The mindset of the people has changed from, over the decade, as now people want to be the boss of their own and don’t want to restrict themselves in the walls of 9-to-5 jobs. This decade brought a hit of entrepreneurs and their startups with amazing ideas and execution, that has helped people and has changed the ways, for people living their lives.
15 Best Startups of the Decade (2010-2020)
Here are the 15 best startups in 2010s which have changed the market of the Indian entrepreneurship-
The idea of ordering food online at the start of the decade was an idea that most of the people didn’t think upon but soon the thought changed with the arrival of food-delivering apps like Swiggy.
Launched in 2014, Swiggy is known as the largest and most valuable food ordering and delivering the platform in India, currently operating in more than 100 cities across India. Online food delivery platform, Swiggy, has launched its third series of television commercials and digital campaign, that are reflective of new-age India and its changing culinary culture. Swiggy tagline is “Swiggy karo, phir jo chahe Karo!”
Paytm
Founded: 2019
Paytm Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
Go cashless has been the motto of 2019 and the public is taking it quite effectively. The wave of online transactions hit India in 2010 when Paytm was launched. PAYTM is an e-commerce system, based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It is available in 11 Indian languages and offers online use-cases as mobile recharges, utility, bill, payments, travel, movies, and events booking, in-store payments at grocery stores, fruits and vegetable shops, restaurants, parking, tolls, pharmacies, etc.
Oyo Rooms
Founded: 2013
OYO Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
Whenever it comes to book rooms for a vacation, weekend or a party, the one-stop shop is OYO. Founded in 2013, by Ritesh Agarwal, OYO Rooms is an Indian hotel chain and fastest-growing hospitality chain of leased and franchised hotels, homes and living spaces at cheap prices. It is currently UAE, Nepal, China, Brazil, UK, Philippines, Arabia, Sri Lanka, etc.
Finding bus seats can be quite hectic and without a good seat, going to a long ride can be hectic. So, to save the hassle, one can always go for redbus. An online app company, the user can look up to for buses and book tickets accordingly and get confirmed tickets, without struggling for tickets on the way. Redbus was founded by Phanindra Sama, Charan Padmaraju and Sudhakar Pasupunuri in 2006, however, it became famous after 2010 when Indian people were getting introduced to mobile internet.
Ola
Founded: 2010
Ola Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
Traveling was made much easier and better by OLA, which was founded in 2010 by Bhavish Agarwal. Now, it’s one of the largest cab services in India, with over 250,000 cabs and rickshaws in the app running over 85 Indian cities. The company is expanding its reach everyday. As of 2020, it has expanded its services to UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Zivame
Founded: 2011
Zivame Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
Zivame is an e-retail lingerie brand for women, founded in 2011 by Richa Kar, to empower women to buy lingerie freely without feeling embarrassed as of in normal offline shops, which is generally filled by men. Meaning of Zivame is ‘radiant me’. It has also been known for showing diversity as it has no age -limit. It sells shapewear, sleepwear, and activewear through both online and offline stores.
Who would have thought in 2000s that we would be ordering groceries online? This thought also came into fruition in 2009 by Abhinav Choudhari, Hari Menon and Vipul Parekh. Now, BigBasket is an online food and grocery store that delivers personal and household needs right to customer’s doorstep. As of 2020, BigBasket is available in almost all the cities of India. Shah Rukh Khan is brand ambassador of BigBasket and bigbasket tagline is “I’m bigbasketeer, Are you?”
Byju’s
Founded: 2011
Bigbasket Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
The Bangalore based educational technology platform Byju’s is an online tutoring and coaching firm that was started in the year 2011 and runs on a freemium model. The main aim of Byju’s is to provide coaching through online video lectures for students of class 1 to class 12 and also for people who prepare for competitive exams like IIT – JEE, NEET, CAT, GRE, and GMAT.
Byjus- the Learning app was launched in the year 2015 by Byju Raveendran and since then it has been a huge success. It is used by more than 15 million students all over the world and has 900000 paid subscribers. The app helps the students to learn on their own rather than the traditional culture of spoon-feeding.
Firstcry
Founded: 2010
Firstcry Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
It is an overwhelming feeling for the new parents to buy all the goods for the baby or the newborn. Firstcry was started to fulfill that demand in 2010, by Supam Maheswari, when he couldn’t find quality toys for his new-born daughter. Now, firstcry sells baby products like diapers, cribs, clothes, nursery items, etc. It has become a popular website for buying baby products from online and offline stores.
Freshdesk
Founded: 2010
Freshdesk Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
Cloud-based software is the need of every brand to store all the data of the consumer. But back in the starting days of the decade, there were very few companies dealing with cloud-based software.
One of the most popular company was Freshdesk ( now known as Freshworks), which was launched in 2010. It was started by former ZOHO employees Girish Mathrubootham and Shanmugam Krishnasamy, who teamed up to create better software to help enterprises do after-sales support more effectively. The founder Girish Mathrubootham, is also a mentor and a key figure in the Chennai startup ecosystem.
Freshdesk’s customers in India include Saavn, Decathlon, Grofers, Lenskart, Oyo Rooms, Byju’s, and Goibibo.
Limeroad
Founded: 2012
Limeroad Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
Fashion has always found its way in women’s shelf, one of India’s most popular online boutique is Limeroad. It was founded in 2012 by Suchi Mukherjee and Ankush Mehra. It is known for being specialized in clothing and accessories for men, women or kids. The online store also allows the users to create their look on a virtual scrapbook by using the brand’s products and also allows users to earn from the scrapbook they create and then, they can use the points on the purchase, at the time of checkout.
Shopclues
Founded: 2011
Shopclues Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
Another big brand which started in 2011, was Shopclues. It was founded Sanjay Sethi, along with former wall street analyst Sandeep Agarwal. Both the founders returned from California, decided to go into a new venture. The company has over 6 lakh merchants and 2.8 crore products on its platform serving over 32,000 pin codes across the country. Although, the company didn’t do well in the market, Sandeep Agarwal did inspire many youngsters to get into entrepreneurship through his journey.
Buying furniture online? That was a dream of people in 2000s! But that dream was completed by Ambareesh Murty in 2012. He teamed up with Ashish Shah, one of the former head of eBay Motors in India and the Philippines and launched Pepperfry. It is a dealer of the best quality furniture and delivers it at the doorstep of the buyer. It has soon gained immense popularity in the country.
Snapdeal
Founded: 2010
Snapdeal Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
With the tagline of “unbox Zindagi’, Snapdeal managed to be a home favorite for varieties of goods ranging from home, fashion, electricals, sports, etc. It sells over 3 crores (30 million) products across 800+ diverse categories from over 1,25,000 regional, national and international brands and retailers and a reach of 6,000 towns and cities across the country. Although this ecommerce venture didn’t do as good as others like Flipkart or Amazon, it was still a big success in the early years of this decade.
Hike
Founded: 2012
Hike Logo | Best Startups of the Decade
Once a very popular youth app for messaging, Hike messenger has left an interesting mark on the market. It was founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal. The hike is a cross-platform instant messaging, voice over IP, social media and peer to peer file sharing app, launched on 12 December 2012.
Conclusion
These startups are known to be change force in the world of startups in the decade and are known to inspire many other startups. 2010s is probably the most revolutionary decade in the entrepreneurship world. However, we hope this decade brings more innovation to lives.
The ride throughout the year 2021 was a turbulent one. There were many things taking place simultaneously. Many things were also happening for the first time or creating records. One of the similar record-breaking things that occurred throughout the year 2021 was the companies going public.
More than 63 companies went public in 2021 together raising the amount of Rs 1,19,882 crore. This was the newest formed record of raising the highest funds through IPOs breaking the old record of Rs 75,279 crores formed in 2017.
Following the given data and current market conditions. There can be some debate on Indian Companies going public. Amongst the list of multiple companies going public, below given is the list of startups and companies going public in India in 2022.
Bajaj Energy Ltd. is an Uttar Pradesh based company launched in 2008 working in the field of thermal energy plants. It is one of the largest private-sector thermal generating companies dealing with the financing, operating, and generating of thermal power. The recorded revenue for the year 2021 was above the range of 500 cr.
Bajaj Energy is also listed in the companies going public to pay debts and acquire partners’ stakes. With the listing, the company intends to raise Rs 5450 crores. Amongst them, Rs 5150 crores belong to the newly issued IPO, and the remaining Rs 300 crores an offered for sale shares.
2. Aadhar Housing Finance
Aadhar Housing Finance Logo
Aadhar Housing Finance is the largest housing finance company launched in 1990. The revenue collected by Aadhar Housing Finance in 2021 was about 1363.36 crores rupees. For the year 2022, Aadhar Housing Finance is listed as an IPO with an issue size of Rs 7300 crores. The funds collected will be used to boost their capital base. Amongst Rs 7300 crores, freshly issued shares are worth Rs 1500 crores, and the remaining Rs 5800 crores are offered as a resale.
3. Studds Accessories
Studds Accessories Logo
Studds Accessories is a well-known name for two-wheeler accessories. It was introduced in 1983 to provide two-wheeler accessories and related products. The revenue collected by Studds Accessories in 2021 was about Rs 479.62 crores. Studds Accessories will take the chance to raise Rs 450 crores with Rs 98 crores as a freshly issued and Rs 39.39 lakhs as an offer for shares by going public in 2022.
4. Arohan Financial
Arohan Financial Services Logo
Arohan Financial Services is the leading Non-banking financial company- a microfinance institute launched in 1991. It provides loan services in financially low-Income states of India. The operating revenue calculated by Arohan Financial Services in 2021 was above Rs 500 crores. Arohan Financial is also listed for IPO with an issue size of Rs 1800 crores. Amongst them, Rs 850 crores will be issued freshly and the remaining will be Offer for sale (OFS).
5. ESAF Small Finance Bank
ESAF Small Finance Bank Logo
ESAF Small Finance Bank is one of the leading banks introduced in 2016. The bank works towards providing several services such as client base size, net interest margins, etc. The operating profit recorded by ESAF Small Finance Bank in 2021 was about Rs 415.84 crores, a 28.07% increase from earlier. ESAF Small Finance Bank is also listed as a company going public in 2022 with a total issue size of Rs 998 crores. Within them, the freshly issued size is Rs 800 crores and the remaining Rs 198 crores are from OFS.
6. OYO
OYO Logo
OYO is a new-age technology platform giving out hospitality services. It is one of the leading platforms in the hospitality sector since the time of its introduction in 2012. The total revenue of OYO for 2021 was about Rs 41750 crores. There was a drastic decrease noticed in the revenue of OYO from 2020 to 2021 all because of the pandemic. However, for a better future, OYO is also listed for IPO 2022 with a total issue size of about 8430 crores with freshly issued shares of Rs 7000 crores and an offer for sale of Rs 1430 crores.
7. Snapdeal
Snapdeal Logo
Snapdeal is an Indian leading e-commerce company founded in 2007. Snapdeal was originally launched as a coupon booklet platform, however, in 2010, it was fully converted into an online shopping platform.
Revenue collected by Snapdeal in the year 2021 was about Rs 471 crores which was about 44% less than the previous year. Snapdeal is all prepared to raise funds from the IPO of freshly issued shares of Rs 1250 crores and some other OFS shares of the present investors and shareholders.
8. Delhivery
Delhivery Logo
Delhivery is a new age India-based logistics service company inaugurated in 2011. Delhivery works towards providing multiple facilities such as express parcel deliveries, good deliveries, cross-border supplies, etc. The revenue collected by Delhivery in 2021 was Rs 4644 crores with a 28% increment seen in its total income from the previous year.
Delhivery is also set to raise funds in 2022 by IPO with an issue size of Rs 7460 crores. Amongst them, Rs 5000 crores can be counted as freshly issued and the remaining shares can be taken as OFS.
9. Emcure Pharmaceuticals
Emcure Pharmaceuticals Logo
Emcure Pharmaceuticals is considered one of the leading pharmaceutical companies engaging in various services such as developing, manufacturing, and marketing medicines at a large level. Emcure was introduced in the year 1981 and now is considered the largest brand helping in the therapeutic areas of gynaecology, HIV antiviral, etc.
