US-based asset management companies (AMCs) Fidelity Investments has halved its fair valuation of conversational messaging app to around $700 million.
This markdown by Fidelity would be the third in five months, as per media reports. In March, the AMC had stripped Gupshup of the unicorn label—marking down its fair valuation to $957 million. This was followed with another markdown in May, where the conversational messaging app’s valuation was slashed to $857 million.
Fidelity Central Investment Portfolio LLC holds 44,950 shares in Gupshup Inc.
Founded in 2004 by Beerudh Seth, Gupshup is a conversational messaging platform that assists businesses in emerging markets to build conversational experiences. It offers messaging API, bot platform, conversational AI, integrations, and enterprise security.
A $100 million investment from Tiger Global in the startup’s Series F funding round saw Gupshup achieve a valuation of $1.4 billion, thus becoming a unicorn in April 2021.
Indian startups get devalued
Recently, several American AMCs have slashed their valuations of Indian startups. Asset management firm Invesco slashed its valuation of Swiggy from $10.7 billion to $8 billion amid tough market conditions in April.
Meanwhile, Blackrock had marked down the value of its stake in edtech company BYJU’S in May by 62%, leaving the firm valued at $8.4 billion.
Edited by Suman Singh
