Good Morning,
For the Indian startup ecosystem, 2021 was the year of unicorns, with 42 startups crossing the billion-dollar valuation mark, more than the cumulative number of 33 unicorns we had from 2011 to 2020.
The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) also rose — with 229 deals this year until November 14, as compared to 86 for the whole of 2020, found YourStory Research. This amounted to an M&A value of $10.3 billion, a sharp increase from the $1.3 billion in 2020.
This year has also been spectacular for initial public offerings (IPOs), with Rs 1.10 lakh crore ($14.88 billion) raised over 52 issues until end-November. Among these, a sizable number of Indian tech startups were also seen hitting the public market.
Starting with Zomato, the list includes top startup unicorns like CarDekho, PolicyBazaar, Nykaa, Paytm, MapmyIndia, and Freshworks (though listed on NASDAQ).
From Zomato becoming the first unicorn to go public to Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar becoming India’s richest self-made woman, take a look at the top 10 milestones achieved by the Indian startup ecosystem in 2021.
The Interview: Decoding Tech Moats for SaaS Businesses
Join this roundtable to hear thought leaders discuss the way forward for India’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) landscape, how developing partnerships accelerates growth and future-proofs young companies, the role of tech moats as differentiators and enablers of faster go-to-market for products, and finally, cost-effective cloud strategies at scale, so SaaS companies and their teams can spend more time building software that changes the world as they deploy faster and scale easier.
Editor’s Pick: IPO landscape of 2022
While 2021 was a busy year for the startup ecosystem with 42 startups turning unicorns this year, the stock exchanges also saw the likes of Zomato, Nykaa, PolicyBazaar, Paytm, Freshworks, MapmyIndia, CarTrade, MedPlus, and RateGain getting listed.
With several highly anticipated IPOs hitting the stock market this year, we can look forward to a very active IPO market in 2022 as well. Read more.
Startup Spotlight
Amid Indian tech industry’s talent crunch, Hero Vired — an edtech venture led by Hero Group — plans to provide learners with industry-oriented skills. Despite being a rather late entrant in the country’s edtech space, Akshay Munjal is optimistic that the platform will thrive, given its re-imagination of technical education. Read more.
News & Updates
- Ecommerce marketplace Snapdeal said it has appointed Himanshu Chakrawarti as President of the company, a day after it announced its plans to raise Rs 1,250 crore from the public markets.
- AirProbe, a Bengaluru-based startup that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) for solar system inspections, was acquired by US-based intelligent aerial imaging company DroneBase for an undisclosed amount last week, according to a release.
Before you go, stay inspired with…
<figure class="image embed" contenteditable="false" data-id="428779" data-url="https://images.yourstory.com/cs/wordpress/2016/07/Amitabh-Kant-NITI-Aayog.jpg" data-alt="Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog" data-caption="
Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog
” align=”center”> Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog
“Digitisation has provided an impetus to the startup ecosystem in India.”
— Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog
Now get the Daily Capsule in your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter today!
![Read more about the article [Funding alert] Delhi startup Marquee Equity secures $3.8M from Capital One, Arrowroot Capital, others, for un](https://blog.digitalsevaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/165-VC-funding1552277843560-300x150.jpg)