The revenue collected by Emcure Pharmaceuticals in 2021 was about Rs 6091.8 crores with a significantly increased income of Rs 418.6 from the previous year’s data. Emcure will also be raising funds through IPO for newly issued equity shares of Rs 1100 crores and some other OFS shares.
10. FabIndia
FabIndia Logo
FabIndia is India’s largest platform especially popular for its handmade products. It is a private platform that enables the sale of products made from traditional methods, skills, and techniques.
FabIndia was launched in 1976. The revenue collected by FabIndia in 2021 was about Rs 1059 crores with a fall of 30% in its revenue when compared with previous years’ data. FabIndia is looking forward to raising the funds through IPO for its purpose of global expansion by the issue size of Rs 4000 crores.
Droom is an operated marketplace easing out the process of buying and selling automobiles through its platform introduced in the year 2014. Droom operates with the help of a combination of an e-commerce platform integrated with a technology-driven prosperity ecosystem of products and services for the automobile industry.
Droom reported revenue of Rs 135.53 in the year 2021 with a slight increment noticed from the data for 2020. Droom will be going public to raise funds of an issue size of Rs 3000 crores.
12. Ixigo
Ixigo Logo
Ixigo launched in 2007 and operated by Le Travenues Technology is an Indian AI-based travel portal. It works to facilitate travelling by helping Indians with planning, booking and managing their trips of different modes. The recorded revenue of Ixigo in 2021 was about Rs 135.6 crores with a reported increment of 21% in its revenue from the previous year.
The list of IPO for 2022 also includes the name of Ixigo with a total issue size of about Rs 1600 crores. Within them, Rs 750 crores will be raised with freshly issued equity shares and the remaining Rs 850 crores will be OFS.
13. VLCC Healthcare
VLCC Logo
Vandana Luthra Curls and Curves (VLCC) is an Indian brand focusing on beauty and wellness products introduced in the year 1989. VLCC products are popular in the field of wellness and beauty products. Along with that, VLCC also works by training students with more than 95 institutes across India.
In the year 2021, VLCC reported a net income of about Rs 5,652.42 million, with a profit of Rs 62.42 million. In 2022, VLCC is expected to go public with the issue size of Rs 300 crores of newly issued equity shares and some OFS.
14. Hinduja Leyland Finance
Hinduja Leyland Finance Logo
Hinduja Leyland Finance Limited was incorporated in 2008 with the service of providing NBFC services to urban and semi-urban markets. It provides financing help for a large range of products falling in the category of vehicles and housing finances. The net worth of the company as reported by Hinduja Leyland Finance Limited in the year 2021 was about Rs 3825 crores.
There were significant changes seen between the years 2020 and 2021 due to the visible effects of a pandemic. Hinduja Leyland Finance Limited is about to raise funds from its initial public offerings of an issue size of Rs 700 crores. Amongst them, Rs 500 crores are freshly issued equity shares with the remaining as OFS.
15. Inspira Enterprise India
Inspira Logo
Inspira Enterprise India Pvt Ltd is a competent and professional provider of cyber security introduced in 2009. They provide digital transformation and cybersecurity services to their clients with bold thinking and path-breaking techniques.
The revenue collected by the company for the year 2021 was about Rs 803 crores. Inspira Enterprise India is also listed to go public in 2022 with an issue size of Rs 800 crores for foreign expansion.
16. Medi Assist
Medi Assist Logo
Medi Assist Healthcare Services Ltd offers a complete cashless hospitalization of customers through a network of healthcare service providers. It was launched in the year 2000 and mainly deals with the health insurance ecosystem. Medi Assist is also ready to raise funds through IPO in 2022 with a total issue size of about Rs 800 crores.
17. SAMHI Hotels
SAMHI Hotels Logo
SAMHI Hotels is one of the fastest-growing hospitality management companies since the time of its introduction in 2010. SAMHI Hotels mainly focus on the investment and development of international branded hotels across India.
From the year 2020 to the year 2021, there was a decrease in the revenue of SAMHI Hotels due to the presence of the pandemic period. SAMHI Hotels has a registered IPO of issue size Rs 2000 crores with Rs 1100 crores will be freshly issued shares.
18. Chemspec Chemicals
Chemspec Chemicals Logo
Chemspec Chemicals is a leading manufacturer of additives for FMCG ingredients worldwide. It was established in 1975. Chemspec Chemicals is also known to supply and manufacture Pharmaceutical drugs. Chemspec Chemicals has recorded its operating revenue to cross Rs 500 crores and it is estimated to go public with an IPO size of Rs 700 crores.
19. Shri Bajrang Power And Ispat
Shri Bajrang Power And Ispat Logo
Shri Bajrang Power And Ispat was founded in 2002 and is considered a major steel producer. It is considered one of the leading integrating steel companies working towards providing different products such as TMT bars, billets, sponge iron, etc.
As per the president of the company Shri Bajrang Power And Ispat, the revenue noted for the year 2021 was around Rs 3,031.21 crores with a net profit of Rs 312 crores. It is also listed for IPO with an issue size of Rs 700 crores planning to halve its debt by using funds.
20. SREI Equipment Finance
SREI Logo
Established in 1989, SREI Equipment Finance deals with infrastructure financing services throughout India. The company provides a loan facility for the purchasing of various equipment used in the construction industry, irrigation, IT infrastructure, etc.
The recorded revenue of SREI Equipment Finance is about Rs 522.78 crores in 2021. The company is looking to launch its IPO at the desired time with an issue size of Rs 2000 crores. In them, 1100 are freshly issued equity shares and the remaining are OFS.
Launched in 2008, Gemini Edibles and Fats Oil works in the business of manufacturing and marketing edible oils and fats. They are also considered one of the leading palm oil plantation companies across the globe. For the year 2021, the revenue collected by Gemini Edibles was about Rs 7,765.96 crore with Rs 185.85 crores.
Unlike other businesses, Gemini Edibles saw not much change in its demand as the demand for cooking oil was increased by houses whereas, on other hand, restaurants and hotels saw a sharp decline in demand hence equalizing the situation. For the year 2022, Gemini Edibles and Fats Oil are listed under the IPO list with an issue size of Rs 2500 crore from OFS.
22. Sterlite Power
Sterlite Power Logo
Sterlite Power founded in 2010 works as one of the leading private sector power transmission infrastructure developers and solutions providers. Sterlite Power owns and manages power transmission assets across India.
As per calculations the revenue collected by Sterlite Power is above Rs 500 crores but with a 26% decline in its operating revenue from the previous year’s data. Sterlite Power is listed in the IPO list 2022 with a freshly issued size of Rs 1250 crores. The raised funds will be mainly used to repay its debt.
23. Paradeep Phosphates Limited
Paradeep Phosphates Logo
Paradeep Phosphates Limited [PPL] was established in 1981 and is now considered India’s third-largest producer of non-urea fertilizer and the second-largest producer of di-ammonium Phosphate. PPL deals with the production, trading, and distribution of various fertilizers.
The total revenue recorded by PPL for the year 2021 was about Rs 5183.94 crores which was slightly higher than last year. PPL is planning to raise Rs 1255 crores from fresh sizes issued. These funds will be used to pay debts and to partly finance the acquisition of a fertilization manufacturing company in Goa.
24. Fincare Small Finance Bank
Fincare Logo
A smart banking platform launched in 2017 with its prime focus on unbanked and underbanked customers to get banking services with smart technology. The model of Fincare works by providing needed financial aid to businesses or individuals through the help of technology.
The revenue collected by Fincare in 2021 was about Rs 674.99 crore with a net profit of Rs 101.98 crores. Fincare Small Finance Bank is also known to raise funds through Initial Public Offerings of the issue size of Rs 1330 crores. Amongst them, 330 shares are newly issued and all others are from OFS.
Penna Cement is known to have its revenue above Rs 500 crores for the year 2021 with a significant increment of 13.06% in its net worth. Penna Cement is expected to raise a total of Rs 1550 crore through IPO. The funds raised will be then used to pay for borrowings, upgrading its law griding and cement mill, setting up a waste heat recovery plant, etc all at different places.
26. PharmEasy
Introduced in 2014, PharmEasy is a one-stop medical solution providing. They provide complete services from the booking of diagnostic tests to providing Over the counter medicines. They provide medical services such as radiology tests with the home delivery of needed products. The revenue collected by PharmEasy in 2021 was about Rs 2360 crore. PharmEasy has also participated in the upcoming IPOs list with an issue size of Rs 6250 crores.
27. Adani Wilmar
Adani Wilmar Logo
Adani Wilmar, founded in 1999 is one of the leading names in the edible oil industry. One of the most popular edible oils of Adani Wilmar is Fortune Oil. Adani Wilmar was known to be open on 27 January with a subscription of 17.37 times.
28. AGS Transact Technologies
AGS Transact Technologies Logo
Founded in 2002, AGS Transact Technologies is considered one of the largest integrated omnichannel payment solutions providers in India. They provide customized services and products mainly consisting of ATM and Cash recycler machines outsourcing, cash payment and digital payment solutions, etc.
The company recorded its revenue for the year 2021 as Rs 484.76 crores with a slight increment noticed in the revenue. For the year 2022, AGS will be going public with a total issue size of Rs 680 crores of IPO.
29. Vedant Fashions
Vedant Fashions Limited Logo
Introduced in 2022, Vedant Fashions Limited is a parent enterprise for some well-known brands such as Manyavar, Mohey, and Mebaz. The company Vedant Fashions Limited is considered a one-stop solution for every occasion by its customers.
The company was recorded to calculate less revenue collected from the year 2020. There was a gradual increment in its revenue from the year 2019 to the year 2020. However, it called for 38% in the year 2021 owing to the pandemic period. For 2022, Vedant Fashion is listed for raising funds through public offerings by the size of Rs 3149.19 crores.
30. Uma Export
Uma Exports Logo
Founded in 1988, Uma Export earlier was known to export and import building materials, however, in the current scenario, it is one of the leading exporters of agricultural products. The agricultural products are collected from the various parts of India to export and import to certain destinations.
The recorded revenue by Uma Export in 2021 was around Rs 260.94 crores with a net profit margin of around 1.72%. Uma Export is listed to raise funds by public offerings in 2022 with an issue size of Rs 60 crores.
Introduced in 1986, Ruchi Soya is the largest producer of edible oil in India. In 2019, Ruchi Soya was acquired by Patanjali Ayurved. Ruchi Soya has its prime focus on the business of processing oilseeds and refining crude oil to make it edible. Ruchi Soya is listed as Follow Public Offerings (FPO) consisting of freshly issued shares of about Rs 4300 crores.
32. Veranda Learning
Verdana Learning Solutions Logo
Established in 2018, Verdana Learning Solutions Private Limited is an e-learning platform giving out various career-defining courses. Courses can be found in a range of fields preparing one for the competitive exams or personal growth. The revenue collected by Veranda Learning in 2021 was around Rs 4.86 crores and a slight decline in its net profit margin. Veranda Learning is also listed for IPO with an issue size of Rs 200 crores.
33. Skanray Technologies
Skanray Technologies Logo
Incorporated in 2007, Skanray Technologies is considered one of the well-known players in the Indian medical device market. Skanray Technologies’ prime focus is to design, develop, manufacture and supply medical devices.
In the early five months of 2021, the revenue collected by Skanray Technologies was about Rs 88.8 crore rupees. The IPO size of the company is about Rs 400 crores. The funds will be invested in the required capital investment of the company along with some other basic investments such as inorganic plants and the company’s subsidiaries.
34. Five Star Business Finance
Five Star Business Finance Logo
Founded in 1984, Five Star Business Finance provided small loans to business owners and small mortgage loans to eligible candidates for their needs. It is registered with RBI as an NBFC company working with its underwriting model to provide secured finances. Five Star reported a gradual growth in its total income from the year 2020 to the year 2021 by the amount of Rs 787 crores to Rs 1051 crores respectively. The Five Star IPO issue size is Rs 2752 crores and it all comprises OFS.
35. Keventer Agro
Keventer Agro Logo
Introduced in 1986, Keventer Agro is considered the largest FMCG company in eastern India with its focus on packaging, dairy, and fresh food products. The company deals with multiple aspects of the food industry such as frozen food, beverages, export for food, etc.
