1947 Tech 🇮🇳: 146

Byju’s, YC, IPOs, booming Fintech sector in India and more!

1. A dozen of our firms at various IPO prep stages: Sequoia India’s Shailendra Singh

If you go back to 2015, there were 200–250 million internet users, monetization was virtually non-existent. Today, we have close to 600 million monthly active users, monetization is probably 10 times better than it was five years ago. In 2010, India had zero unicorns. In 2015, which was the last time everyone was saying ‘valuations are high’ and ‘there is too much capital’, there were four unicorns. At the end of 2020, we have 37 unicorns. Our view is that the seed stage is still Day One in India. In our ecosystem, there are about 3,000–4,000 startups created. At Surge, we have 15–20 companies per cohort, so as a result there is a massive whitespace here.

A dozen of our firms at various IPO prep stages: Sequoia India's Shailendra Singh

2. Y Combinator’s new batch features its largest group of Indian startups

Y Combinator’s latest batch — W21 — features 350 startups from 41 nations. Fifty percent of the firms, the highest percentage to date, in the new batch are based outside of the United States.

India is the second-largest demographic represented in the new batch. The world’s second-largest internet market has delivered 43 startups in the new batch, another record figure in the history of the storied venture firm. (For comparison, the W20 batch had 25 Indian startups, up from 14 in S20, 12 each in S19 and W19 and one each in W16, S15 and W15.)

Y Combinator's new batch features its largest group of Indian startups

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A tweet:

ETtech @ETtech

🦄 India has 100 privately-owned companies valued over $1 billion, says a new report by Credit Suisse. These firms have a combined market cap of $240 billion. Here's the sector-wise breakup 👇

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Worth your attention:

1. Indian fintech raised nearly $10 bln in the last decade: Credit Suisse Link

2. Mobikwik kicks off its pre-IPO funding round Link

3. India emerges as the fastest growing country in the world by open source contribution Link

4. NPCI caps market share for UPI apps at 30% of overall payment volumes Link

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Funding news:

1. Edtech giant Byju’s in talks to raise at $15 billion valuation Link

2. Dream Sports raises $400 million in secondary investment Link

3. Private equity investors pump $315 million into Firstcry Link

4. Public App raises $41 million, valuation doubles to $250 million Link

5. MediBuddy’s valuation crosses $165 Mn in latest funding tranche Link

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