TRENDS
5 factors driving the startup funding boom in India
For the longest time, startup IPOs in India have been a mirage. Companies have spoken about them as a distant goal but no real desire to go public was seen.
BUSINESS
Alteria Capital hits Rs 1,325 crore first close for second debt fund
Alteria Capital has raised Rs 1,325 crore for its second venture debt fund, the latest sign of the startup funding frenzy that grips India
BUSINESS
VC firm India Quotient’s first investment in ShareChat grew 540 times. They say that’s just the start
India Quotient's investment in social media firm ShareChat was ridiculed and questioned by many for years. While some questions still linger, the investment is an unmitigated success, and investors expect the unicorn to have a monthly revenue of $40-50 million in 2-1/2 years. Here's how and what happened.
BUSINESS
ShareChat raises $500 million from Tiger, Snap, Twitter; valued at $2 billion
ShareChat gained early traction and saw investors including Lightspeed, Elevation Capital (SAIF Partners), Shunwei Capital and Xiaomi invest.
BUSINESS
OfBusiness raises $110 million led by Falcon Edge, valued at close to $800 million
Lending firm OfBusiness has raised $110 million valuing it at close $800 million, nearly triple its valuation from less than two years ago. The deal is also important given that small business lenders were among the worst hit during the pandemic and yet, some have recovered to become even stronger
BUSINESS
MC Exclusive | Tiger to invest in ShareChat at $2 billion valuation
ShareChat is set to catapult to the unicorn club, raising funds up to $200 million led by Tiger Global and others. The ban on TikTok and other Chinese apps triggered a wave of hypergrowth for the company, set to be valued at $2 billion. Sources say it has managed to rise above a litany of competitors in the short video space with its Moj app.
BUSINESS
'Our and Byju’s values were very similar,' says Aakash Chaudhry on billion-dollar acquisition
Aakash Chaudhry, managing director of the test prep firm, talks about why they sold to Byju's for a billion dollars, the future of education, and why offline classes are still important.
BUSINESS
Last week in startup funding: Big rounds all around
In just one week, Indian startups have raised a billion dollars. We look at some the largest deals of the week and who invested.
BUSINESS
We did not grow until we perfected the business model: Five Star Finance Chairman
How do you build an NBFC? What are the thousand micro steps that can affect collections and growth? How do you expand cautiously, yet build aggressively? Meet Five Star Finance, a lender valued at $1.4 billion, backed by Sequoia Capital, KKR and TPG. Yet no one knows what exactly worked for them. In a deepdive with the company, Moneycontrol finds out.
BUSINESS
Last week in startup funding: Large rounds in gaming, secondary deals gain momentum
A big week for startup funding with over $700 million raised this week alone across sectors. More so, secondary transactions picked up momentum too.
BUSINESS
Five Star Finance raises $234 million from Sequoia, KKR, valued at $1.4 billion
The non-banking lender becomes India's fourth unicorn in 2021after Digit Insurance, SaaS firm Innovaccer and business to business marketplace Infra.market.
BUSINESS
Decoding the origins of IPO-bound Policybazaar
Yashish Dahiya, co-founder and Group CEO of Policybazaar, talks about the company's origins, why he is different and why he was dead sure it would succeed.
BUSINESS
Dream11 parent valued at $5 billion in $400 million secondary funding round
Dream Sports' valuation doubled to $5 billion in less than six months
BUSINESS
Zetwerk buys back $8.3 million ESOPs
Zetwerk is the latest among a bunch of growth stage startups to give early employees a financial windfall with ESOP buybacks.
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Moglix valuation to triple to $1 billion, Falcon Edge to invest
Industrial goods marketplace will be India's fifth unicorn- billion dollar private companies- in the third month of 2021. Its valuation is set to triple from less than two years ago. Its investors includr Ratan Tata, VC firms Accel, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global
BUSINESS
Indian tech unicorns get $225 million SPAC from top investors
According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Think Elevation Capital Growth Opportunities is looking to raise $225 million in an IPO.
BUSINESS
5-minute pitches, 2-day deals and tons of money—welcome to the 2021 startup party
A startup funding frenzy is on in India but is it a sign of a bubble? What is different this time from 2015? Will a bust follow this boom or is it a sign of things to come?
BUSINESS
Book Review: Kevin Roose’s Futureproof is superb entry point into crucial AI debate
How will AI affect our jobs and lives? How is it already affecting our jobs and lives? And what can we do about it? New York Times columnist Kevin Roose tries to tackle these questions and provide a manual for how to live in the age of automation
BUSINESS
Last week in startup funding: Policybazaar’s pre-IPO round, space tech funding and more
Here's a snapshot of startup funding for the week ended March 19, 2021.
BUSINESS
A year after 'black swan' warning, Sequoia tells founders to step on the gas
A year after Sequoia's ominous warning to its portfolio companies about bracing for the worst, it is now saying this is the time for entrepreneurs to be aggressive once again.
BUSINESS
IVCA Conclave 2021: IPO markets are hot but you can't always time it
At the IVCA Conclave 2021, top PE investors spoke about re-imagining the exit scenario in India.
BUSINESS
IVCA Conclave 2021: Investors say pandemic was life changing but brought tech to the forefront
In a panel titled, Managing Turbulence: Scanning the Venture Capital industry in India, VCs spoke about what the past year has been like and how things have changed from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to today
BUSINESS
In 2020, VC exits fell 70% while SaaS matured: Report
Venture capital exits fell 70% in 2020- a result of the pandemic, but SaaS emerged as a rapidly maturing space for startups.
BUSINESS
Exclusive: Five Star Finance seeks $1.2 billion valuation, Morgan Stanley may exit
Morgan Stanley may sell part of its stake for close to $100 million to Sequoia Capital’s Global Growth Fund. Till 2004, Five Star had a loan book of less than Rs 1 crore, which grew to Rs 100 crore by 2012. The lender’s real growth has come since 2012, and it has grown 20 times since.