The recorded revenue for the year 2020-2021 was around Rs 836.02 crores with a net loss of Rs 76.17 crores. The IPO size of Keventer Agro is about Rs 350 crores fresh issued and some other OFS. The funds will be used to be paid as debt and as a fund for the capital expenditure required by the company.
36. Tracxn Technology
Tracxn Technology Logo
Founded in 2013, Tracxn Technology is the combination of human analysts with Artificial Intelligence to work for the benefit of humans. It is considered a research firm that provides needed information for venture capitalists and corporate development offices through a large amount of data.
Tracxn reported a revenue of 100 crores with 70% of its revenue coming from outside of India. For Indian Market, Tracxn’s IPO issue size will be Rs 500 crores.
37. Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotel
Founded in 1987, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotel is a hotel company providing services such as hotel rooms, dining restaurants, recreational and entertainment facilities, and providing venues for different purposes such as weddings, birthday events, etc.
The operating revenue collected by Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotel was between Rs 100 – 500 crores with a slight decline noticed from the year 2020 due to the pandemic period. Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotel is considered to go public with the issue size of Rs 1000 crores.
38. Harsha Engineers
Harsha Engineers Logo
Starting in 1986, Harsha Engineers is considered the largest manufacturer of bearing cages with almost 50% of the market share. They provide best-bearing cages with some other special-purpose stamped components. Harsha Engineers reported revenue of Rs 629.46 crores in the year 2021. Harsha Engineers is prepared to raise the funds through public offerings by the issue size of Rs 755 crores.
39. Annai Infra Developers
Annai Infra Developers Logo
Introduced in 2008, Annai Infra Developers belongs to the construction industry. They construct and sell multiple products such as water tanks, ponds, canals, roads, irrigation systems, etc. Annai Infra Developers will also be raising funds through IPO in the year 2022 of the issue size of Rs 250 crores.
40. Prudent Corporate Advisory Services
Prudent Logo
Started in 2000, Prudent Corporate Advisory Services Ltd is a leading investment providing solution company. It mainly deals with the financial services products such as Mutual funds, insurance, bonds, etc. The revenue for Prudent Corporate was counted as $412 million. Prudent Corporate is all prepared to raise its IPO in 2022 with yet to be declared OFS.
41. Tamilnad Mercantile Bank
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Logo
Previously known as Nadar Bank, it was introduced in 1921. Tamilnad Mercantile Bank is one of the oldest private sector banks in India. Tamilnad Mercantile Bank calculated its revenue of 3,992.52 crores in 2020. For the year 2022, it is believed to raise funds through Public Offerings of 15.83 million freshly issued shares and 12.505 million shares from OFS.
42. Narmada Bio-chem
Narmada Biochem Logo
Established in the year 1996, Narmada Biochem is known to serve farmers for more than two decades. They are the leading manufacturer of world-class organic and biofertilizers. Narmada Biochem is noted to have its revenue in the range of Rs 100 – 500 crores. For the year 2022, it is planning to raise funds with an issue size of Rs 90 crores.
43. Popular Vehicles and Services
Popular Vehicles and Services Logo
Founded in 1984, Popular Vehicles and Services were introduced as the first batch of vehicle dealers by Maruti Suzuki. They are one of the popular automobile dealers with regional specific markets and centers The revenue noted by Popular vehicles and services in 2021 was around Rs 2,919.25 crores. They are also prepared to raise funds through IPO with an issue size of Rs 150 crores.
44. Fusion Microfinance
Fusion Microfinance Logo
Fusion Microfinance was started in 2010 with the thought of creating opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid. They provide financial help to un-served and underserved females from rural India. They focus mainly on increasing the come individuals to help increase the economic growth and prosperity of the whole country.
The noted revenue of the firm Fusion Microfinance in 2021 was about Rs 730.31 crores. They are also determined to raise funds through IPO 2022 by the issue size of Rs 600 crores and an additional OFS with 2,19,66,841 equity shares.
Conclusion
IPOs stand for Initial Public Offerings shared by any company or firm. Companies start taking investments from the public in return for the share of the firm. The amount collected by companies is then used for the advancement of the same firm. Many companies are opening up on getting public due to several situations. A list of companies going public in the year 2022 is shared above.
FAQs
Which is the best IPO in 2022?
Many IPOs are coming in the year 2022, some of the biggest and best ones are LIC. Other biggest IPOs of the year are Delhivery, Oyo, and PharmEasy.
Where can I get IPO data?
Bloomberg, Capital IQ, and CB Insights are some of the top sources to get complete information about upcoming IPOs.
Angel investors are sometimes marked as Private investors or Seed Funders. Though known by different names, their main aim is to invest in startups or new ventures, thereby helping them to grow and create a presence in this dynamic environment. If you are looking to get an insight about Angel Investors in Delhi along with their Contact Details and Major investments, then this is the right place. As we have put in our best to compile a list of Angel Investors in and around Delhi.
Before, getting to the list of Angel Investors in Delhi. Let’s get an understanding on What do Angel Investors look for in a startup? It becomes essential for a startup to wisely approach an investor that suits the requirements and expertise of both.
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Markets Interested: SaaS, Consumer Internet, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Healthcare, and Digital Media. Investments: Instamojo, POPxo, ZipGo, Dunzo, Innov8, Rapido, Unacademy, CroFArm among many others.
Rajan Anandan | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajan Anandan, the MD of Sequoia Capital, is the most prominent investor in the startup industry. He has served as an MD at Microsoft India, Vice President and SEA at Google, and also gained exposure in Dell India. He has gained experience with startups across various domains.
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Markets Interested: Mobile, Gaming, Social Media, Real Estate, Food Tech, Logistics, Consumer Internet, Media, Fintech, HR Tech, Education, and E-commerce. Investments: LogiNext, Milaap, InnerChef, Wishberg, FactorDaily, ThePrint, Flyrobe, TapChief, Unacademy, Innov8 among many.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma | Angel Investors in Delhi
The founder and CEO of Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and One97 has a spectacular experience in the Indian startups. He has given a helping hand to many of the startups in their journey of survival and growth. He graduated from Delhi College of Engineering and later founded his first venture XS Corps, which was then sold to Lotus Interworks LLC.
Sunil Kalra is one of the prominent independent angel investors in Indian Angel Network. Being the MD at Via Projects Pvt Ltd and a Venture Partner at Stride Ventures, Sunil has gained immense experience in the field of Finance & Investments.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, IT, Augmented Reality, Social Media, Clean Technology, Food and Beverages, Fintech, Big data. Investments: My Child, WittyFeed, PumpKart, Deyor Camps, Ketto, Nimo Planet, Falcon Labs, Josh Talks, Inc42 Media, SectorQube, and many.
Ritesh Malik | Angel Investors in Delhi
Ritesh Malik, the Co-founder, and MD of Innov8 practised as a professional doctor at the esteemed Ganga Ram Hospital, before venturing into his entrepreneurial journey. He is an active and prominent angel investor in Delhi. He also Co-founded Adstuck Consulting Pvt Ltd, a digital transformation agency.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, E-commerce, Internet, Big Data, SaaS Investments: Ola, Gigstart, UrbanClap, Bira 91, Belong, Bewakoof, Rapido, Razorpay, Fynd, Jugnoo, Mamaearth, Tripoto, LetsVenture among many others.
Kunal Bahl | Angel Investors in Delhi
Kunal Bahl, the Co-founder, and CEO of Snapdeal is the most prominent and active investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. He is an alum of the prestigious Wharton School of Pennsylvania. Before Snapdeal, he was associated with prominent organizations like Deloitte and Microsoft in the US. He co-founded Jaspers, the parent company of Snapdeal in 2008.
Aloke Bajpai is the Co-founder, and CEO of Ixigo – an Online travel marketplace. He is a keen angel investor based out of Delhi. He is a B.tech graduate in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He served as VP at Final Quadrant Solutions Ltd, by getting engaged in strategic business development and product marketing.
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Markets Interested: Clean technology, Fintech, AI & Robotics, Digital Marketing, Healthcare, Foodtech, Big Data, and Virtual reality Investments: Unocoin, Arya ai, SmartVizx, Rubique, MObilewalla, LogiNext, Rubique, Phonon, Utsav Fashions, Vista Pharma, Auro, and many more.
Neeraj Kumar Singal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Neeraj Kumar Singal, Founder and Director of SEMCO Infratech Pvt ltd and also Lightyear Infratech, is a focused investor in varied fields. He is an active member of IAN (Indian Angel Network), LetsVenture, and HBS Alumni Angels. He values innovation and appreciates strategic ideas that can transform the world of Business. He is also well represented at various leadership roles and organizations like FCCI, HBS Club of India, Young President Organisation, AIMA, CII, TiE, Ph.D. Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and many.
Dinesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO of IndiaMart, is a prominent entrepreneur and angel investor. He is a well-known member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Being an alum of The Harcourt Butler Technological Institute of Kanpur, he served as a system analyst at HCL Technologies.
Markets interested: Healthcare, Consumer Internet, Mobile, Fin-tech, Food-tech, E-commerce, Media. Investments: Meesho, LifCare, Babygogo, Fashalot, Sheroes, Tripeur, Foodcircle, Just Move, Shuttl, Reify Health among others.
Rahul Garg | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rahul Garg is the Founder & MD at Leo Capital India. He is one of an active business investors in delhi for startups. Being an alumnus of IIT Delhi with a degree in Computer science, his expertise in this field is commendable. He is also associated with TiE, NASSCOM, IIT Mentors, and many other organizations.
Markets Interested: Management Consulting, Product Innovation, Blockchain, global investments, technology management, SaaS, Clean technology, etc., Investments: Betaout, Zippr, Tavaga, Innov8, Testbook, Adpushup, Doormint, LE tote, Rappi, Lead Genius, Proven, NexGear, and many more.
Utsav Somani | Angel Investors in Delhi
Utsav Somani is a prominent angel investor in Delhi via AngelList (an online marketplace of startups and investors). He did his Masters in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from ESADE Business School in 2012. At present, he is also the partner at OB1T Capital (Investment management). He is a well-experienced investor and has been active in the Indian Angel Network.
Investments: Agastha, Rapido, Wizgo, Routofy, Drivezy among many.
Nikunj Jain | Angel Investors in Delhi
Nikunj Jain, the Co-founder and CEO of Zohem (A blockchain-based data exchange protocol) is a warm investor in the Indian Startup industry. He is a keen investor and also a noteworthy entrepreneur. Before zohem, he had co-founded Frankly.me, which is a video microblogging startup along with inoXapps (a gaming startup). Nikunj did his Btech, Textile Technology from the reputed IIT Delhi.
Investments: Touch Talent, Adpushup, Lucideus, and Wishberry.
Amit Ranjan | Angel Investors in Delhi
Earlier, Amit Ranjan had Co-founded Slideshare (Professional content sharing platform). He is now active as the Architect for Digital Locker & OpenForge (e-governance projects) under the Ministry of IT, Government of India.
By being an enthusiast about startups, he mentors them for their growth and development. He played a lead role in commencing the cult of technology “unconferences’ called BarCamps, by organizing India & Asia’s first such event in Delhi.
Rohit Bansal is the Co-founder of Snapdeal, an Indian e-commerce business. Rohit Bansal is one of the prominent investors in the Indian Startup ecosystem. He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi with Btech and Mtech in Computer Science. He is skilled in team management, business development, and strategic planning. He not only provides finance to startups via investing in them but also guides them through their journey by mentoring them in areas of sales, product management, competitor analysis, operations, vendor management, and marketing.
Alok Mittal, the Co-founder, and CEO of Indifi Technologies Pvt Ltd is not only among the prominent angel investors but also the founder of Indian Angel Network, a platform that connects startups and investors. He is an alumnus of the University of California and completed his Bachelors in Computer Science from IIT Delhi.
Earlier he had also co-founded JobsAhead.com (leading e-recruitment business), which was later acquired by Monster.com. He also worked with Hughes Software in telecom and internet technologies. He graduated from IIT Delhi and completed his MS and Management of Technology programs from UC Berkeley.
Markets interested: Technology, Consumer internet, Media, Fintech, Travel, Gaming, E-commerce. Investments: Overcart, Serial Innovations, Speakwell, Inc42 Media, Dexl, Silver Push, Little eye labs, Gamezop among many others.
