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Unicommerce investors made over 2X return on opening day

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
Unicommerce investors made over 2X return on opening day
Medial

Unicommerce, the e-commerce SaaS platform, made an impressive stock market debut, opening at Rs 235 per share—a 2.18X premium over its IPO price band of Rs 108. The Gurugram-based firm launched an IPO of Rs 276 crore, open to the public from August 2 to August 6, with a price band of Rs 102-108 per share. Unicommerce’s popularity is evident in its oversubscription rate, which soared over 168 times. Companies like Unicommerce will be setting examples for mid-stage SaaS companies which do not have such high valuations but strong fundamentals that are enough to attract a large investor base. Recommended read: Unicommerce IPO interest paves way for small, profitable startups to go public. According to the National Stock Exchange, the company touched its highest of Rs 256 per share and is currently trading at Rs 219 (as of 13.55 today). Unicommerce reported a revenue of Rs 104 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024, with a profit of Rs 13 crore. The company is yet to file its quarterly results for the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year (FY25).

PedalStart concludes multi-city event series ‘Founder-Investor Fusion’

EntrackrEntrackr · 1m ago
PedalStart concludes multi-city event series ‘Founder-Investor Fusion’
Medial

PedalStart concludes multi-city event series ‘Founder-Investor Fusion’ Startup accelerator PedalStart has concluded its flagship multi-city offline event series, ‘Founder-Investor Fusion’. The invite-only event brought together over 350 participants across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Gurugram, and witnessed the presence of over 220 angel investors and High Net-Worth Individuals (HNIs). More than 90 new and emerging startups at various stages of growth obtained learning and networking opportunities through the event series, while soft commitments to the tune of Rs 6 crore were made to six startups who actively pitched. Launched in March this year, ‘Founder-Investor Fusion’ aims to empower early-stage start-ups (POC to early revenue stages), while simultaneously giving select investors the opportunity to invest in some of the most promising start-ups across the country. The event witnessed strong engagement while providing a powerful platform for carefully selected startups, six of whom pitched for raising up rounds. Ventures such as Flowwat, InsightAI, Shoegr, Bull Agritech, Iztri, and Oopar Club took the centre stage to pitch their innovations and growth plans. According to PedalStart, the key objective and driving force behind the series was to bridge the gap between promising early-stage startups and the strategic capital, mentorship, and ecosystem access they need to thrive. The Founder-Investor Fusion series began in Bengaluru in March 2025, with over 60 participants, including founders from PedalStart’s portfolio, followed by the next two chapters in Hyderabad and Mumbai, which saw a collective participation of over 150 angels and startup founders. The final chapter of the event, held recently at DLF Cyber Park, Gurugram, witnessed the attendance of over 20 promising startup founders and more than 100 investors. “From live pitches to strategic networking, the Fusion events offered immense value to founders and investors alike, and we are extremely proud to have received overwhelming support and active participation from the startup community across the country,” said Manas Pal and Aditya Darolia, co-founders of PedalStart. PedalStart is a startup accelerator dedicated to empowering early-stage founders with hands-on guidance, execution support, and strategic growth. Each year, through a three-month filtration process, it selects 15–18 high-potential startups for active investment and mentorship. The accelerator helps startups scale, expand market presence, and build strong foundations for long-term success.

Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [5 - 10 Aug]

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
Funding and acquisitions in Indian startup this week [5 - 10 Aug]
Medial

