With one of the world’s most extraordinary startup ecosystems, India is quickly becoming the favourite home for unicorns, starting from Paytm to Byju’s, Ola Cabs to Nykaa. More than 100 unicorns (companies worth more than $1B) are now situated in India. In terms of the number of functioning unicorns, the country is now only behind the United States (first), China, and the United Kingdom.
Despite the worldwide economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus epidemic during the past two years, numerous Indian start-ups managed to outperform the market and launch initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2021. The majority of them were successful.
In 2021, India saw the emergence of 44 new unicorns, bringing the total number of firms valued at more than a billion dollars to 77. Insurtech, healthtech, fintech, social commerce, B2B SaaS, home services marketplaces, social platforms, logistics, SaaS, edtech, esports, crypto, proptech, content commerce, D2C, foodtech, and manufacturing were among the firms that joined the coveted unicorn club in the previous year.
Overall, Indian tech VC investment increased nearly threefold from $14.9B in 2020 to $44.6B in 2021, the same year that global VC investment reached a new high of $675B.
As we have entered 2022, let’s take a look at the five most valuable tech start-ups in the country.
BYJU’s
Byju’s, an educational technology startup, is in talks with Churchill Capital to fund $4B and go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). As per the reports, the transaction is expected to be more than double the Bengaluru-based firm’s valuation to around $48B. Byju Raveendran’s firm is now valued at $21B, making it the first homegrown startup to reach that milestone.
Delhivery
– According to SEBI, Gurugram-based logistics startup Delhivery filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in November to collect up to Rs 7,460 crore. Since the onset of Covid-19, Delhivery has benefited greatly from the exponential rise of ecommerce in the country. Delhivery’s initial public offering (IPO) will include a fresh issue of shares of Rs 5,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 2,460 crore from existing investors. The initial public offering is planned to go live in the first quarter of 2022.
PharmEasy
API Holdings, the parent company of epharmacy unicorn PharmEasy, filed its DRHP with markets regulator SEBI for a Rs 6,250 crore IPO through a primary share sale, as announced in November.
Pharmeasy received Rs 2,602 crore ($350M) in a pre-IPO round in October last year from Singapore-based Amansa Capital, New York-based hedge fund Janus Henderson, global healthcare asset manager OrbiMed, and other investors such as Steadview Capital, ADQ, and Neuberger Berman. API Holdings was valued at $5.4 billion in the round.
Snapdeal
Snapdeal, a Delhi-based ecommerce retailer, has filed a DRHP with SEBI to raise Rs 1,250 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). Existing investors in the company, including SoftBank, Foxconn, and Sequoia Capital, will also sell 3,07,69,600 equity shares.
OYO
OYO filed its DRHP for an IPO with market regulator SEBI in October 2021, aiming to raise roughly $1.16B (Rs 8,430 crore). The offer includes a fresh issuance of up to Rs 7,000 crore and an offer for sale of up to Rs 1,430 crore, according to the document.
There will be an 83% fresh issue and a 17% offer for sale in the IPO. This Gurugram-based startup’s initial public offering is expected to take place in the first quarter of next year.