Rajesh Sawhney | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajesh Sawhney, the Co-founder, and CEO of InnerChef (Food Tech Startup) is a successful entrepreneur and angel investor He is also the CEO of GSF, an Indian Capital firm and accelerator which is focused on mobile startups. He has a wider experience in media and entertainment ventures. Earlier he worked as the COO of Times internet ltd, as the president at Reliance Entertainment and around 14 years with BCCL. He created several successful businesses across sectors like TV, eCommerce, and travel.
Markets interested: eCommerce, Consumer Internet, Foodtech, Travel, Education, Social Media, Gaming, Automotive, Fintech. Investments: Flipclass, GamingMonk, White Owl, YumLane, Zophop, IndiaLends, LimeTray, MassBlurb, Rapido, OnlineTyari, Scoopwoop among many.
Kunal Khattar | Angel Investors in Delhi
Kunal Khattar, the Founding Partner of AdvantEdge Partners (Venture Capital Firm), is one of India’s most prominent investors. He also acts as the Director of Rapido, leading a two-wheeler ride-sharing platform. Earlier, he worked as the Marketing Manager at Vodafone. He has also Co-founded ventures like Simply Look.
He is one of the most active angel investors in Delhi, who is always available for any kind of help on sales, business development, communication, and strategic marketing management.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Technology, Digital Media, Technical Continuing Education. Investments: Airwoot, Biosense, HackerEarth, Xapr, Little Eye Labs, ShieldSquare, MobStac, and many.
Samir Sood | Angel Investors in Delhi
Samir Sood, the Co-founder of Venture Highway (Early-stage venture investment firm) is one of an active private investors in Delhi. He served as the Head of Corporate Development, South Asia and Australia at Google. He was also associated with organizations like Cisco, Microsoft, Dell, and Lehman Brothers. He is an MBA graduate from The University Of Chicago and completed his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University.
Markets Interested: SaaS, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Social Media, IT, Clean Technology, Gaming. Investments: Alma Connect, Enpower, HashCube, Zuvvu, Pinpuff, Ideophone, Biosense, and many more.
Pranay Gupta | Angel Investors in Delhi
Pranay Gupta is the Co-Founder of 91springboard, India’s leading co-working spaces. He also acted as the Joint CEO at Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship. Before Co-founding 91springboard, he worked with Lehman Brothers and Nomura Securities.
Soaib Grewal acts as an Advisor to AngelList India and is also the Venture Partner at TLabs, a leading startup accelerator and seed investment firm. Before getting associated with TLabs, he acted as Design Mentor at Microsoft Accelerator and also founded BOLd, Design-led investment firm.
Markets interested:E-commerce, Clean Technology, Travel, Real Estate, SaaS, Big data. Investments: Radiowalla, AdvantEdge Club, WittyParrot, Leverage Edu, Alliz Health among many.
Hetal Sonpal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Hetal Sonpal is into mentoring young minds and budding entrepreneurs along with the students of Amity International School in Gurugram. Earlier, he worked with Intel as the Head of Strategic Alliances. From the esteemed Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Hetal obtained his MBA Degree. He possesses relevant knowledge and expertise in his field.
Markets Interested: Social Media, Travel, Foodtech, Automobile, B2B, Internet. Investments: Yaantra, BSquare, RippleCard, Wow Momo, Find my Stay, ChefsNearMe, Ziveg and many more.
Yogesh Bansal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Yogesh Bansal, the Founder, and CEO of ApnaCircle Infotech is a tech missionary with tremendous knowledge and expertise in this field. He holds an MBA Degree in IT & Finance from the University of North Carolina and also founded companies like GeoRapid, GoActiveClub, and Mail Genie. He has got exposure to skills like team building, merger and acquisitions, and serial entrepreneurship.
Markets Interested: Healthcare, Aerospace, Hospitality, Agritech, Real Estate, Foodtech, Travel, Fintech. Investments: X Prime, Unbxd, SmartVizX, IntensAquatica, SquarePlums among many.
Bharat Mehra | Angel Investors in Delhi
Bharat Mehra is the Co-founder of Eatworks. He has major experience in the industry of food and real estate. He is a graduate from the esteemed Alliance Manchester Business School and entails skills in Negotiation, management, sales, and valuation. He is among the leading seed investors in Delhi, who is always an enthusiast to work with people who have passion and zeal to do something new.
Satyan Gajwani, the VP of Times Internet & Board member of Times India Group, is among the prominent investors in Delhi. Times Internet is one of India’s largest digital media companies that possess brands like Mumbai mirror, Gaana, Times of India among many. He is an alumnus of Stanford University. He also acts as a mentor to startups in media planning, market research, strategic planning, and team building.
Markets Interested: Enterprise Software, digital media, fintech, e-commerce, journalism, technology. Investments: Magictap Solutions, NewsBytes, ORO Wealth, Slintel, Vaultedge, Khabri, Yellow ant among many.
Rajat Harlalka | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajat Harlalka, the Co-founder of Bellurbis Technologies (enterprise software platform), is an active angel investor in Delhi. He is an alumnus of IIT Varanasi and IIT Guwahati. He also acts as the operating partner at GSF India and as a mentor to startups. Be it any concept, like Competitive Analysis, Product development, presentation skills, industry trends or technical marketing, Rajant is at the forefront to help you out.
Abhishek Dwiwedi, an Assistant VP of Growth at 1mg.com (Online Pharmacy), is one of the top angel investors in Delhi. He is associated with SternFisher (an Angel Network) as a partner and also served as the Head of Business Development at HealthKart. By being an alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering, he launched SBD Solutions to organize the fragmented solar photovoltaic & thermal market.
Spinny, a platform for buying used cars, was Founded by Niraj Singh. Earlier, he was associated with Outbox Ventures as a Founding Partner and has also Co-founded Top Yaps, an internet media site. Locus Education, an ed-tech startup that helps students with IIT JEE Preparation was also co-founded by him. Being a graduate in Electrical engineering from IIT Delhi, he has got exposure to various domains. He not only invests in startups but also provides correct guidance for the growth of the venture.
Markets Interested: Fashion, Social Media, Digital Marketing, Ecommerce, Lifestyle, Blogging, Marketing, Food, Logistics. Investments: Campanja, Bea’s of Bloomsbury, Shoto, Tizaro.
Priyanka Gill | Angel Investors in Delhi
Priyanka Gill is the Founder & CEO of POPXo, Women-focused digital media firm). She is a prominent female angel investor in Delhi and entails interest in building brands within the lifestyle market. She is also the founder and CEO of Plixio (Influencer management platform) & Luxeva (Digital guide platform). She completed her Master of Arts from Kings College London and BA (Hons) in English from Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
Anirudh Mullick is the head of Recruitment at Sequoia Capital India, where he provides recruiting services to Sequoia’s portfolio companies. He is currently the VP of Sequoia Capital India and is an alumnus of IIPM. Earlier, he served as an Associate Director at Executive Access India. He can help startups find and acquire talents for their development and also guide them through business development and strategic planning.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, SaaS, Small and Medium Businesses, Education, Big Data, Location-Based Services. Investments: Kartrocket, Kraftly, Roposo, talking threads.in, Giveter.com, among many.
Gaurav Kachru – Angel Investors in Delhi
Gaurav, Founder and Managing Partner at 5ideas (an investment firm), is an active private investor in Delhi. Earlier he founded e-commerce startups FashionAndYou and DealsAndYou. Before commencing his entrepreneurial journey, he worked with Manpower Inc as Regional Director for Asia.
Markets interested: Enterprise Software, Travel, Technology, SaaS, Mobile applications, Fintech, Healthcare. Investments: MealHopper, Mind Your Fleet, OnlineTyari, AppVirality, Autowale.
Rajnish Kumar | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajnish Kumar, the Co-founder and CTO of ixigo.com (travel & hotel booking platform), is one of the prominent angel investors in Delhi. He is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and has expertise in Computer Science and Technology. Earlier, he had also founded Traveneus and has an understanding of Mobile applications and Software development. He also served in various roles at Amadeus IT Group in Spain
This was our list of Angel Investors in Delhi. If you are an investor or know any of the investors for startups, connect with us at shubham@startuptalky.com to get featured in the list.
FAQs
How to get investors for business in India?
Steps to get investors for business in India or investors for startups in India:-
Create a profile on Angel List.
Prepare a record of investors to share your ideas with.
Brush up your networking skills.
Have a classy introduction to your and your business.
Tell them why they should invest in your business.
Where can I find Angel Investors?
Check with the Business Development Center, Community Futures Office or Economic Development Centre where you live; there may be an active group of angelinvestors in your community.
What is an angel investor?
An angel investor is a person who gives capital for a business start-up, normally in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.
How to find investors in Delhi?
You can find out investors in Delhi by Ask Family or Friends, try crowdfunding platforms to find investors.
The startup ecosystem has grown over the past few years because many venture capital firms are investing in the early stages of upcoming startups. One such homegrown early-stage investing firm is Nexus Venture Partners, which was founded by successful entrepreneurs Suvir Sujan, Sandeep Singhal and Naren Gupta in 2006.
The firm has its main headquarters in Menlo Park, California with head offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai in India. Itis a pioneer of investing in global technology products and technology-led business for India. Nexus focuses on funding startups in the industries such as Enterprise Technology, Consumer Internet, Healthcare, Consumer, Business Services, Media, Software, Big Data Analytics, Data Security, Fintech, DevOps, Open Source, Education, Commerce, Gaming, Cloud, SaaS, Agribusiness, Rural Sector, Energy, Etc.
Nexus is an early partner firm and believes in being the first institutional investment in the seed or the series A rounds. The firm also has long term commitment and work closely with the startups they invest in. Nexus Venture Partners has over $1.5 billion in AUM, after partnering with many entrepreneurs from both America and India.
So far the firm is known to have invested in 294 companies and has over 65 exits. According to Venture Intelligence, Nexus has earned more than $500 million in exits by 2020. Nexus’s core identity has been its success in software deal-making, unlike other Venture Capital firms that only choose to fund successful consumer’s internet unicorns.
The firm also prefers to invest in companies from India or global markets and may also invest in companies located outside India with a focus on American based companies with technologies that are relevant for India and its emerging markets.
Here are some of the startups funded by Nexus Venture Partners
Snapdeal
Snapdeal Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Snapdeal is a well-known e-commerce company in India, which was founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in 2010. The company has its headquarters based in New Delhi and has recently grown to become one of the largest online marketplace in the country.
Snapdeal is different from other e-commerce sites because its sellers offer good quality merchandise, customers get to pay value for money which is similar to local markets in metro cities. The website has over 500,000 sellers that sell fashion and home products to customers from 3,700 towns and cities across India.
The company raised over $12 million in its first funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Indo–US Partners in 2011. Three years later, Snapdeal raised $133 million from eBay, Kalaari Capital, Nexus Capital Partners, Bessemers Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Saama Capital in 2014. The last investment made by Nexus Venture Partner to Snapdeal was in 2017 where the company raised funds Rs 113 crore from the firm.
ShopClues
Shopclues Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
ShopClues is one of the top online marketplaces in India, that was founded in 2011 by Sanjay Sethi, Sandeep Aggarwal and Radhika Aggarwal. The company has its headquarters in Gurgaon and its parent company is Clues Network Pvt Ltd. ShopClues was said to be valued at $1.1 billion in 2015 as it was backed by top investors like Tiger Global, Helion Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners, among others.
In 2019, Qoo10 a Singapore based company acquired Shopclues for 470 million.Shopclues is the country’s first online Managed Marketplace that connects buyers & sellers online while offering a trusted and safe online shopping environment to customers in over 9000 cities across India.
The company secured over $10 million in their Series B round of funding from Helion Venture Partners, Nexus Partners and Netprice.com in 2013. According to the company, the funds were used to scale their business, increase the website’s product catalogue and expand their reach to their target audience.
Delhivery is the leading supply chain services chain company in India that was founded by Sahil Barua in 2011 and has its headquarters in Gurgaon. The aim of the company is to become the operating system for commerce in India, with the help of advanced infrastructure, logistics operations and cutting-edge technology.
Delhivery so far claims to have delivered over 500 million shipments, in 230 cities across the country. The company aims to provide products and services in order to help improve the lives of consumers, small businesses, enterprises.