During the week, 29 Indian startups raised around $177.68 million in funding. These deals count 8 growth-stage deals and 19 early-stage deals while 2 early-stage startups kept their transaction details undisclosed. During the previous week, 32 early and growth-stage startups cumulatively raised $334 million in funding. [Growth-stage deals] Among the growth-stage deals, 8 startups raised $104.8 million in funding this week. Telehealth and wellness platform Visit Health spearheaded with its $30 million worth Series B round. Wealth and asset management company Neo, vernacular social media platform ShareChat, D2C dairy and daily essential brand Country Delight, and e-commerce solution provider ShopDeck followed with $26.5 million, $16 million, $8.45 million, and $7.85 million, in funding, respectively. [Early-stage deals] Further, 19 early-stage startups secured funding worth $9.8 million during the week. B2B agri-processing platform Agrizy led the list followed by platform for sourcing and manufacturing of specialty chemicals Scimplify, personal care e-commerce startup Kindlife, stock broking platform Punch, and extended reality (XR) startup Metadome.ai among others. As many as 2 startups did not disclose the funding amount raised are; IppoPay and FlexiBees. For more information, visit TheKredible. [City and segment-wise deals] In terms of the city-wise number of funding deals, Bengaluru-based startups led with 11 deals followed by Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Udaipur, and Chandigarh. Segment-wise, Fintech and Healthtech startups shared the top spot with 5 deals each. E-commerce, Foodtech, Biotech, SaaS, and Agritech startups followed this list among others. [Series-wise deals] During the week, Series A funding deals are on top with 10 deals followed by 7 Seed, 4 Series B, 3 pre-Series A, and 3 Debt deals. Series C and Angel round deals are next on the list. [Week-on-week funding trend] On a weekly basis, startup funding slipped 46.81% to $177.68 million as compared to around $334.04 million raised during the previous week. The average funding in the last eight weeks stands at around $297.56 million with 29 deals per week. [Fund launches] Three startup-focused funds launched this week. Consumer-focused VC firm Sauce VC closed its third fund at Rs 365 crore. Simultaneously, O’Neil Capital Management India launched a new quant fund aiming for stable returns. Pantomath Capital Management also secured a significant initial close for its second fund, focusing on value investing. [Key hirings and departures] Equivalent to 11 key hirings took place this week including Sairam Krishnamurthy by Swiggy Instamart, Ramesh Padmanabhan by Core Integra, Shashank Ranjan by EvenFlow, Ramesh Gururaja by Flipkart and Gaurav Kejriwal by Smart Joules among others. While, Amazon’s head of operations in India, Manish Tiwary resigned after an over eight-year stint with the company. [Mergers and Acquisitions] As many as six merger and acquisition deals were witnessed this week. Gaming firm Nazara acquired Fusebox Games, Instawork took over Able Jobs, Nazara’s Absolute Sports acquired DeltiasGaming.com, Shobitam acquired IsadoraLife, Exicom acquired Tritium, and Apax Partners picked up 52% stakes in greytHR. [Layoffs] BeepKart, a used two-wheeler retailer, let go of over 100 employees, constituting more than 20% of its workforce. Additionally, social media platform ShareChat announced a 5% reduction in its staff as part of its performance review process. [ESOP buyback] Fintech firm Propelld is conducting an ESOP buyback worth Rs 7.05 crore, benefiting 18 employees. In addition to the buyback, the company has increased its ESOP pool and granted additional ESOPs to its workforce. Visit TheKredible to see series-wise deals along with amount breakup, complete details of fund launches, and more insights. [New launches] Flipkart’s 10 min delivery service Minutes goes live in Bengaluru Niyo expands travel services with flight booking and visa Options [Financial results this week] PB Fintech reports 7.5% dip in Q1 FY25 revenue; maintains profit Mamaearth hits all-time high profit during Q1 FY25 Fasal reports Rs 34 Cr revenue in FY24; earns 91% from fruit sales [News flash this week] UPI daily transactions cross 500 Mn mark No appraisal for Unacademy employees in 2024 Namma Yatri expands zero-commission cab service to Delhi-NCR After a muted listing, Ola Electric’s share price surged 20% Tech IPOs subscription: Unicommerce 168X, FirstCry 12X Astroyogi accuses Astrotalk of trademark infringement SaaS unicorn Postman’s valuation takes a hit: Report [Conclusion] The weekly funding again shrank down by 46.81% to $177.68 million this week. Meanwhile, three startup-focused funds launched this week namely Sauce.vc, ONeil India Quant Fund, and IIOT. Edtech giant Unacademy has announced that there will be no appraisals for its employees in 2024. The decision comes after the company failed to meet its growth targets for the year, despite overall performance being described as “above average.” CEO Gaurav Munjal emphasized the company’s financial stability and resilience in a challenging market. Ride-hailing service Namma Yatri, known for its lifetime zero-commission model, has expanded its operations to Delhi NCR. The service, now branded as ‘Yatri,’ is part of the ONDC network. This follows the successful launch of the service in Bengaluru earlier this year. Ola Electric’s shares experienced a strong rally on their debut day despite a flat opening. The stock price surged nearly 20%, reaching a high of Rs 91.20, from its initial listing price of Rs 76. This positive performance comes after the company’s IPO was oversubscribed 4.27 times. Meanwhile, FirstCry, a kids-focused omnichannel brand, saw a 12.22X oversubscription led by qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). Meanwhile, enterprise tech startup Unicommerce witnessed an overwhelming response of 168X overall subscription rate from investors Astroyogi has filed a lawsuit against its competitor, Astrotalk, alleging unauthorized use of the ‘Astroyogi’ trademark. The company claims that Astrotalk has used the trademark name within its horoscope categories, leading to potential confusion among customers. Astroyogi has emphasized its commitment to protecting its brand and intellectual property rights. As per a media report, SaaS platform Postman has seen a significant decline in its valuation, with recent secondary deals happening at a 30-40% discount compared to its peak valuation of $5.6 billion. This sharp drop is attributed to the overall decline in valuations for SaaS companies. Angel and early-stage investors have partially cashed out their stakes in the Bengaluru-based API development platform.

