Meesho turns unicorn, Swiggy raises mega round

Good morning!

What’s a better way to celebrate the arrival of the new fiscal than with big-ticket funding deals?

India now has a new unicorn as Meesho, a social commerce platform, raised $300 million in a new round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The company’s valuation is now at $2.1 billion. With this funding, the startup plans to build a single digital ecosystem for 100 million small businesses. 

This is the fourth Indian startup to enter the coveted billion-dollar club this year, following Digit Insurance, Innovaccer, and Five Star Business.

Over the years, Meesho has been targeting individual businesses owned and run by women entrepreneurs and homepreneurs who became successful and financially independent. The startup has enabled over 13 million individual entrepreneurs to start their own online business with no investment.

Swiggy has raised $800 million in a round led by Falcon Edge, Amansa Capital, Think Investments, Carmignac, and Goldman Sachs. A source has confirmed to YourStory that with this funding, the company's valuation has now touched $5 billion.

This mega fund raise was after the startup launched Genie and Instamart that helped Swiggy complete 100 million orders till October 2020 after the coronavirus-induced lockdown led to a drop in orders. 

Last year, it also introduced Health Hub, a health food discovery feature, which offers around 90,000 healthy dishes, as consumers are becoming more health-conscious. 

The Interview

More than 20 years ago, Chandrashekhar Ghosh first started microfinance operations for women in rural West Bengal to provide financial services to the underbanked community. Today, Bandhan Bank has more than 15 million women customers who make up two-thirds of the bank’s total customer base of 22 million.

Editor’s Pick: Techie Tuesday

Prashant Gade is a philosopher first and an inventor second. The founder of Inali Foundation, a not-for-profit enterprise that provides low-cost prosthetic arms, Prashant makes life easier for people who have lost both or either of their upper limbs by designing and perfecting affordable 3D-printed prosthetic arms. Through Inali Foundation, he has been able to enable more than 3,500 people to work and live life independently. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Neobanking startup Finin makes financial services more efficient

Over the last couple of years, India has seen a spurt in the growth of digital banks. Taking neobanking to the next level, app-based digital bank Finin focuses on every individual user's lifestyle and financial reality with easy savings, a unified account view, and automated money management. Read more.

News & Updates

• Edtech startup BYJU'S has completed the acquisition of test prep service provider Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) in a reportedly $1 billion deal. AESL founders JC Chaudhry and Aakash Chaudhry, and Blackstone Group are set to become shareholders in BYJU'S.

• Homegrown venture capital fund IvyCap Ventures announced the sale of its stake in B2B healthcare platform Pharmarack at an annual IRR of 104 percent. IvyCap had invested Rs 21 crore in Pharmarack in 2019. 

• SBI Cards and Payment Services has been seeing over 50 percent of its transactions via online payments. SBI Card MD and CEO Rama Mohan Rao says most of these transactions take place for payments on groceries, utility bills, and insurance premium.

• India Accelerator plans to expand its startup portfolio by over three-folds in 2021 with investment in around 100 such ventures. The company invests Rs 25 lakh in select startups every year, mentors them, and connects them with other investors.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“We wanted to give every small business in India their own online store...Today, millions of users are using Meesho to sell their products across several categories.”

— Vidit Aatrey, CEO, Meesho

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