They provide services such as transportation, warehousing, freight, reverse logistics, cross-border and technology services and has over 500,000 sellers and over 10,000 customers. The company raised over $5 million in its series B funding from Nexus Venture Partners in 2013. These funds were said to have been used to further expand its customer base.
Unacademy
Unacademy Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Unacademy is one of the top EdTech companies in India that was founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh. The company has its headquarters based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and started out as a YouTube channel from 2010 to 2015.
Currently, Unacademy claims to have over 18,000 educators that offer free and subscription-based live classes along with preparation materials for professional and educational entrance exams.
As of 2020, the EdTech startup was valued at $2 billion. Unacademy raised over $4.5 million in their Series A funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures, Girish Mathrubootham, (the CEO of Freshdesk), and Ananth Narayanan (the CEO of Myntra) in 2017.
The company used these funds to strengthen its base of educators from 200 to 2000. Unacademy again secured over $50 million in their Series D funding round from existing Venture capital firms like Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures.
Olx short for Online Exchange is a popular Dutch online marketplace that was founded in 2006. The company is owned by Naspers (South African media group), has its headquarters in Amsterdam and operates in over 45 countries.
Olx allows its users to buy and sell from a wide range of products and services such as electronics, fashion items, furniture, household goods, and vehicles like cars & bikes. In India, Olx has launched special services like Olx Autos (in 2020) and Olx Cashmycar (2018).
Olx is not only popular in India, but also has a strong foothold in countries like Spain, Portugal, Mexico, South America, China, and the Philippines. Olx secured over $5 million in its initial stages of funding from Nexus Venture Capital in 2009.
Zolostays
Zolostays Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Zolostays is a Bengaluru based company that provides services for co-living and accommodation options especially to students and young professionals. The company was founded by Snehas Choudary, Dr Nikhil Sikri and Akhil Sikri in 2015 and is available in more than 10 cities across India.
Zolostays provides many budget-friendly unique services like good quality food, carefully curated living space, dedicated support team, free maintenance and zo-tribe events. Currently, the company claims to accommodate 40,000 Zolo properties and is aiming at reaching 200,000 beds by December 2022.
Zolostays has raised $56 million in its Series C funding from Investcorp, Nexus Venture Partners, Mirae Assets and Trifecta Capital in 2020. It had also earlier raised $40 million from Nexus Venture Partners, Olympia Developers, Patni Computers Family Office and Mirae Asset. The company will be using these funds to strengthen its technology and AI-driven operating platforms.
Pratilipi is a self-publishing e-platform that offers content in ten different Indian languages which are Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, English, Urdu, Punjabi and Odia. Pratilipi was founded by Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Prashant Gupta, Rahul Ranjan, Sahradayi Modi and Sankaranarayanan Devarajan in order to promote Indian languages.
The company was launched in 2014 with its headquarters based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The platform currently claims to have over 2 crore users and allows its users to publish or read their original works such as stories, poetry, essays and articles. Pratilipi secured over $1 million seed funding from Nexus Venture Partners in 2016.
In 2020, the platform went on to raise Rs 76 crore in their Series C funding round led by Tencent with participation from Omidyar Network, Bennett Coleman, Shunwei Capital and Nexus Venture Partners.
Rapido
Rapido Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Rapido is a well-known online bike taxi and logistics service providing a platform in India that was founded by Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli, and SR Rishikesh in 2015. The company has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka and currently operates in over 100 cities across India.
In 2018, the company had over 15,000 registered riders and more than an average of 30,000 rides per day. By 2019, Rapido has 1 crore registered users and had also created over 500,000 jobs in India. Rapido has over 15 million customers and 25 million app downloads, as of 2021. Recently, the company has also launched on-demand auto-rickshaw hailing services in 14 cities across the country.
Rapido raised over $11.2 million in its Series A round of funding from Nexus Venture Partners in 2019. In its Series C round of funding, Rapido raised $43 million from Westbridge Capital, Nexus Venture Partner, Pawan Munjal Family Trust, Everblue Bangladesh LLC, Motherson Lease Solutions, Everblue Bangladesh LLC, Motherson Lease Solutions, Konark Trust, MMPL Trust in 2021.
Yolobus is an intercity bus aggregator that has its headquarters in Gurgaon, Haryana and was founded in 2019. The company provides its users with world-class bus facilities that cover over 250 routes across India.
All their busses have facilities Wi-Fi, CCTV Cameras, and GPS tracking, their customers can also choose from options such as a fleet of sleeper, luxurious sleeper buses, and AC/Non AC buses, built-in washrooms, etc.
In 2020, Yolobus raised $3.3 million in their Series A funding round from Nexus Venture Partners and India Quotient. The company will use these funds to ramp up their services, technology, customer, crew safety and sanitization. It will also enhance safety measures as in the times of Covid 19, people are wary of travelling intercity.
Druva
Druva Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Druva is a cloud backup and data protection based firm that has its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California with offices in Greenwich, New York, Hong Kong, London, San Francisco and Mumbai. The company was started in 2008 by Jaspreet Singh, Milind Borate, and Ramani Kothandaraman in Pune, India.
Druva is a leader in providing services like SaaS-based data protection and management products to both companies and government agencies. The company aggregates the data of the enterprise data from endpoints, data centers, and cloud workloads for backing it up or restoring, compliance monitoring, security, and other uses, etc.
So far the company has over 750 customers and is known to protect over 300,000 endpoints worldwide. Druva secured $130 million from Sequoia Capital India and Nexus Venture Partners in 2019. Druva is a pioneer as it has created an industry-first application known as InSync that instantaneous automates backups for laptops.
Postman
Postman Logo | Nexus Venture funded startups
Postman is a popular collaboration platform for API Development that was founded by Abhinav Astana, Ankit Sobti and Abhijit Kane in 2014. The company has its headquarters based in San Francisco, California and claims to be used by over 13 million developers and 500,000 organizations worldwide.
The platform helps in simplifying every aspect of building an API and streamline collaboration so the users can create better APIs. Postman raised $150 million in their Series C round of funding from Global venture capital, Insight Partners, CRV and Nexus Venture Partners in 2018.
The company had also been funded by the Nexus Venture Partner in two other rounds first was $1 million in 2015 and $7 million (Series A round funding) in 2016.
Nexus Venture Partners is one of the leading early-stage investment firms that has helped many Indian startups to grow into unicorns today. The firm has been the most successful in funding software companies, rather than consumer internet unicorns that other venture capital firms prefer investing in.
Over the years, Nexus Venture Partners has earned nearly $500 million exits. Despite being termed as a software investor, the firm is currently investing in a wide variety of industries.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Nexus Venture Partners?
Nexus Venture Partners is one of the first homegrown Venture capital firms and is a pioneer of investing in global technology products and technology-led business for India.
Who is the founder of Nexus Venture Partners?
Nexus Venture Partners was founded by Suvir Sujan, Sandeep Singhal and Naren Gupta in 2006.
What are the industries in which Nexus Venture Partners fund?
The industries in which Nexus Venture Partners fund are Enterprise Technology, Consumer Internet, Healthcare, Consumer, Business Services, Media, Software, Big Data Analytics, Data Security, Fintech, DevOps, Open Source, Education, Commerce, Gaming, Cloud, Saas, Agribusiness, Rural Sector, Energy, etc.
What are startups funded by Nexus Venture Partner?
The startups funded by Nexus Venture partners are Postman, Druva, Yolobus, Rapido, Pratilipi, Zolostays, Unacademy, Olx, Delhivery, Shopclues, and Snapdeal among others.
“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together.” – Ratan Tata, Tata Group
Ratan Tata is a prolific investor and has made numerous investment in many Startups. His style of investment and funding are revered by many across the globe. And his investments are known to emerge as giants in their respective sectors with time. Ola Cabs is an example.
An investment from Ratan Tata gives a boost to startups in terms of publicity, acquiring finances, and brand-building. Here is a list of the startups that Ratan Tata has funded over the years. Consequently, the behemoth organization of Ratan tata – Tata Group has also infiltrated a number of markets such as telecom, software, groceries, and fashion.
Latest News
22 April, 2021 – Ratan Tata has recently made an undisclosed amount of investment in Mailit which is a Mumbai based logistics startup serving a lot of big corporates including Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, etc.
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The Recent investment by Ratan Tata was in 2021, as he invested in Mailit, a technology-driven mailroom management and logistics company. The terms of the investment are undisclosed but it comes at at a time when Mailit is planning to launch 500 mailrooms across India in addition to establishing fully mechanised warehouses and distribution centres in the next five years.
Tork Motors
Tork motors | Ratan Tata Investment
Tork Motors is a Pune-based electric motorcycle startup. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in Tork Motors in October 2019. He saw potential in the company and found the team to be commendable. Apart from Ratan Tata, Bharat Forge and Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola Cabs’ founder) have also invested in Tork Motors.
Snapdeal
Snapdeal | Ratan Tata Investment
Snapdeal is India’s first online marketplace for multiple categories. It has received funding from Ebay and Alibaba. Snapdeal was launched by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in February 2010. It has over 3 lakh sellers and hosts over 3 crore products across 800+ diverse categories from more than 1,25,000 regional, national, and international brands and retailers.
Ratan Tata made an investment in Snapdeal soon after Flipkart’s acquisition of Myntra. He bought 256 shares from the e-commerce venture’s angel investors. This move not only protected Snapdeal from losing market share but also prevented any potential attempt by Flipkart to monopolize the e-commerce segment.
Cure.fit is a health and fitness startup that has raised $170 million from investors like Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Chiratae Ventures, and Ratan Tata to date.
Cure.fit maintains a chain of fitness centers (under the ‘Cult.fit’ brand), a food delivery platform called ‘Eat.fit’, a chain of healthcare clinics called ‘Care.fit’, and the recently launched online mental-wellness platform called ‘Mind.fit’.
Paytm started out as a mobile recharging platform and later became an online marketplace for multiple categories. It became India’s first payment bank after receiving a license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Ratan Tata Made an investment in Paytm by raising a funding of INR 1 crore in March 2015 for One97 Communications – the parent company of Paytm. This funding fetched him the position of a business advisor on One97 Communications’ board.
Paytm is now among the most successful digital payment companies with millions of subscribers. It thrived when the demonetization scheme was implemented in India in November 2018. At present, the company’s gross merchandise value (GMV) is over $1 billion.
Ola is India’s first home-grown cab aggregator service and one of the nine Indian unicorn startups valued at $5 billion. The app allows users to book a taxi on their smartphone at the best fares. Ola provides cab services across price segments that range from economy to luxury.
Ratan Tata funded Ola in July 2015, 5 years after the company began its operations in 2010. He invested INR 95 lakhs in the company in personal capacity. Ratan Tata made also an investment through his investment company – RNT Capital Advisors – of INR 400 crores in Ola.
Repos Energy
Repos Energy | Ratan Tata Investment
Aditi Bhosale Walunj and Chetan Walunj founded Repos Energy. Repos Energy is a Pune-based startup responsible for the doorstep delivery of fuel to industries. It works using cloud-based technology and IoT devices. Customers can order diesel on the Repos app. A Repos petrol pump operator then arrives at the customer’s location and completes the diesel delivery. Ratan Tata made an undisclosed amount of investment in this startup.
ClimaCell
Climacell | Ratan Tata Funded Startup
ClimaCell is an app developed by Rei Goffer, Shimon Elkabetz, and Itai Zlotnik that provides accurate weather forecast to alert people about upcoming floods. It uses day-to-day devices as environmental sensors. ClimaCell focuses on error-free weather predictions and has garnered a lot of attention.
Ratan Tata participated in ClimaCell’s seed round funding in September 2016. ClimaCell has acquired $70 million over three rounds of funding.
Abra
Abra Logo | Ratan Tata Investment
Ratan Tata has also made an investment in a Silicon Valley based bitcoin startup with American Express where he with American Express invested $12 million in Abra. People can store digital cash and send money to any smartphone using Abra’s app. Abra earns money when users buy or sell digital currency through its app.
CarDekho
CarDekho Logo | Ratan tata Funded Startups
CarDekho is India’s leading car search venture that helps users purchase the right cars. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in GirnarSoft – the parent company of CarDekho, BikeDekho, and PriceDekho portals.
