Rs 92.6 crore ($11 million) will be granted to the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Sudeep Nagar. This addition brings the total value of Bluestone’s ESOP pool to Rs 678 crore or around $80 million. Notably, these valuations are based on the company's last funding round, where it raised around Rs 900 crore pre-IPO round led by Prosus, out of which Rs 300 crore is secondary. Ahead of Bluestone’s IPO, Global consumer internet group Prosus values the company at $950 million, just shy of unicorn status ahead of its IPO. Prosus has valued its stake in BlueStone at $42 million, as per its latest annual report. The stake, held through its fund MIH Investments One B.V., represents a 4.43% ownership in the jewellery brand. As per ET report, Bluestone is all set to join the unicorn status with secondary transactions worth Rs 300-350 crore by private wealth management arms of 360 One and Centrum Wealth. This will value the company at $1.2 billion. In December 2024, Bluestone filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for an IPO, comprising a fresh issue of equity shares worth up to Rs 1,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 2.398 crore shares, allowing a full exit for Samma Capital, IvyCap Ventures, and Kalaari Capital. Founded in 2011, omnichannel jewellery brand BlueStone offers high-value gold and diamond jewellery, including rings, pendants, chains, and earrings, through its retail stores and online platform. As per its DRHP, the company operates over 203 stores across 86 cities. BlueStone has raised around $262 million across multiple funding rounds from investors such as Accel, Prosus, Peak XV Partners, 360 One, Kalaari Capital, and others, according to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible. In FY24, BlueStone’s revenue grew 64% year-on-year to Rs 1,266 crore, up from Rs 771 crore in FY23. The company also trimmed its losses by 15% during the same period, bringing them down to Rs 142 crore.

Exclusive: PhysicsWallah in talks to acquire Drishti IAS for Rs 2,500 Cr

EntrackrEntrackr · 3m ago
Exclusive: PhysicsWallah in talks to acquire Drishti IAS for Rs 2,500 Cr
Medial

Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah is in the advanced stages of acquiring offline coaching firm Drishti IAS Institute, according to three sources familiar with the matter. If finalized, this will mark the largest acquisition in the edtech space in the past couple of years. “PhysicsWallah is spending around Rs 2,500–3,000 crore to acquire the UPSC and state commissions preparatory platform,” said one of the sources, requesting anonymity. “The two companies have been in talks since January this year, and the deal is likely to be finalized soon.” The development comes at a time when PhysicsWallah is preparing for its initial public offering (IPO). The Noida-based company recently appointed three independent directors and is aiming to raise $500 million at a $5 billion valuation through the public listing. According to sources, the payment for the deal will be made in tranches and will be tied to future performance milestones. “Although we have been meeting several people from different organisations (IPO Bankers, PEs & Edtech founders) for our future plans, nothing has been finalized so far. The information you are talking about is just a rumour which shouldn't be taken seriously at all,” said Vivek Tiwari, CEO, Drishti IAS. Queries sent to PhysicsWallah did not elicit an immediate response. Drishti IAS, a 26-year-old educational platform that mainly provides offline coaching to help students prepare for the Civil Services Examination (CSE), reported Rs 405 crore in revenue with Rs 90 crore profit after tax (PAT) in FY24. Founded by Vikas Divyakirti, the Mukherjee Nagar Institute is the largest revenue contributor for Drishti IAS, accounting for 58% of the total coaching income, followed by Prayagraj, Jaipur, and Karol Bagh. On the other hand, nine-year-old PhysicsWallah has expanded into a full-fledged edtech platform offering live and recorded lectures, test series, study materials, and offline hybrid centers. The firm has raised over $300 million to date and was valued at around $2.8 billion during a $210 million Series B round in September last year. PhysicsWallah’s revenue from operations surged to Rs 1,940.4 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 744.3 crore in FY23. However, following the rising expenditure, its losses deepened over 13X to Rs 1,131 crore in FY24 against Rs 84 crore reported in FY23. The potential deal aligns with PhysicsWallah’s focus on offline coaching. Last year, the Lightspeed and WestBridge-backed company stated that it aims to achieve over Rs 1,000 crore in offline revenue by the end of FY25.

Vedantu income nears Rs 200 Cr in FY24; losses cut by 58%

EntrackrEntrackr · 7m ago
Vedantu income nears Rs 200 Cr in FY24; losses cut by 58%
Medial

