With 16 start-ups gaining unicorn status in 2021, India's tally has touched the 50 mark. The newest entrant to this list include Pune-based MindTickle, which is close to finalising a $100-million funding round from Softbank's Vision Fund 2, taking the company's valuation to $1.1 billion.
Unlike many peers in the VC space, LSE grad Juneja doesn't have an entrepreneurial background but is said to be strong in finance skills
While industry is upbeat, start-ups in the space sector are finding it difficult to cater to the demand due to a lack of funding, issues related to policy like foreign funding, intellectual property, etc, and a lack of support in testing.
Billionaire and Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra along with top Silicon Valley investors Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan are backing space tech start-up Agnikul as part of a new funding round. Chennai-based Agnikul said, on Thursday, that it has raised $11 million in Series A funding round led by Mayfield India. It is the largest funding round for a private Indian space technology company in the country. Existing investors pi Ventures, Speciale Invest and Artha Venture Fund also invested in this round.
The Qatar Investment Authority deal follows Byju's raising money from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which was also the first direct investment by the Canadian pension fund in an Indian start-up. In March, Byju's had raised $540 million at a valuation on $5.4 billion, making it the most-valued ed-tech company in the world.
The lock-in requirement has been reduced from three years to one year for angel funds and their minimum investment threshold has been slashed from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.
The collection of mostly small and medium sized businesses is a hotchpotch of ventures and include design schools, schools, villas for hire in Goa and a country club in Gurgaon.
Amphibious drones for maritime inspection... devices that extract pure oxygen from water for patients in need... self-balancing electric bikes...
Ecorithm's powerful suite of technologies can be applied to build systems and various other enterprise solutions to improve operations.
Investments totaling over $9.5 billion in Jio Platforms by a clutch of private equity firms, following social media giant Facebook's $5.7 billion mid-April investment in the company, helped overall.
rediffGURU Chandu Nair advises entrepreneurs and enterprises about how to create and build their business.
'It is a worrying trend as we are not seeing too much fresh capital being raised for new projects, plants, expansion or diversification. It's just private equity or venture capital or promoters cashing out.'
'The ability to tailor schemes to market conditions and invest in unlisted equity and real estate, as well as commodities, makes Alternative Investment Funds a sought after platform.'
Pharma major, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd on Wednesday said it will form an integrated drug development company 'Perlecan Pharma Pvt Ltd' with an equity capital of $52.5 million from two venture capital investors.
The Andhra Pradesh government plans to set up an animation and gaming city in Hyderabad to promote the industry.
This will be Infosys' first investment from its innovation fund dedicated to start-ups and emerging technologies.
Plans another $1-billion fund, wants to expand core team in India.
It is suspected that some portfolio managers at these banks, which have significant presence in Indian financial markets, could have helped their Indian clients to route their money back into India in disguise of foreign funds through use of investment vehicles across various jurisdictions.
PEs and VCs are taking a closer look at their bouquet of investments. Leading voices in the sector are categorical that cash-burn rates -- that's blowing up equity to acquire market share -- as a business model can't continue to be the polestar.
Investments by private equity and venture capital funds (PE/VC) declined by 22 per cent in March to $4.6 billion spread across 107 deals, a report said on Wednesday. The deal activity showed an increase of 54 per cent by value at $15.5 billion across 360 deals, largely on the back of heightened activity in the startup space, the monthly report by IVCA and EY said. "While India's position as an attractive destination for PE/VC investments is expected to remain strong in 2022 given its high growth and macroeconomic and policy stability, the continuing geopolitical tensions, rising inflation, quantitative tightening by the US FED and inversion in the US yield curve are potential downside risks, making investors circumspect," Partner at EY Vivek Soni said.
The number of deals announced in the month were the highest ever at 102 for any month, compared to 75 in the same period last year and 92 deals in March.
Seven months down the line, not much progress has been made, except that the scheme is still being fine-tuned.
Byju's plans to raise funds at a lower valuation of $7-8 billion as the embattled edtech major looks to shore up its financials with adequate liquidity, a senior company executive said on Tuesday. Banking on overall "improved performance", Think and Learn, the parent of Byju's, is hopeful of a higher valuation ahead of its rights issue being planned in February to raise funds. Byju's India chief financial officer Nitin Golani said the company is in need of funds and plans to raise it at a lower valuation to make the offer lucrative for investors as well as ensure adequate liquidity support for the edtech firm.
The Finance Act, 2020, has inserted a sub-section, mandating a seller to deduct tax equal to 0.1 per cent of sale proceeds if the value of goods sold exceeds Rs 50 lakh in a financial year.
Tactical investors should have an investment horizon of around six months to one year, long-term investors should stick around for 10 years or more.
'The quality of a leader should be such that even if the leader is not there, the institution carries on.'
The investor community says the move by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to bring angel funds under the Alternative Investment Funds Regulations is a mix of good and negatives.
Investments by private equity and venture capital funds declined by 22 per cent to $5.4 billion in June, as compared to the $6.9 billion in the year-ago period, a report said on Monday. However, if compared with May's $4 billion, the investments were higher by 33 per cent, the monthly report by industry lobby group IVCA and consultancy firm EY said. If one were to compare the inflows into companies in the first half of 2021, the investments were 45 per cent higher at $26.9 billion.
Access to capital for sub-standard companies is on the decline
The real estate sector had been going through a rough phase even before the COVID-19 crisis, marked by falling sales and piling up of inventories.
Foreign venture capital worth $1.5-$2 billion and another Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) from Sidbi's SSI Fund are expected to bolster small companies in the country this year, according to industry experts.
Zomato has the potential to be an equally important milestone for Indian equity markets, notes Akash Prakash.
Sabse has several patents in the arena of call-control and switching of calls.
Education topped the table with nearly $1.755 billion as against $379 million last year, followed by real estate which received $754 million.
Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) with a lock-in period performed better than the ones that allow investors to withdraw capital at any time. Close-ended schemes had a median return of 5.62 per cent in December, according to data from industry tracker PMSBazaar. The median returns for open-ended schemes were 3.91 per cent
India has 50 startups with the potential to achieve the coveted 'unicorn' status in 2022 and by the end of the year, the list of the new-age companies valued at over $1 billion will be at least 100, a report by a consultancy firm said on Monday. In 2021, which witnessed a huge spike in company valuations in the listed and unlisted space driven by ample liquidity, according to some watchers, India added 43 startups to the list and the number of unicorns shot up to 68 by the end of the year. Over $10 billion was invested in the Indian startup ecosystem in the October-December quarter alone, according to the report by PwC India.
The recovering valuations, will lead to enhanced optimism among investors about funding startups.
The promoters who own the Leela brand will also be transferring the label to Brookfield for all hospitality businesses.
Murthy is launching an online market place for healthcare products.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances