IPO and unicorn rush continues

‘Tis the year of IPOs and unicorns.

Caller identification service Truecaller announced that it is preparing to list on NASDAQ Stockholm in the fourth quarter of 2021. The Stockholm-headquartered company — which counts India as its largest market with over 200 million MAUs — is looking to raise $116 million through the IPO to ramp up operations in existing territories and expand to new ones.

Founded in 2009, Truecaller is backed by marquee investors, including Sequoia Capital India, Atomico, OpenOcean, and Kleiner Perkins. The company is seeking a $3 billion post-IPO valuation.

According to YourStory’s analysis, a total of Rs 60,588 crore was raised through IPOs until August end — which is 127.7 percent higher than 2020's Rs 26,613 crore across 15 issues.

Meanwhile, esports platform Mobile Premier League became the latest Indian startup to enter the unicorn club after it raised its Series E funding round led by Legatum Capital at a pre-money valuation of $2.3 billion. MPL will use the fresh capital to finance its global expansion, invest in its home-grown technology, and drive continued growth in the Indian market.

With MPL's entry into the coveted billion-dollar valuation club, the Indian startup ecosystem has already seen 25 startups turn unicorns, surpassing all projections.

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The Interview

When the pandemic first struck, it created a complex variety of problems for the logistics and mobility companies. The nationwide lockdown made location and tracing important for fleet and warehousing operations.

Leaders from Shadowfax, Porter, Shipsy, Zoomcar, and Bounce reveal how the startups overcame operational challenges, and quickly worked towards evolving their offerings to meet the new needs of their customer base in the past 18 months.

Editor’s Pick: How Ezetap charted a new business course

Byas Nambisan had been Ezetap’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for over four years but in 2018, found himself at the helm of Ezetap's affairs as the CEO.

Making a critical business decision, Byas chose to evolve the company and paved the way for ‘stable’ growth, enabling Ezetap — one of India's early fintech startups — to find its mojo back and grow even bigger. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

An all-purpose delivery service for Kashmir

Launched less than three months before Jammu and Kashmir's longest internet shutdown, Srinagar-based courier-and-parcel delivery startup FastBeetle was meant to be an app-based service for hyperlocal delivery of packages

However, the logistics service FastBeetle adapted to landline systems and low-speed 2G internet to deliver food, groceries, medicines, gifts, documents, etc. to 70,000 customers. Read more.

News & Updates

• Gemba Capital announced the launch of its maiden micro VC fund of $10 million, which will invest in 24 high potential, early-stage startups across SaaS, consumer-tech, fintech, and deeptech. 

• Insurtech startup founder Rahul Mathur said that he is scraping his company Engaged InsureTech Pvt Ltd's flagship brand and product, BimaPe, 10 months after building it, and unveiled a new brand, Verak Insurance.

• State Bank of India, India's largest lender, has blocked crypto exchanges from receiving funds via its UPI platform and has asked payment processors to disable SBI UPI on their platforms as well.

• The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 26,058 crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for auto, auto-components, and drone industries to enhance India's manufacturing capabilities, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“Indian investors have now realised that companies that have a big tech component can actually be focused on getting that scale before they start making a profit.”

— Shripati Acharya, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners

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