1947 Tech 🇮🇳: 164

PolicyBazaar, Unicorns, women founders & more!

1. Indian online insurer PolicyBazaar files for IPO, seeks to raise over $800 million

Yashish Dahyia, the founder of PolicyBazaar moved back to India after living overseas for over a decade. He saw the opportunity, went after it and the rest is history.

Indian online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar has filed for an initial public offering in which it is seeking to raise $809 million, becoming the fourth startup in the past two months from the South Asian market to explore public markets.

In papers submitted to the market regulator in India, PolicyBazaar said it is looking to raise $504 million by issuing new shares while the rest will be driven by sale of shares by existing investors.

The 12-year-old startup — backed by SoftBank, Falcon Edge Capital, Tiger Global and InfoEdge — said it may consider raising about $100 million in a pre-IPO round. Softbank plans to sell shares worth over $250 million, while PolicyBazaar founders are looking to sell shares worth $52.7 million, they said in the papers.

Indian online insurer PolicyBazaar files for IPO, seeks to raise over $800 million

2. Indian automobile marketplace Droom valued at $1.2 billion in pre-IPO funding

Sandeep Aggarwal, resigned on Father’s Day, gave up on a $1M dollar package andmoved back to India. The rest is history.

An online marketplace for automobiles has become the latest Indian startup to attain the coveted unicorn status.

Gurgaon-headquartered Droom said on Wednesday it is raising up to $200 million in what it described as a pre-IPO growth funding round. The new investment, part of which has been secured, valued the seven-year-old startup at $1.2 billion, up from about $500 million in October 2018.

Indian automobile marketplace Droom valued at $1.2 billion in pre-IPO funding

A podcast🎙

Shiva Singh Sangwan @shivassangwan

Doesn't matter how many times he may fall. He makes sure to get right back up. To write a great book, you must first become the book. So he wrote one " Fall Again, Rise Again" (@droom) is about to go public Hear out @SandeepAgg's story

anchor.fm4: Sandeep Aggarwal (Droom) by 1947 Rise • A podcast on AnchorSandeep Aggarwal has founded two marketplaces in India so far – ShopClues, India’s first managed marketplaces in 2011, which became the 5th Unicorn in Consumer Internet in India, and Droom, India’s first marketplace for automobiles in 2014, which is about to go public. The journey from growing up …

Worth your attention:

1. Unacademy closes $440 million funding round at $3.44 billion valuation Link

2. Gupshup gets $240 mn in follow-on funding Link

3. Microsoft in talks to back India's Oyo Link

4. CarTrade IPO to open on 9 August, close on 11 August Link

5. BharatPe in talks to raise $350 million Link

6. CoinDCX in talks to raise $100-120 million Link

7. Girish Mathrubootham and Manav Garg launch $85 Mn VC fund for SaaS startups Link

8. Kalaari seed fund aims to help startups led by women Link

9. Sequoia India Launches Spark Fellowship for India & SEA, and Expanded Programs to Support Women Entrepreneurs Link

10. Vauld raises $25 million to build crypto wealth globally Link

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