The CarDekho app has rich automotive content that includes expert reviews, detailed specs and prices, comparisons, and the visuals of the different car brands and models available in India.
The company deals with many automobile manufacturers, more than 4000 car dealers, and numerous financial institutions to facilitate the purchase of vehicles. The CarDekho portal accounts for about 30% of the automobile manufacturers’ combined annual sales today.
Holachef
Hola Chef | Ratan tata Funded Startups
Holachef was founded by Saxena and Anil Gelra in 2014. Holachef connects expert chefs with consumers via its website and mobile app (available for both Android and iOS platforms). The platform offers a new menu everyday and delivers food in a state-of-the-art packaging. Holachef received an undisclosed amount of investment from Ratan Tata in September 2015.
Ola-owned food delivery firm Foodpanda has acquired Holachef.
FirstCry is a baby care e-commerce platform. FirstCry is owned by BrainBees Solutions. It follows an omni-channel strategy of selling through online and offline stores. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in this startup in January 2016.
Lenskart
Lenskart Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startup
Lenskart is a popular online retailer for eyewear. It was also been added to the list of companies invested by Tata as it secured funding from Ratan Tata in April 2016; the amount is undisclosed.
Lenskart sells sunglasses, eye glasses, contact lenses, and more. The officials from Lenskart said that Ratan Tata’s role was more of a mentor and an advisor than a financial investor. Some of the investors in Lenskart are TPG Group, IDG Ventures India, and Unilazer Ventures founder Ronnie Screwvala.
NestAway
nestaway logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
NestAway allows users to find, book, and move-in to a rental home of their choice across Indian cities. NestAway’s aim is to provide better rental solutions with the help of design and technology. The company presently caters to more than 35,000 tenants and 16,000 owners, providing homes to over 7000 families in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and others. Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in NestAway Technologies Pvt. Ltd. in December 2017.
Urban Ladder is an online furniture seller. Urban Ladder was founded by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in July 2012. It currently offers over 1,000 products across 25 furniture categories such as wardrobes, beds, sofas, dining tables, and coffee tables. The online retailer secured funding from Ratan Tata in November 2015.
UrbanCompany
Urban Company Logo
UrbanCompany, previously known as UrbanClap, is a local services marketplace that raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata in December 2015. It is also funded by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.
The UrbanCompany app allows the online booking of services such as plumbing, electric work, beauty treatments, and salon. UrbanCompany has successfully penetrated the services sector and bridged the gap between workers and consumers. People can now easily overcome the challenges of household hurdles, troubles, fixtures, and anything related through UrbanCompany.
GOQii
Goqii Logo | Ratan tata funded Startups
GOQii makes healthcare watches that are similar to smart watches. It also makes GOQii Stride, a device people can attach to their shoes and keep track of the number of steps, etc. GOQii’s platform provides tools for real-time personalized coaching, scheduling health check-ups, and securing information in a health locker. GOQii was founded in 2014 by Vishal Gondal. It joined the list of Ratan Tata-backed startups after he invested an undisclosed amount in October 2016.
This might come across as an interesting trivia—Ratan Tata is the first Indian to buy a stake in Xiaomiandhe has also made an undisclosed amount of investment in the company. Xiaomi is the world’s fourth largest smartphone manufacturer and is based out of China. The brand is very popular in India. It entered the Indian market in 2014. The Chinese tech giant sells smartphones, laptops, air purifiers, tablets, LED TVs, fitness bands and more.
Some senior executives from Xiaomi were quoted saying that they would seek Ratan Tata’s advice on how to expand globally.
Lybrate
Lybrate Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
Lybrate was founded in 2013. It connects patients and doctors. Lybrate launched an online lab testing facility in May 2016. A patient’s sample is collected right from his or her home and the results are then shared online. Lybrate secured about INR 64.8 crores ($10.2 million) funding from Ratan Tata in July 2019.
Infinite Analytics is a U.S. and Mumbai-based startup founded by two MITians – Akash Bhatia and Purushotam Bolta. It became Microsoft Dynamics AX’s first global OEM partner four months after Ratan Tata has also made an investment in this startup in August 2015.
Infinite Analytics is a cloud-based big data startup that predicts consumer behavior based on information shared by users on social networking sites. Infinite Analytics analyses raw data, maps out a person’s social genome, and then gives personalized recommendations to consumer brands with online presence. This information, which is collected without breaking privacy laws, allows a retailer to identify and recommend products that will appeal to customers. Infinite Analytics has expanded its predictive analytics technology to verticals beyond retail and e-commerce.
CashKaro
Cashkaro Logo | Ratan Tata Funded Startups
CashKaro is a cashback and coupons website that provides 30% cashback to customers who shop on its affiliates’ platforms. These platforms include Amazon, Paytm, Jabong, and ShopClues. The Gurgaon-based company was founded by Swati and Rohan Bhargava in 2013 and raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Ratan Tata in January 2016.
Cashkaro generates revenue by taking commission from retailers and sharing a portion of it with customers in the form of cashback. It is the largest cashback website in India with over 10 lakh registered users and has given net cashback of more than INR 30 crores.
DogSpot
Dogspot Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
DogSpot is a Gurgaon-based online pet care platform that handles about 60,000 orders on a monthly basis with an average basket size of INR 1,700. DogSpot also promotes pet-centric events, drives, and related content. The startup was founded in 2007 and is run by PetsGlam Services Pvt. Ltd.
Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount in his personal capacity in DogSpot in January 2016. Ronnie Screwvala also invested in DogSpot alongside Ratan Tata.
BlueStone
Bluestone Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startups
Bluestone.com is an online platform for purchasing jewelry. BlueStone was founded by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha in 2011. BlueStone is backed by Ratan Tata and has also received a funding from him in 2014. It offers over 5,000 jewelry designs and plans to scale to 30,000 designs in the next three years.
Zivame
Zivame Logo | Ratan Tata funded Startup
Bangalore-based Zivame was founded in 2011 by Richa Kar and Kapil Karekar. Zivame is an online platform for one’s lingerie needs. It has raised $48 million in four years. The startup gained popularity through its quirky campaigns and is a well-known name today. Zivame received funding from Ratan Tata in September 2015.
Generic Aadhaar
Generic Aadhaar | Ratan Tata funded Startup
Ratan Tata has invested undisclosed amount in Generic Aadhaar, a Maharashtra-based pharmaceutical startup. Arjun Deshpande founded Generic Aadhaar in 2018. Generic Aadhaar provides generic medicines from reputed pharmaceutical companies at discounted rates—up to 80% cheaper than the retail price. It offers a catalog comprising branded, generic, homeopathy, and Ayurveda medicines from government-approved manufacturing facilities.
Generic Aadhaar aims to partner with 1000 pharmacies through a franchisee model in the coming months and expand its reach to places like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.
What are the names of some Ratan Tata funded startups?
Some startups funded by Ratan Tata are Ola cabs, Zivame, Paytm, Snapdeal, Xiaomi, Urban Ladder, UrbanCompany, Cash Karo, and Abra.
What sector does Ratan Tata like to fund in?
Ratan Tata does not prefer any specific sectors. He has funded startups in sectors ranging from e-commerce and real estate to electric mobility and food delivery.
Do you also get goosebumps when you hear the word “IIT”? Do you also see IITians getting special treatment in social circles (among your family, relatives, friends, neighbours, etc)?
Here, I’ll provide additional reasons to back the statement above. IIT is among the most respected educational institutions in India ever. It has had students who have made an immense impression on students all over the world. It is, without doubt, eminent and highly productive.
IIT is the ideal choice for students who want to study engineering. It is famous for producing the top engineers in the world and there are plenty of IIT graduates who chose another path than they had planned to take. They became entrepreneurs and set up their own startups in the marketplace. Although they’re not experts in their sector, they’re making waves. Let’s take a look at 10 successful startups led by IIT-Grads.
OLA is an Indian multinational ride-sharing company offering services that include a vehicle for hire and food delivery. Founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, a Computer Science and Engineering graduate of IIT Bombay in 2008. He began his career with Microsoft, where he worked for two years, filed two patents, and published three papers in international journals. In January 2011, he co-founded Ola Cabs with Ankit Bhati in Bengaluru.
OLA – Successful Startups
Now, OLA has a turnover of $320 million and is valued at $6.2 billion in worth. It has over 6000 employees working and is currently available in 169 cities in India. It has expanded in countries like Australia and New Zealand in 2018 and the UK, it started its Auto Rickshaw service in 2019.
Founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007, it is one of the most popular e-commerce in India. Both Sachin and Binny are alumni of IIT Delhi. The two wished to offer Indians an online store that was created in India which led to the making of what we all now know as Flipkart.
Flipkart Online Shopping Platform
Flipkart, which initially started as book sales, expanding into other product categories such as electronics, fashion, and lifestyle products. In August 2018, US-based retail chain Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for $16 billion, valuing Flipkart at around $20 billion.
Quikr is an Indian online marketplace and classified advertising company, based in Bangalore, India with listings in over 1000 cities in categories such as mobile phones, household goods, cars, real estate, jobs, services, and education. It provides a platform for users to buy or sell goods and services from each other. Other services offered include a missed call service and instant messaging. Quikr was founded by Pranay Chulet and Jiby Thomas in 2008. The CEO of the company Pranay Chulet grew up in Rajasthan and completed his Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi.
Quikr | Co-Founder | Pranay Chulet
4. Acadboost
Acadboost is started by Kalpit Veerwal, an IIT Bombay student. He has completed his 3rd year of Computer Science Engineering from IIT Bombay and founded AcadBoost Technologies Pvt Ltd in his second year. It is an EdTech startup that aims to provide the correct mentorship to students from experts in various fields of education – ranging from competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, GATE to college.
AcadBoost Online Learning Platform
5. Zomato
After graduating from IIT Delhi, Deepinder Goyal took up work at a company Bain & Co, where he met Pankaj Chaddah, and the duo then started a delivery service Zomato in 2008. Zomato is an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company that provides information, menus, and user reviews of restaurants as well as food delivery options from partner restaurants in select cities. As of 2019, the service is available in 24 countries and in more than 10,000 cities.
Zomato – Online Food Delivery App
Zomato shares made a strong stock market debut on 23rd July 2021, listing at ₹116 apiece on the NSE. Zomato shares surged 53% over the IPO price of ₹76. With the listing, Zomato entered the club of India’s top 100 listed companies with a market capitalization of over ₹90,000 crores. The company’s shares got listed at ₹115 apiece on the BSE.
Khetify is an urban farming venture in New Delhi, India founded by IIT Kharagpur graduates Kaustubh Khare and Saahil Parekh that build farms in urban spaces and enable people to grow chemical-free, fresh food. The aim of the startup is to promote food sustainability to city dwellers.
Khetify Logo
Claiming that 16,000 sq km of rooftop space is being wasted in urban cities, Khetify aims to promote the use of this unutilized space to develop small rooftop farms.
7. InMobi
Founded by Naveen Tewari, an IIT Kanpur graduate. InMobi is an Indian multinational mobile advertising technology company, based in Bangalore. Its mobile-first platform allows brands, developers, and publishers to engage consumers through contextual mobile advertising. In 2008, it was enhanced from SMS-based services to mobile advertising and rebranded as InMobi. It is now competing with giants like Google and Facebook for data-driven mobile advertising. InMobi is one of the top 5 players in the US, China, Southeast Asia, and India. Also, Softbank has invested $200 million in it.
InMobi Logo
8. Housing.com
Housing.com is founded by Rahul Yadav, an IIT Mumbai alumnus. Housing.com is a Mumbai-based real estate search portal that allows customers to search for housing based on geography, number of rooms, and various other filters. Rahul Yadav was featured in the list of Forbes 30 under 30 young Entrepreneurs. He is known as the bad boy of an Indian startup, gaining comparisons from Steve Jobs. And fun fact, he was once fired from a company.
Founded by Sanjay Sethi, an alumnus of IIT Delhi who previously worked in the US in the field of e-commerce marketplace, online payments, and operations. After serving as a key to establishing eBay in India, he started his own company Shopclues, along with Sandeep and Radhika Aggarwal. ShopClues provides unstructured categories of home and kitchen, fashion, electronics, and daily utility items at wholesale rates. In 2019, the company was acquired by Singapore-based Qoo10 in an all-stock deal valued at approximately US$70 million, representing one of the largest valuation meltdowns for an Indian-based startup.
