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Down Rounds Season At India’s Unicorn Club

Inc42Inc42 · 1y ago
Down Rounds Season At India’s Unicorn Club
Medial

Indian startups, including unicorns like Meesho, Udaan, Sharechat, Pharmeasy, and BYJU’S, are experiencing deep valuation cuts and down rounds when raising funds. This trend is indicative of the challenges faced by growth and early-stage startups to show strong financial performance and secure higher valuations. While some startups resist deals due to lower valuations, the reality is that many are settling for lower valuations aligned with their revenue and accepting dilution. The overall funding for Indian startups dropped by 33% YoY in Q1 2024, reflecting a cautious approach from investors who prioritize revenue generation and cash flow. The impact of down rounds extends to employees' equity, company image, and market perception. However, there is optimism that normalcy may return in the second half of 2024 with flat rounds or even higher valuations as startups focus on improving unit economics and profitability.

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Unicorns And Venture Capital: Captivating Mirages Or Essential Investments?

Inc42Inc42 · 1y ago
Unicorns And Venture Capital: Captivating Mirages Or Essential Investments?
Medial

Venture capital and private equity investors have been fascinated with unicorns - startups valued at $1 billion or more. While these unicorn success stories seem enticing, they may not be necessary for achieving stellar returns. Unicorns are rare, making it difficult to build a consistent investment strategy around them. Additionally, predicting which companies will reach unicorn status is challenging. Investors can still reap significant returns by cashing out at opportune moments along the investment journey. The number of rounds an investor can stay in the game is limited by fund restrictions, and riding a future unicorn from inception to unicorn status is rare. Therefore, achieving exceptional returns in the venture capital landscape requires more than just capturing unicorns.

Bhavish Aggarwal’s Krutrim in talks to raise $300 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 2m ago
Bhavish Aggarwal’s Krutrim in talks to raise $300 Mn
Medial

Bengaluru-based Krutrim AI Labs is working to build a complete AI ecosystem for India, with plans to take on global players like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Krutrim SI Design, the AI venture of Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, is reportedly in talks to raise $300 million in a new funding round. This would be the first funding for the Bengaluru-based startup since it entered the unicorn club in January last year. Mint noted that Krutrim initially aimed to raise $500 million but later scaled down the round due to limited interest from investors. The report also mentioned that Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and SBI Capital Markets are the bankers managing the funding round. Krutrim has raised approximately $75 million and joined the unicorn club in January 2024. Its investors include Z47 (formerly Matrix), the Sarin Family, and others. In December last year, Aggarwal pledged his Ola Electric shares to secure debt funding through debenture issuance for Krutrim. "Ola does not comment on speculation," a company spokesperson was quoted as saying. Earlier this year, Aggarwal announced the launch of Krutrim AI Labs, aimed at developing artificial intelligence specifically for India. As part of the initiative, he committed an initial investment of Rs 2,000 crore, with plans to scale it up to Rs 10,000 crore by next year. Krutrim AI Labs is working to build a complete AI ecosystem for India, with plans to take on global players like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. The company is developing several AI models, including Krutrim-2 (a next-gen language model), Chitrarth 1 (for images and text), Dhwani 1 (for speech), and Vyakhyarth 1 (focused on Indian languages). As part of its plan, Krutrim is also building India’s largest AI supercomputer using NVIDIA’s GB200 chips to boost the country’s AI and cloud infrastructure.

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