After a slight decline in operating scale in FY23, edtech unicorn Vedantu reported a 21% year-on-year revenue growth for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Significantly, the Bengaluru-based company reduced its losses by 58% during the same period. Vedantu's revenue from operations grew to Rs 185 crore in the last fiscal year from Rs 153 crore in FY23, its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies show. Vedantu's core offerings include online classes for grades 6 to 12, along with study materials for grades 1 to 12 and JEE preparation. In May 2020, the company expanded into the kids' coding space for ages 6-12 and has also launched several offline coaching centers in recent years. Income from online tutoring accounted for 90% of Vedantu's total operating revenue, increasing 11.4% to Rs 166 crore in FY24 from Rs 149 crore in FY23. Book sales tripled to Rs 9 crore, while the remaining revenue came from hostel fees and e-learning project income in FY24. Vedantu also added Rs 14 crore, primarily from non-operating income such as interest on deposits, increasing its overall revenue to Rs 199 crore in FY24, as compared to Rs 175 crore in FY23. Similar to other edtech firms, employee benefits were the largest cost component, which accounted for 47% of Vedantu's total expenditure. However, following significant layoffs in FY24, these costs dropped by 43.8% to Rs 176 crore in FY24. Vedantu's advertisement cum promotional spend was also reduced by 70% to Rs 23 crore in FY24. Expenses for outsourcing teachers, internships, book procurement, legal services, and other overheads brought the firm's total expenditure to Rs 368 crore, marking a 33.5% decline compared to FY23. The significant reduction in employee benefits and advertising along with 20% growth in scale led Vedantu's losses to be reduced by 58% to Rs 157 crore in FY24. Its ROCE, and EBIDDA margins improved to -37% and -51.8%, respectively. Its expense-to-earning ratio stood at Rs 1.99 in the said fiscal. During FY24, Vedantu's current assets recorded at 174 crore with cash and bank balances of Rs 54 crore. Vedantu has struggled to secure substantial external funding in recent years. In September, the firm raised Rs 19.25 crore (approximately $2.3 million) through a mix of debt and equity from Stride Ventures, marking its first investment in over three years. To date, Vedantu has raised over $300 million from major investors, including Tiger Global, Coatue, GGV Capital, and Westbridge. While edtech funding has declined significantly compared to its peak, 2024 shows signs of recovery. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, edtech firms have raised $613 million across 37 deals so far this year, surpassing the $456 million raised in 2023. However, this is still a steep drop from the $2.3 billion raised in 2022 and $5.8 billion in 2021.

Indian startups show sign of recovery with $7 Bn funding in H1 2024

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Indian startups show sign of recovery with $7 Bn funding in H1 2024
Medial

