Indian SaaS startups have raised $4.3 billion since 2020

Indian SaaS startups have raised $4.3 billion in funding since the start of 2020 in 282 deals, Venture Intelligence data revealed.

The software as a service or SaaS ecosystem in India has evolved significantly over the past few years with more than 1,000 funded startups and 10 unicorns. The annual revenues generated by these companies stand around $2-3 billion with nearly 40,000 people employed.

Freshworks has become the first Indian SaaS startup with plans to go public, according to Venture Intelligence. The company recently filed its initial documents for a $100 million IPO in the US.

Freshworks, backed by Accel, Sequoia, Tiger Global, Steadview and Google, was last valued at $3.5 billion providing SaaS services to over 50,000 firms.

In the US, SaaS IPOs have put up a stellar performance over the past year creating a new wave of enthusiasm among venture capitalists, private equity funds and hedge funds.

“Like the US ecosystem, Indian SaaS companies are raising more capital earlier in their life cycles and garnering higher valuations than other sectors — both in vertical SaaS (e.g., Zenoti) and horizontal SaaS (e.g., Freshworks),” Priya Rajan of the Silicon Valley Bank wrote in a blog.

As many as nine out of 10 SaaS unicorns were created since 2018, data show:

The Indian SaaS industry is expected to reach $1 trillion in valuation and likely to employ nearly half a million people by 2030, Moneycontrol reported last month. While the pandemic has been disruptive for many, the digital space, especially SaaS has benefited from it with organisations adopting tech-enabled solutions.