Indian startups raise nearly $1.6 Bn in August

EntrackrEntrackr · 10m ago
Indian startups raise nearly $1.6 Bn in August
Medial

The Indian startup ecosystem seems to be bouncing back from the funding winter as venture capital investment has been steadily rising each month. August 2024 has been a standout, with several big funding rounds, important investments in growth-stage startups, many deals from tier II cities, IPOs, and major mergers and acquisitions. These factors make it unique compared to other months this year. Based on data compiled by TheKredible, homegrown startups raised nearly $1.6 billion across 112 deals in August. This total included 27 growth-stage deals worth $1.32 billion and 71 early-stage deals amounting to $267 million. Meanwhile, there were 14 undisclosed transactions mainly in early-stage deals. When compared, startups raised close to $1 billion in July. [Y-o-Y and M-o-M trend] The $1.6 billion raised in August is the second-highest funding amount of 2024, following June, and the third-highest in the past 12 months. On a year-over-year basis, August 2024 also ranked at the top for total funds raised. Also, Indian startups have raked in approximately $9.6 billion in the first eight months of 2024. If this trend persists, overall funding is likely to comfortably surpass the $11 billion achieved in 2023. For context, Indian startups received $38 billion in funding in 2021 and $25 billion in 2022. [Top 10 growth-stage deals] Among growth-stage deals, Zepto’s $340 million, DMI Finance’s $334 million, and OYO’s $175 million rounds together accounted for over 50% of the total funds raised last month. With the fresh funding, Zepto and DMI Finance attained $5 billion and $3 billion valuation milestones respectively. However, OYO saw more than 75% fall in its valuation to $2.4 billion from a peak of $10 billion. Just like in July, August saw the emergence of a new unicorn, as the Hero Moto-backed Ather Energy surpassed the $1 billion valuation mark with its latest funding round. Other notable growth-stage deals included Neo, Blue Tokai, Visit Health, Yubi, Livpure, and Syfe. Swiggy, which raised funds from Amitabh Bachchan’s Family Office, did not disclose the deal size. [Top 10 early-stage deals] EV startup Kinetic Green led the early-stage funding chart with a $25 million Series A round, followed by Even Healthcare with $20 million, FreshBus with $10.5 million, and both Beco and Investors AI, each raising $10 million. Agrizy’s $9.8 million funding was the fourth-largest in agritech for 2024, a sector that has been declining recently. Other major early-stage deals included Scimplify, a specialty chemicals firm; Kindlife, a new venture from ShopClues co-founder Radhika Ghai; automotive startup Kazam; and fintech startup Punch, all of which ranked among the top 10 early-stage investments. [Mergers and Acquisitions] In August, the number of merger and acquisition deals surged to 19, up from just 17 in July. Notably, the acquisition of Paytm’s movies and ticketing business by Zomato Limited for $244 million emerged as one of the largest M&A deals of 2024. Additionally, hospitality firm OYO acquired Checkmyguest for $27.4 million, and Fusebox Games Limited was purchased by Nazara in a $27.2 million deal. Some notable M&A deals in August included BrowserStack’s acquisition of Bird Eats Bug, Radio Mirchi’s parent ENIL’s purchase of Gaana, and VerSe’s acquisition of Valueleaf. Additionally, Emami Limited raised its stake in The Man Company from 50.4% to 100%, a development first reported by Entrackr in July. [City and segment-wise deals] In terms of city-wise funding, Bengaluru-based startups led with 38 deals totaling $265 million in August. However, startups in Delhi-NCR raised $724 million across 29 deals, more than double the amount raised by Bengaluru startups. Additionally, Mumbai-based startups surpassed Bengaluru in total funding, securing $453 million across 20 deals. Segment-wise, fintech startups led the show with 27 deals followed by e-commerce (including D2C brands), healthtech, SaaS, and proptech with 16, 8, 7, and 4 deals, respectively. Visit TheKredible for more details. Edtech was one of the least funded segments