6 new Indian Start-Up Unicorns in a week |
Six Indian start-ups raised around $1.55 billion within 4 days to enter the Unicorn Club between 5th and 9th April 2021 in what has been a record-setting week of funding in the domestic new-age Internet ecosystem. According to a Nasscom-Zinnov report, just 12 unicorns — privately held star-tups valued at $1 billion or more — were born in all of 2020, but that itself was the highest ever for a year in India. The year 2021 has already seen the birth of 10 start-up unicorns in India. India is on track to have more than 50 start-up unicorns in 2021. The six deals announced last week spanned sectors, including healthcare (Pharmacy), social commerce (Meesho), fintech (Groww and Cred), and social and content platforms (Gupshup and ShareChat parent Mohalla Tech). New York-based Tiger Global emerged as the most aggressive investor, reminiscent of the then former partner Lee Fiel`s 2015 run, with investments in four of the six new unicorns. It led the $502 million round in ShareChat and the $83 million round in Groww. The fund was the sole investor in the $100- million round of Gupshup, which raised money after 10 years. SoftBank`s Vision Fund 2 invested $300 million in the social platform Meesho, which faced its share of rejection in its initial years of fundraising because of its model of e-commerce focussed on small businesses in India. The week`s deal activity and unicorn bonanza were a culmination of hard work and process over several months. According to data provided by industry tracker Venture Intelligence, overall, Indian start-ups raised $2.6 billion across 21 deals from April 3-9. India has seen record-breaking deal activity across stages since January. The average deal size has gone up substantially, with funding rounds closing in record time and start-ups raising more capital than planned. According to a joint report by IT industry lobby group Nasscom and technology consultancy Zinnov, India is on track to have more than 50 start-up unicorns in 2021.
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