India's largest-ever IPO might be launched by a startup

Good morning!

Despite the initial pandemic scare, the IPO market in FY21 picked up pace and was the most active ever in three years as 30 companies raised more than Rs 30,000 crore via IPOs. In the startup ecosystem too, we’ve all read by now that some of India’s biggest startups, including Zomato, Flipkart, and Nykaa, have all set their sights on a public market debut, encouraged by rising valuations, a healthy investor appetite, and plans to scale.

The latest to join the fray is fintech giant Paytm, which is reportedly aiming to raise about $3 billion in its stock market debut that could be India’s biggest ever, at a valuation of around $25-30 billion. 

It was at YourStory’s flagship TechSparks event in 2019 that Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma had first spoken about his IPO plans, adding that he would only consider an IPO once the startup had turned profitable.

According to a source familiar with the matter, Paytm’s initial public offering (IPO) is likely to take place in November this year. The same source told YourStory that the board of its parent company One97 Communications is due to meet today to approve the IPO. 

If successful, Paytm’s listing will be the largest stock market debut ever in India, beating the IPOs of Coal India ($2.06 billion), Reliance Power ($1.61 billion), General Insurance Corporation (GIC) ($1.55 billion) and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) ($1.45 billion). 

Read all about how the Indian startup ecosystem is battling the second wave of COVID-19 here.

Here are some useful tools to help you find the nearest vaccine centres in real-time.

You can also share a tribute to COVID-19 warriors, saviours, and survivors here.

The Interview

Earlier this year, Tarun Mehta, Co-founder and CEO, Ather Energy, said the electric vehicle (EV) startup expects to be EBITDA profitable at the operating level by next year. In fact, the startup is looking to use its '450 platform' to spin more variants and enter the mass market of the electric two-wheeler segment.

From making it to the Forbes 30 under 30 list to raising funds from Flipkart founders and Hero MotorCorp, Tarun Mehta talks more about driving towards sustainability in the latest episode of Money Matters Season 3.

Editor’s Pick: Women gaining financial freedom through crypto

Today, more women are determined to take control of their finances and, interestingly, they’re looking at alternative investment options such as cryptocurrencies. 

As of March 2021, data from crypto exchanges on the usage patterns in their platforms found that women increasingly preferred cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ripple, Cardamon, Ethereum, and Tether. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

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Ahmedabad-based upskilling startup Academix — founded by Suraj Singh, Kalpit Shah, and Shreya Nallapaneni in January 2020 — is trying to fix this problem by helping students develop technical, management, and communication skills. Read more.

News & Updates

• IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that WhatsApp users have nothing to fear about new social media rules that are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal.

• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said that Amazon executive Andy Jassy will take over the CEO role on July 5. During an Amazon shareholder meeting, Bezos explained that the company was incorporated on the same date 27 years ago.

• Zydus Cadila is seeking permission from the DCGI to initiate human clinical trials for its monoclonal antibodies cocktail to treat COVID-19. Zydus said it is the only Indian company to have developed a neutralising antibody-based cocktail for the treatment of COVID-19.

• Pfizer has told Indian authorities that its jab has shown "high effectiveness" against the SARS-CoV-2 variant prevalent in India and on people of Indian ethnicity or nationality. It said it is suitable for everyone aged 12 years or above and can be stored for a month at 2-8 degrees.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) and said that it will bring ease of living for citizens as they can avail themselves of a large number of health services via it.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“Our primary market will always be India. The incremental growth of India’s economy is so huge that it is important for us to be a dominating player in India.”

— Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO, Paytm

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