Indian startups bag record $36 billion funds in 2021

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s startup ecosystem has notched up record funding of practically $ 36 billion in privately held firms this 12 months as demand for digitisation grew manifold amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

UK-based Investment information platform Preqin estimates that enterprise and personal fairness investments elevated three-fold through the 12 months up from the $11 billion mopped up by Indian startups in 2020.

This 12 months, the amount of seed-stage offers dominated with practically 396 offers aggregating to $705.86 million whereas about 166 investments at collection A amounted to about $1.67 billion, information till December 20, confirmed.

However, the majority of the investments have been directed in direction of pre-IPO financing rounds in firms akin to Zomato, Ola, Policybazaar and Paytm, with the highest 10 offers totalling upto $5.58 billion, Prequin information shared completely with ET, confirmed.

In addition to a rise in the variety of offers, Indian startups additionally raised bigger financing rounds in comparison with earlier years as danger capital funds stepped as much as take larger bets on excessive progress firms early-on. As a end result, firms have been in a position to snag larger valuations, usually doubling and tripling their worth in successive financing rounds.

“Valuations are a reflection of an investor’s exit expectations. 2021 has proven the full venture cycle for India. Some fabulous exits like Zomato, Nykaa, PolicyBazaar and others have increased exit size expectations, and consequently the valuations,” mentioned Alok Goyal, founder and funding associate at Stellaris Venture Partners, an early-stage VC agency. (The Economic Times)