1947 Tech 🇮🇳: 154

14th (Zeta), crypto, $7.8b in the first four months, & more!

1. Indian startups raised $7.8 billion in first four months of 2021

Startups raised total investments of $7.8 billion in the first four months of this calendar year, which is almost 70% of the overall corpus of $12.1 billion raised in entire 2020 and more than 50% of $14.2 billion raised in 2019

Zomato, PolicyBazaar, CarTrade, Nykaa, Flipkart, and Delhivery are among startups headed for listing.

“Upcoming IPOs will be the final piece of the puzzle and most important milestone in the India digital story,” Vaidyanathan said. “So, we are long-term believers and super excited.”

New kinds of investors are looking to take advantage of potential IPOs likely to take place in the coming year or so. Funds like Falcon Edge have made record investments of $800 million to $1 billion.

“There is huge capital chasing a smaller number of startups,” said Souvik Sengupta, cofounder of Infra.Market, a business-to-business startup for construction material.

Indian startups raised $7.8 billion in first four months of 2021

2. Zeta raises $250 million from SoftBank fund, turns unicorn

Banking tech startup Zeta has become the latest unicorn in India after raising $250 million from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 at a valuation of $1.25 billion.

This is the first investment from an institutional investor for the firm, founded by serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati.

Zeta provides banks with technology to create digital products that enhance user experience and significantly reduce the time to market. Its current suite of products includes Zeta Tachyon credit, debit and prepaid processing with card controls and personal finance management capabilities; and Zeta Tachyon Loans — a buy-now-pay-later and personal loan management platform.

Zeta raises $250 million from SoftBank fund, turns unicorn

A few tweets:

Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar

Top 10 countries ranked by real-time payment transactions, 2020: 1 India 🇮🇳 2 China 🇨🇳 3 South Korea 🇰🇷 4 Thailand 🇹🇭 5 UK 🇬🇧 6 Nigeria 🇳🇬 7 Japan 🇯🇵 8 Brazil 🇧🇷 9 United States 🇺🇸 10 Mexico 🇲🇽

Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar

Cost of 1GB of mobile data: India 🇮🇳: $0.09 (lowest) Israel 🇮🇱: $0.11 Italy 🇮🇹: $0.43 Ukraine 🇺🇦: $0.46 United States 🇺🇸: $8 South Korea 🇰🇷: $10.94 Canada 🇨🇦: $12.55 Cuba 🇨🇺:$13.33

Worth your attention:

1. Pharmeasy eyes IPO at $3 billion valuation, buys rival Medlife Link

2. FarEye raises $100 million led by TCV, Dragoneer Link

3. Ninjacart’s valuation crosses $500 Mn with new infusion Link

4. Tech billionaire Mark Cuban invests in Indian blockchain startup Polygon Link

5. Made-in-India Polygon is now among Top 20 crypto coins globally Link

6. Amid Twitter India turmoil, Koo app raises $30 million at five times valuation Link

7. India asks social media firms if they have complied with the new regulations Link

8. Behind Falcon Edge’s strategy of frenetic dealmaking in India Link

9. India receives record $81.7 bn FDI in FY21Link

10. Online brokerages invest in financial influencers Link

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