Inspiring words of ShopClues Co-Founder- Radhika Aggarwal
10. Snapdeal
FYI Snapdeal wasn’t an e-commerce company till 2008, but then it was founded by Rohil Bahl and Kunal Bahl, the former has a Wharton degree while the latter has an IIT Delhi, graduation degree under their belt.
Snapdeal Logo
It is now one of the most popular e-commerce websites in India, with over 3,00,000 sellers, over 3 Crore products across 800+ diverse categories from more than 1,25,000 regional, national and international brands and retailers and a reach of 6,000 towns and cities among the country.
What do you mean by the term Acquisitions? On what metrics the company acquires other companies? Is acquiring other competitor companies legal? Which are some of the latest acquired companies? Interesting isn’t it?
According to Investopedia, the definition of Acquisitions is as follows-
An acquisition is when one company purchases most or all of another company’s shares to gain control of that company.
Acquisitions, which are very common in business, may occur with the target company’s approval, or in spite of its disapproval. Some of the parameters needed to be checked before acquiring a company. These metrics should be followed before evaluating an acquisition- Financial value of the company, Asset value of the company, Possible resale value of the company, and its assets.
Read this article to know more about the common questions related to startup acquisitions. We have listed down some of the latest and deal-breaking acquisitions in the Indian Startup Ecosystem.
India, the 3rd largest startup hub in the world is home to many new startups. Every other day we hear about new startups coming up in India. With all these new startups coming up every other day, the competition increases. This leads to acquisitions. The strong prey on the weak or the potential competitor. Recently, the Walmart-Flipkart merger in mid-2018 is the first breakthrough in the minds of many. From a country’s M&As (mergers & acquisitions) viewpoint, this acquisition has been a milestone and still has an ecosystem impact. If the sale was the horse rider or the fact that the ecosystem was more M&A safeguarded, the overall fusions and acquisitions this year have decreased.
As we approach the mid of 2021, there are sudden reports of potential acquisitions and exits in the Indian startup ecosystem. Some of India’s largest startups have made many acquisitions to grow their footprint, grab a larger market share or endure growing competition from competitors, including Tata Motors, Zomato, Snapdeal, Flipkart, and others.
1. Walmart acquires Flipkart
Flipkart and Walmart Logo
With the American retail giant investing 16 billion worth, Walmart‘s takeover of Flipkart is the first-ever in India. But this acquisition was not the country’s first major takeover we saw. Here is a list of some of India’s major fusions and acquisitions. In 2018, Walmart purchased Flipkart 77 percent for $16 billion. This makes it India’s largest acquisition.
In April 2015, Snapdeal acquired the Freecharge smartphone recharge service. It was valued at $400 million for the cash plus equity deal and the largest takeover in Indian internet business history. The partnership brought in about approx. $1.1 billion in financing from Snapdeal, and $120 million from Freecharge in particular. Freecharge remained a separate company after the takeover, allowing Snapdeal to grow its digital trading ecosystem. Snapdeal has had several major acquisitions last year: In the center of this move, China’s giant Alibaba took an interest in Indian eCommerce in Snapdeal.
As announced on March 26th, Tata Motors purchased the Ford Motor Company’s Jaguar Land Rover companies from the company for a net amount of $2.3 billion. In the Jaguar Land Rover pension plans, Ford contributed around US$600 million. Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chief Operating Officer of the Tata Sons and the Chief Financial Officer of the Ford Motor Group, Don Leclair and Mr. Lewis Booth, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Ford of Europe Motor Company and Mr. La Jaguar La Tata Motors attended this ceremony at the Gaydon headquarters at the Jaguar Land Rover.
In May 2014, after months of rumors, India’s leading e-commerce company Flipkart acquired a trendy rival Myntra, a development that had to do with the increasing presence of Amazon in India. None of the parties verified the acquisition’s exact valuation, but sources placed the cash and equity transaction between 300 and 330 million dollars.
Flipkart launched as a supermarket in 2007, offering apparel and electronics in all categories. It also offers furnishings and white products. The change is anticipated to help Flipkart reinforce its clothes collection and contend with Amazon and Snapdeal more vigorously. With his co-founder and CEO Mukesh Bansal joining Flipkart and running the apparel company, Myntra will continue to run as an autonomous entity.
Ola, one of India’s largest ride-hailing operation, acquired TaxiForSure for $200 million as a smaller, but value-centric, cash and equity acquisition in March 2015. Ola’s footprint in the country has been extended by adding TaxiForSure’s 15,000+ fleet onto its network across 47 cities. In October 2014, Ola raised SoftBank $210 million in addition to the 41,5 million dollars it raised earlier, adding over a quarter-billion dollars in overall financing in 2014. When TaxiForSure was acquired, it had 15,000 vehicles in 47 cities on our network a few months after the launch of Ola in January 2011. In India, it has recently been an upright battle between Uber and Ola, who have joined Didi Kuaidi, GrabTaxi, and Lyft globally.
In January 2015, Zomato purchased a 50 million dollar US competitor, Urbanspoon, at what was one of the highest offshore transactions for an Indian startup. The purchase marked Zomato‘s visit to the US, Canada which Australia, and took over 22 countries around the world. The takeover signals the entrance of Zomato in the USA. This is the sixth and largest purchase of Zomato in the last six months. The purchase will rise from 300,000 to 1.000,000 restaurants globally more than three times the inventory of Zomato’s Restaurant. In the coming months, Urbanspoon will pass onto Zomato.com, and the Zomato software will be used by all Urbanspoon app users. Zomato increased the overall amount of venture funds raised by the firm to $113 million from Sequoia, Knowledge Edge, and Vy Capital in November.
A leader among India’s travel reservation sides was the Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip, a pioneer in Indian tourism reservation – which was funded by investors such as Helion Venture Partner, 500 Partners, and Blumberg Capital at the last minute. Mygola, founded by IIT Mumbai in 2009, says travelers can create customs journeys in 15 minutes by using Bapna and Prateek Sharma. It has up to 5000 installations in the Google Playstore on Android and is present in 16 cities worldwide. The acquisition happens as Indian travel is heating up, as an investment in 2015, for the most part, early-stage, has crossed 71 million dollars, compared to 55 million dollars in all of 2014 (about 440 crores).
Let’s discuss some of the frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) related to startup ecosystem..
What do you mean by the term Acquisitions?
An acquisition is when one company purchases most or all of another company’s shares to gain control of that company. Acquisitions, which are very common in business, may occur with the target company’s approval, or in spite of its disapproval.
On what metrics the company acquires other companies?
These metrics should be followed before evaluating an acquisition- Financial value of the company, Asset value of the company, Possible resale value of the company, and its assets.
Is acquiring other competitor companies legal?
Acquisitions, which are very common in business, may occur with the target company’s approval, or in spite of its disapproval.
Which are some of the latest acquired companies?
Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) gained a controlling interest in Mindtree Ltd, raising its stake to 60% in the Bengaluru-based company on 27 June 2019 and successfully concluding India’s first hostile takeover of an IT company.
How do startups get acquired?
The startups that last usually get acquired for their market share before they hit those numbers. Intellectual property is the most common way to build a defensible product. In fact, many startups with a proprietary product get acquired before they even take their solution to the market.
How long does a startup acquisition take?
Corporate mergers and acquisitions can vary considerably in the time they take to be completed. This length of time may span from six months to several years. There are a number of individual steps that need to be completed successfully by two public companies before they are legally combined into a single entity.
Conclusion
Startup acquisitions happened in the past and will keep happening in the future. If there is a slight possibility that the competitor can be a problem in a long run then acquisitions will happen for sure. Investors will keep looking for further IPOs, new firms and acquisitions from publicly traded companies in the subsequent year as the number of acquisitions, and their scale in India is growing. Up until now, they have relied primarily on other startup acquisitions. As the Indian startup ecosystem continues to expand and draw more foreign interest, the value of M&A transactions in the country can only be projected to rise in the coming years accordingly.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Boonbox.
The advent of e-commerce in India in the past decade has been unprecedented. While a huge chunk of the population in Indian cities are reaping the benefits of e-commerce, the rural areas still remain untouched by the effects of digitization.
With the masterly vision of taking e-commerce to rural India, the co-founders-Ramachandran Ramanathan, Karthik Natarajan, Narayanan launched Boonbox in 2013.
Given the great idea and insight on which this startup is based, this is how the business functions. Boonbox has a local affiliate in each of the towns/villages that they are located in. These local affiliates assist the consumers with the products available in the application. These affiliates place the orders on the consumer’s behalf and collect the money. These products are delivered by Boonbox through their hub & spoke fulfillment model.
In rural areas, there can’t be a platform to start a business as the ecosystem does not exist. Boonbox is an integrated player in this ecosystem. It owns the ecosystem and this is difficult to replicate. Creating connectivity takes time and requires a deep understanding of rural purchase patterns and consumer behavior. And Boonbox team has decades of experience in building rural networks.
The rural ecosystem has a lot of human elements associated with it. There is touch and feel of human connectivity. To be a successful startup in rural India, the required building blocks are human touch, credibility & trust, accompanied by an integrated ecosystem. As Boonbox has been able to selectively identify the relevant trust elements within rural communities and has built them over the years, this platform is viewed as a trusted element in the rural ecosystems. Boonbox pivoted from being a single product seller to a multi-category catalog that empowers the rural customers with choice and convenience. The venture was pivoted in the year 2015.
Boonbox is a technology platform for providing products and services to consumers who live in tier-4 towns and villages and are deprived of access to these products. Through the company’s “Rural Last Mile” logistics network, products are delivered at the doorstep of the consumers in remote villages. Boonbox also ensures that regular follow-up takes place with the customers, and promises them after-sale service to provide a top-class purchase experience.
Boonbox – USP
Boonbox chennai based startup, is an unique venture that aggregates the demand of rural customers and fulfills them by placing an order with the merchant. In simple words, it’s a vehicle to enter the rural markets. The main idea of the startup is to be a desired brand for every rural household and be a part of their everyday lives. Also, Boonbox is of the ideology that every rural customer craves and deserves a top-class customer experience. With Boonbox online shopping has never been easier for the rural population!
Boonbox was selling solar lamps in Rural Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the peak power crisis in 2012-13. While seeking customer feedback, the Boonbox team received responses that indicated demand for Mobile Phones, White Goods (TV, Fridge, Washing Machine) and also Induction Stoves and Mixer Grinders. All these products were wanted by rural consumers during the peak power crisis. Thus, throughout the entrepreneurial journey, seeking customer feedback helped them deduce that Rural Customers are ASPIRATIONAL and CONSUMPTION is driving the Rural Economy.
70 % of India which is close to a billion people live in Rural India. Rural India contributes to 47% of the country’s GDP. And these statistics were sufficient enough to indicate a massive market in a less than 30,000 population towns. These people in those towns were the target market of Boonbox.
” We foresee a consumption explosion in Rural India and expect Rural India to lead India’s economy in the next 5 years.” said the Co-founders of Boonbox positively.
Boonbox – Founders and team
Ramachandran Ramanthan, Karthik Natarajan and Narayanan are the Co-founders of Boonbox.
Ramachandran Ramanthan, Karthik Natarajan and Narayanan
The trio has an exciting story about how all of it began! While Ramachandran Ramanathan and Karthik Natarajan were colleagues, they met Narayanan through a common friend. Narayanan had created the rural network in Tamil Nadu for Tata Teleservices and immediately caught on to the potential of the idea. The co-founders then went on to build the team by selling a dream, which made many people leave their lucrative jobs in the corporate world to join in the Boonbox adventure. The fact that they were working in an exotic area, a white space, building for Bharat and also generating cash in the business, attracted many people to the Boonbox team.
Ramachandran Ramanathan is a Chartered Accountant by qualification. He has also held senior management positions in the RPG, ICICI and TVS groups. Boonbox adventure is a great opportunity for him to follow his passion i.e., to create business strategies in uncharted markets and build a great team for scaling the business.
Boonbox co-founder Ramachandran Ramanthan
Karthik Natarajan is a management graduate from a financial services background with stints at Citigroup and Fullerton. Karthik is the ‘Zero to One’ man in the co-founder circle and his strength is his excellent ability to smell business opportunities and develop concepts into businesses.
