1947 Tech 🇮🇳: 140

Startups scaling faster, back to back two $100 million rounds within 3 months, Zetwerk, PhonePe, and more!

1. Indian gaming platform Mobile Premier League valued at $945M in $95M fundraise

The time it takes for startups to reach scale has reduced massively in India.

India has 500 million internet users

Cheapest data globally

India accounts for 14% of global app installs

India has the most sophisticated only payments infrastructure globally

The digital infrastructure is available. If you have a great product-market fit, you can scale at a lightning speed.

MPL is a great example.

From $0 to $950M valuation within 27 months of existence.

Mobile Premier League (MPL) has raised $95 million in a new financing round, just five months after it secured $90 million as the two-and-a-half-year-old Bangalore-based esports and gaming platform looks to grow in international markets.

The new $95 million round, a Series D, was led by Composite Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures and gave the Indian startup a post-money valuation of $945 million, it said.

Indian gaming platform Mobile Premier League valued at $945M in $95M fundraise

2. Google-backed Dailyhunt and Josh’s parent firm raises over $100 million

Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, said on Monday it has raised over $100 million as part of a Series H financing round from Qatar Investment Authority and Glade Brook Capital Partners.

The announcement follows another $100 million+ investment the startup secured from Google, AlphaWave, and Microsoft in December last year. That tranche of investment, also part of Series H, had turned Dailyhunt into a unicorn (giving it a valuation of $1 billion or higher). The startup has to-date raised about $430 million.

Dailyhunt, co-run by Virendra Gupta and former Facebook India head Umang Bedi, is a popular news and entertainment app that serves more than 285 million users each day in 14 local languages in India.

Google-backed Dailyhunt and Josh’s parent firm raises over $100 million

A tweet:

Kunal Bahl @1kunalbahl

The Indian startup ecosystem has achieved enough critical mass that building products, services that cater primarily to the ecosystem itself has now become feasible, both from a scalability & economics standpoint. This big, positive shift will unlock many novel business models 🚀

Worth your attention:

1. Why India Should Buy Bitcoin link

2. PhonePe launches $200 Mn worth ESOP for its full-time employees link

3. PayPal to wind down India payment operations this year link

4. No more a fable, ESOPs reach rank and file of startups in India link

Funding:

1. India’s Zetwerk raises $120 million to scale its B2B marketplace for manufacturing parts link

2. Healthtech firm Indegene raises $200M from Carlyle Group, Brighton Park link

3. MediBuddy raises $40 million in Series B funding link

4. Indian health tech startup Phable raises $12 million to serve patients with chronic conditions link

5. Sugar Cosmetics closes Series C funding round, valuation doubles link

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