The Indian startup ecosystem is going through a recovery phase: there have been larger funding rounds, an increase in the number of deals, a surge in secondary deals and ESOP buybacks, and a decline in layoffs. As per data compiled by TheKredible, Indian startups raised nearly $7 billion in funding during the first half of 2024. This is more than the $5.92 billion raised in H1 2023. But it’s also far less than $20 billion in H1 2022 which now seems like the golden phase for startups, at least in terms of venture capital inflow. The $7 billion funding consisted of 182 growth or late stage deals worth $5.4 billion and 404 early-stage deals worth $1.54 billion. Meanwhile, 99 were undisclosed deals. During the first half, Indian startups produced a couple of unicorns: Perfios and Krutrim SI Designs. In 2023, only two startups managed to go past the unicorn valuation while 2022 and 2021 saw the emergence of 26 and 44 unicorns, respectively. [Y-o-Y and M-o-M trend] As mentioned above, there is a significant increase in the number of startup deals and funding in H1 2024 from $5.92 billion in H1 2023. If we see the last four consecutive half yearly data, H1 2024 stands at the top in terms of total amount raised. The growth can be attributed to a bunch of $100 million plus rounds and mega deals bagged by late stage firms such as Zepto, Flipkart, PharmEasy and Lenskart. When it comes to month-on-month trends, June saw nearly $2 billion in funding which is more than double of the average of $1 billion monthly funding until May this year. [Top 10 growth stage deals in H1] Late stage companies such as Zepto, Flipkart, PharmEasy and Lenskart were on the top with $665 million, $350 million, $216 million, and $200 million funding, respectively. Lenskart’s $200 million funding was a pure secondary transaction play whereas Zepto may have also had some secondary component in the last funding round. Overall, all startups in the top 10 list have raised more than $100 million each during the first six months of 2024. The list includes Engrail, Atlan, Pocket FM, Nephroplus, SEDEMAC and Shadowfax. [Top 10 early stage deals in H1] Invite-only networking platform SCOPE led the funding chart for early stage startups with $90 million funding. This was followed by AI startup Krutrim, blockchain startup Avail, e-commerce startup Indkal and battery tech startup IBC. Lyskraft, Ema, StockGro, Hunch and Rozana also made it to the top 10 list of early stage deals. Notably, more than 30 early stage startups have raised over $10 million each during H1 2024. [Mergers and Acquisitions] The first half of 2024 saw 55 mergers and acquisitions, which is lower when compared to the previous years. The year 2021 saw more than 250 mergers and acquisitions which declined to 204 in 2022 and further reduced to 145 in 2023. Even if we double the number of M&A, it will hover around 100 in total by the end of 2024. There were stress deals during the period which included the acquisition of ZestMoney by DMI Group, MX Player by Amazon, Kuvera by CRED, Spartan Poker by OneVerse, and ET Money by 360 One (formerly IIFL Wealth). Check the list for more details: [City and segment wise deals] Bengaluru, once again topped the list with 253 startups from the city having raised more than $2.83 billion in funding during 2023. This accounted for 40% of the total funding. Delhi-NCR-based startups followed with 164 deals amounting to $1.3 billion. Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune made it to the top five list. Notably, Mumbai-based startups contributed to nearly 22% of the total funding whereas Delhi NCR-based startups accounted for 18.76% of the overall fund inflow. Segment wise, e-commerce was at the top with 124 startups raising over $1.87 billion. Fintech, healthtech, SaaS and EV startups were next on the list. Amount wise, EV startups raised more money than SaaS and healthtech. Agritech, foodtech, edtech and proptech saw their downfall during the first half of 2024. [Stage wise deals] In H1 2024, seed and pre-seed stage startups saw 266 deals amounting to more than $457 million. Series A and pre Series A saw 134 and 80 deals, respectively. There were 58 debt funding worth $784 million and 5 pre-IPO rounds worth nearly $250 million. Check TheKredible for more details. [Layoffs, shutdowns and departures] Layoffs, shutdowns and departures continued even in 2024. However, there was a sharp decline when compared with the previous years. For context, Indian startups saw 3,300 people being laid off during H1 2024 which is roughly one-third of the over 9,000 in H2 2023 and 15,000 in H1 2023. Byju’s, ReshaMandi, Swiggy, Ola, Cult.fit, Healthifyme, Scaler and PrepLadder topped in terms of laying off employees during the first half. During the first quarter of 2024, five companies shut their operations. The list includes Resso, Rario, OKX India, GoldPe, and Muvin. Rario added that it will launch a brand new platform that will enable users to play new and engaging cricket-based games. However, only one startup announced its shutdown during the second quarter taking the overall shutdown to six in H1. In 2023, more than 15 startups shut their operations. High profile departures were a big concern during the first half of 2024. As per data compiled by TheKredible, 45 top level executives left their posts. These include co-founders, CEOs, CFO, CBO, COO, and managing directors, among others. [Comparison] For a better understanding of startup funding, we have created a comparison graph for the first and second quarter of the year which showed that the number of deals and total funding saw an uptick in Q2 when compared to Q1. [Trends in H1 2024] Surge in generative AI and spiritual tech deals: Overall, AI startups saw 27 deals amounting to $237 million. Generative AI startups grabbed a significant portion of the total funding. In the past six months, these startups have managed to mope up nearly $100 million. The list includes Sarvam AI, Ema, Neysa, Vodex, and KonProz, among others. Spiritual tech startups also saw an uptick in the number of deals. In the ongoing calendar year, such startups have raised more than $36 million and some new rounds are in the pipeline. Maiden funding for established fashion brands: During H1, a clutch of fashion and apparel brands raised their maiden institutional round. In May, A91 Partners led a $21 million round in TechnoSport whereas Libas raised $18 million led by ICICI Venture’s fund. Recently, Rare Rabbit raised $18 million in primary capital led by A91 Partners. The round is expected to close at around $50 million. ESOP and secondary deals: More than 10 startups announced their ESOP buyback program worth nearly $58 million in H1 2024. While the majority of them did not disclose the amount, Meesho, Urban Company and Pocket FM announced their largest ESOP buyback program. Similarly, secondary transactions have also increased during the first six months. Some of the biggest beneficiaries of secondary transactions are Lenskart, Meesho, Shadowfax, Fibe, Wow! Momo, Porter, among others. Startup IPOs on the rise: In the ongoing calendar year, TBO tech, Digit Insurance, Awfis and Ixigo have been listed on the stock exchanges while Unicommerce, FirstCry and Ola Electric got final approval from SEBI and Mobikwik, Swiggy and Avanse have been waiting for approval from the market regulator. Overall, 2024 appears to have better prospects for startups in the public market. In 2021, more than 10 startups listed on stock exchanges. This number plummeted in 2022 (two IPOs) and 2023 (five IPOs). Moreover, a bunch of companies are assessing the right time to launch their IPO, Zepto, Flipkart, PharmEasy, The Good Glamm Group, and others may announce their exact IPO timeline anytime soon. Debt deals: Besides increase in equity and secondary deals, debt deals also contributed a significant portion in H1. As per data, H1 2024 saw 57 debt only deals amounting to $784 million. There were several deals which included equity as well as debt components. However, we couldn’t ascertain the actual breakdown of such deals which may push the overall debt to more than $1 billion in the said period. [Conclusion] While the peaks of H1 2022 might take some time to be reached and crossed again, considering the typical cycle of at least 3-5 years for such funding peaks, things are certainly improving fast. While stability in government helps, it is the booming stock markets that will drive funding for startups too, as investors cash out gains and redeploy from successful IPOs or broader market gains. Ironically, many firms that could barely get VC or PE funding have managed IPOs in recent weeks, further underscoring the case for a correction in the stock markets or a diffusion of the bullishness to startup funding as well. But while the markets will continue to value revenues and some profitability ideally, the real job of backing ideas and innovations will also benefit as multiple VCs, family offices and other investors return to the startup funding market to seed the next crop of startups.

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