Narayanan is also a management graduate who worked extensively in the telecom world straddling all the major brands including Airtel and Tata Teleservices. A meticulous planner, he works on business excellence and takes the Boonbox businesses to scale.
How was Boonbox Started
The idea to take on the rural markets with a technology platform struck to the co-founders Ramachandran Ramanathan and Karthik Natarajan when they were working on the TVS group. TVS’s consumer strategy was architected by the late Dr.C.K.Prahalad and focused entirely on capturing the rural markets. These two co-founders were working on creating alternate networks in rural markets and while doing that, the massive potential of this white space dawned upon them.
Boonbox was built based on these two co-founder’s experiences in the rural market. In fact, they did not do any formal market research. Instead, they focused on using customer feedback as a mechanism to drive Boonbox to success.
Boonbox – Name, Tagline and Logo
Specialists were consulted to come up with the name Boonbox. The co-founders finally zoomed in on Inthree which is a Coined Name – coined from the ethos of the business which is the Inner India Initiative. Inthree is the registered name and BoonBox is its customer-facing platform. So Ideally the Boonbox company is a sister concern of Inthree and is launched in select districts of TamilNadu and Karnataka. Which is why the Boonbox website can be accessed from inthreeaccess.com.
Boonbox Logo
Boonbox – Business Model and Revenue Model
The Boonbox business model is simple, it takes orders from rural customers and delivers products to their households. Considering that the rural market has a broken ecosystem and a virtually non-existent distribution network, this venture gets both the distributor and retailer’s margins which makes Boonbox’s Unit Economics very strong.
Rural India is characterized by a huge trust deficit. Boonbox has sold products to 2.5 million customers to date. Their focus is mainly on customer experience and to ensure that every single customer complaint is addressed on time and they now have 2.5 million happy customers. The rural market works on word of mouth marketing and Boonbox is a formidable brand now. Hence the key strategy for Boonbox has been to focus on customer experience since the initial days.
Boonbox – Startup Challenges
Rural is a white space, the founders had no benchmarks to follow. The company’s business model was formulated after multiple iterations and is not more than three years old. The model is based on continuous learning and building on the co-founder’s experiences. Also, It is not something that others can replicate over a short period. Boonbox is consistently working towards solving two major challenges :
Gaining the trust of consumers living in towns and villages with a population of 30,000 and below
Catering to customers who live in locations without a proper address or pin code. In such areas, it’s important to ensure that products reach customers on time.
This venture is the pioneer in this field and the co-founders are continuously trying their experiments and learning from them. There have been as many failed experiments as successful ones, as the business itself is one huge hack!
Though Boonbox does not have any direct competition in the market. But unicorns like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon have been trying to get inroads in rural markets, some e-commerce startups like iPay and StoreKing solely focus on rural markets.
Boonbox – Funding and Investors
Boonbox has raised a total funding worth INR 34 Crores in two rounds till date.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
August, 2014
Angel
9 Crores
IAN, Keiretsu Forum Chennai
August, 2018
Series A
25 crores
Ventureast, Orios & IAN Fund
Boonbox – Advisors and Mentors
Boonbox does have mentors who have contributed their ideas in Business Strategy, Customer Experience and HR throughout the entrepreneurial journey.
Boonbox operates in 16 States. This includes acquiring customers and delivering products to 3,00,000 villages which accounts for 47% of India’s universe of villages. Since inception and till date, Boonbox has sold products in rural markets totaling to INR 450 Crores.
Boonbox is the largest rural partner for Samsung mobiles and has been the largest partner for them for the last three consecutive years. Some of the other products and brands include:
The Co-founders are expecting to close 2019 with a turnover of INR 300 Crores, and with a Gross Profit of INR 75 Crores. They are expecting to reach a turnover of INR 1,000 Crores by 2022.
The long-term plan of the venture is to be a pan India player, providing products at customer’s doorstep in remote villages and that too backed by top-notch customer experience. Given that the following are the goals for the coming decade:
Become a multi-service offering for the rural consumer
Building a robust direct channel for selling to the consumer with a fintech offering
Adding categories like FMCG, fashion, apparel to the product mix in addition to mobile phones, consumer durables, kitchen appliances, and cookware
Designing subscription models that can be relevant for the rural consumer
Creating loyalty and membership programs to build long term value for customers
There’s ideally nothing better than growing together. Boonbox’s initiative of empowering rural India with the services that they deserve is a marvelous concept. After all, great businesses are always built out of satisfying needs rather than creating wants.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Who are the Founders of Boonbox?
The Co-founders of Boonbox are Ramachandran Ramanthan, Karthik Natarajan and Narayanan.
What is Boonbox?
Boonbox is an unique venture that aggregates the demand of rural customers and fulfills them by placing an order with the merchant on their behalf and delivers it to the individuals.
Is Boonbox only available in Chennai?
No, Boonbox operates in 16 States including Chennai and are planning on expanding further.
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-Sachin Bansal, Founder of Flipkart
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Quoted by- Kunal Shah, Founder of Freecharge
Kunal Shah is the founder of FreeCharge, which recently got acquired by Axis Bank for $60 million. Before that, Snapdeal had acquired FreeCharge in the year 2015 for about $400 million. He has done his MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and studied at Wilson College, Mumbai.
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“Building a company is similar to building a product. Culture is the UX for employees & Support is the UX for customers.”
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“Building predictability on top of market place economy is how new age businesses will get built. Super excited”
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Kunal Bahl | Inspiring Indian Quotes
“Scale is important for a startup. Think big, but take one day at a time.”
Quoted by- Kunal Bahl, Co-Founder of SnapDeal –
Co-founder of Snapdeal, Kunal Bahl, did his schooling from Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram and went to Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. He and his friend Rohit Bansal launched this Indian startup in 2010. He worked with Microsoft at the beginning of his career. Today, his e-commerce platform is a huge success and is competing with Amazon and Flipkart.
Deepinder Goyal | Inspiring Indian Quotes
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Quoted by- Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group
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Quoted by- Mukesh Ambani, CEO & Chairman of Reliance
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Quoted by- Rachit Chawla, Co-Founder of Finway Capital
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Quoted by- Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Ryerson Futures Inc.
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Today, Ratan Tata needs no introduction as he is the most respected business tycoon in India. He is an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, former chairman of Tata Group and Tata Sons. Post his retirement in 2012 he has turned into an avid angel investor who has left an everlasting impact. He is well-known for investing in some of the most successful startups today.
So far, Ratan Tata has invested in over two dozen startups, including top unicorns of India, like furniture e-tailer Urban Ladder, digital payments app Paytm, ride-hailing company Ola and its electric vehicle arm Ola Electric Mobility, Cure.fit, Urban Ladder, etc. His investment may only be a few million dollars, according to industry sources, but what’s invaluable is having the 81-year-old tycoon’s name attached to a young startup.
So, how Ratan Tata: the accidental startup investor turned into an avid angel investor? Let’s take a look.
Name
Ratan Tata
Born
Surat, India
Age
82
Citizenship
Indian
Education
Cornell University College of Architecture, Harvard Business School
Title
Indian Industrialist, Philanthropist, and a Former chairman of Tata Sons
Occupation
Businessman
Net Worth
Rs. 6396 Crore
Awards
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Business, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan
First Investment made by Ratan Tata
The 81-year-old also said that he became a startup investor by accident. He added that he used to look at the sector as exciting always but somewhat untouchable. Tata further mentioned that with two-three years into the sector, it has become a learning experience for him as he got to learn many aspects regarding investment in startups.
The business magnate, better known as the ”Accidental Startup Investor”, was always interested in the startup ecosystem. He mentioned that his tenure as the chairman of Tata Group as this sector meant conflicts if he would take up any entrepreneurial assignment. But once Mr. Tata retired, he wasted no time in becoming a full-time investor through his private investment vehicle—RNT Associates.
Ratan Tata said that when he retired, at first he started making small token investments in what he considered exciting companies. He admitted that in the beginning, he intended to take some more risks than he might have taken under different circumstances. With two-three years into this, it became a learning experience, as this sector is very active and has the best minds.
The first investment he made was in Snapdeal in 2014 which yielded great results. The CEO of Snapdeal, Kunal Bahl, has high regards for Ratan Tata and considers him to be a lucky charm for Snapdeal. He is believed to have bought a 0.17% stake in Snapdeal in August 2014, when he invested less than Rs 5 crore. Tata bought 256 shares from the e-commerce company’s angel investors, including Kenneth Glass.
Other Investments made by Ratan Tata
Following this, he has invested in 31 startups. After Snapdeal, the online furniture retailer Urban Ladder secured funding from Ratan Tata in November 2015. It was Tata’s second personal investment in an e-commerce firm. It is a popular furniture selling platform based in Bengaluru. It is currently present in 12 cities around India.
Paytm, a Noida-based digital-payments company saw an overnight jump in subscribers by millions, after Demonetization of announced by the government on November 8, 2018. The company had secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Ratan Tata in March 2015. Tata bought a stake in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm.
Ola Cabs is India’s answer to Uber. Much like Uber, Ola provides cab services across all price segments, ranging from economic to luxury. Beginning its operations in 2010, Ola secured funding from Ratan Tata in July 2015.
Ratan Tata is the first Indian to buy a stake in Chinese tech giant Xiaomi best known for its affordable smartphones. It’s true, the amount Tata invested in Xiaomi was not disclosed. Similarly, services marketplace UrbanClap raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata in December 2015. In April 2016, Lenskart, the popular online retailer that sells eyewear secured funding from Tata.
Ratan Tata has invested in More than 30 Start-ups
Tata, while referring to the growth of budding startups said, “We are looking at the India of tomorrow and the day after, and the start-up industry is entering the global field in a manner where competition is open. The fact is we (Indians) are entrepreneurs at heart. Maybe what we need is the opportunity to flourish and I think the startup industry is doing just that.”
Ratan N. Tata has invested in over 30 startups. Among these, there are several technology-based startups too. Tata has made all these investments in his personal capacity. Ratan Tata has not restricted himself to a sector and stepped into a variety of diverse strata, be it clothing, weather, pet care services, etc., but technology catches his attention.
He holds the view that technology can be applied and used in any sector and the future is all about technology. He has recently invested in Tork Motors and Ola Electric. Ratan Tata has been supporting Ola since 2015. He openly expresses his excitement of participating in new areas and encourages young minds to search for domains yet to be explored.
Ratan Tata believes startups should get funded by Indian investors. According to him, the startup sector is growing rapidly with the best of minds involved in it. He regrets seeing such companies having great potential that could add value to the Indian economy but being bound to foreign authorities. Thus, Tata finds it unfortunate that founders get driven by foreign investments in the hope of an eventual acquisition by a larger entity.
He tells his decisions are intuition-driven, but the steps he has taken by now proves his intuitions are calculated risk oriented. He prefers getting into conversation with founders, analyze their personality, skills, their maturity, and the seriousness and most importantly, their zeal and dedication.
And like any other investor, he judges the future scope of pitched ideas. Tata has told in his case selection is more by intuition than by numbers. He further revealed that judging the intent of the founders and their seriousness influenced him more than any other factor.
How to Approach Ratan Tata for Investment?
Is Approaching Ratan Tata Difficult? As a matter of fact, its not. He is as approachable as any other investor. A few things to keep in mind if you plan to seek investment from the business tycoon:
Your idea should be unique and hold great potential.
The startup should have begun its operations, at least on a small-scale.
Tangible feedback on the startup and its product or service is a must. Remember, Ola got funding from RNT Associates 5 years after it began.
He is a man of experience, so it is advisable to be realistic and honest. Sniffing out non-sense is easy for him.
Being a personal investor, he prefers keeping the details of his investment private. He hates it when the media makes such information public. You will find it difficult to find the exact amount of his investments online, even when it comes to the biggest players he’s backing.
When asked what makes a good entrepreneur, he told what probably drives an entrepreneur to start a business is the fire in his belly that there is a better way to do something that has been done or a good opportunity to make a difference because something has not been explored well enough. And the confidence of staying with it is deciding factor of a good entrepreneurs. This is one thing to keep in mind while approaching Ratan Tata for investment.
Vidhi Punamiya
Sarika Anand