with 3 deals amounting to $5 million. It contributed only 0.3% to the total amount raised in August. [Stage-wise deals] Regarding funding stages, 35 startups raised capital in the seed round, 28 in Series A, 13 in pre-Series A, and 9 in Series B. Debt-only funding made up 2.56% of the total funding for the month. For the complete breakdown of stage-wise deals, visit TheKredible. [Layoffs, shutdowns, departures, and key hirings] Layoffs experienced a significant drop from 650 employees in July to 290 employees in August. Notably, Google and Reliance-backed Dunzo reportedly fired 150 employees, Beepkart let go of 100 staff, and ShareChat reduced its workforce by 30-40 employees. Additionally, Kenko Health, My Tirth India, and Airtel’s streaming app Wynk Music shut down their operations. Wynk’s closure is attributed to increasing competition, while Kenko Health and My Tirth India ceased operations due to funding difficulties. In August, there was an increase in both hiring and the departure of key executives. Notable exits included Manish Tiwary from Amazon India, Prashant Sinha from Metadome.ai, and Srinivasagopalan Ramamurthy from Freshworks. On the hiring front, Meesho, Swiggy Instamart, EvenFlow, Zetwerks, Perfios, and OYO brought new talent into roles such as chief executive, co-founder, and independent director, among others. [Trends] More IPOs in pipeline: In the first eight months of 2024, ten startups have gone public. In August alone, Ola Electric, Unicommerce, and FirstCry completed their IPOs. Swiggy is targeting a listing in the first week of September, while companies like Infra.Market, Bluestone, Ecom Express, OfBusiness, and OYO are also progressing on their IPO plans. Additionally, Zappfresh has filed draft IPO papers with SEBI to list on the BSE SME platform. Quick commerce in action: The quick commerce sector is intensifying in competition, highlighted by Zepto’s mega-round, Flipkart’s recent entry, and BigBasket’s complete shift to rapid delivery. Amazon is expected to enter the market early next year. The e-commerce giant was also in talks to acquire Swiggy’s quick commerce business. At present, Zomato-owned Blinkit stands as the leading player in quick commerce followed by Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and Tata Digital-owned BigBasket. Startups from tier II cities: In addition to major metro areas and startup hubs such as Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, there has been a notable influx of deals from cities like Mangalore, Raipur, Dehradun, Udaipur, Surat, Jodhpur, Nashik, and Lucknow. This indicates a significant, albeit minor, shift in traditional startup funding patterns. Founders fueling growth: OYO’s $175 million funding round included a significant $100 million investment from the company’s founder, Ritesh Agarwal, showcasing another instance of a founder investing in their own startup. Similarly, Yubi secured $30 million from its founder and CEO, Gaurav Kumar, while Cambrian Bioworks received an undisclosed amount from its founder during its seed round. This practice of founder investment has previously been seen with Ather Energy, Byju’s, and BluSmart. [Conclusion] While the decline of debt funding is something to be welcomed, as it doesn’t seem to sit well with the idea of backing startups, we would add a note of caution here on the sustainability of the current recovery. While, as indicated earlier, an expected interest rate cut by the US Fed will ensure the momentum stays well into 2025, the fact remains that significant parts of public markets are well into ‘exuberance’ territory in terms of valuations. Unlike the public markets, however, the private VC markets remain much more dependent on foreign fund flows, and that could yet be a disruptor in the ecosystem, despite the rise of domestic capital. Although with the US-China issues, and now, even Brazil moving arbitrarily against Twitter, India could find itself in a sweet spot yet again for global investors. It would perhaps be fair to say that the bottom has been reached, and a bounce is well on its way for Indian startups when it comes to their funding environment.

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