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

Economic TimesEconomic Times · 11m 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 · 3m 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.

Vedantu raises $11 Mn from internal investors in ongoing round

EntrackrEntrackr · 8d ago
Vedantu raises $11 Mn from internal investors in ongoing round
Medial

Vedantu raises $11 Mn from internal investors in ongoing round Edtech company Vedantu has raised $11 million in fresh funding from internal investors as part of a larger ongoing round led by ABC World Asia with participation from Accel India and Omidyar. The round is structured as a convertible one and also includes discussions for a secondary component aimed at providing exits to some early investors including Chinese and legacy shareholders. The new funds will be used for category expansion through both organic and inorganic opportunities along with investments in technology, artificial intelligence, and adaptive content to improve personalization and learning outcomes, Vedantu said in a press release. The notable funding comes after a gap of four years for the Bengaluru based company. Last year, it raised $2.3 million in debt and equity from Stride Ventures. Its $100 million unicorn round took place in September 2021. “This internal round is a strong vote of confidence from our investors as we prepare for the next chapter of Vedantu’s journey. Over the last 18 months, we have demonstrated disciplined growth and a clear path to profitability. The upcoming external round and secondary process will further strengthen our balance sheet, align our shareholder base and set us up for a potential public market listing in calendar year 2027,” said Vamsi Krishna, co-founder and chief executive officer of Vedantu. According to Vedantu, it turned profitable in the fourth quarter of FY25, posting collections of Rs 90 crore, a 67% year on year increase, and generating over Rs 6 crore in free cash flow. The company added that it recorded Rs 110 crore in collections during April to June 2025 and has remained cash flow positive for the past six months. For FY25, total collections grew 55% to Rs 284 crore while cash burn was reduced by 30%. While Vedantu has not yet filed its FY25 results, it had reported a loss of Rs 157 crore in FY24. Vedantu has also expanded its hybrid learning model with more than 100 offline centres and the onboarding of franchise partners. It serves more than two lakh paid students with a network of 1,200 teachers. Its platform attracts more than 10 million monthly users while its YouTube channel garners more than one billion annual views, the second highest in India’s K12 segment.

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

EntrackrEntrackr · 6m 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.

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