Tiger Global roaring in India once again

For Tiger Global, 2021 is proving out to be a year when it cements its position among the top investors in India. 

In the first half of 2021, the American hedge fund has been aggressively investing in Indian startups, participating in 15 deals worth $1.74 billion.

That’s already higher than the number of deals it led in the whole of 2020 when Tiger participated in or led investments into 13 deals worth $1.32 billion. 

Just last week alone, Tiger Global has invested in four Indian startups — jobtech startup Apna, vehicle services platform GoMechanic, fintech platform ProgCap, and social community app Kutumb.

In a year that has seen a record number of new unicorn additions — 15 so far in the first half of 2021 — Tiger Global has invested in at least six of these startups that have recently earned the $1 billion or higher valuation. 

They include healthtech startup Innovacer, B2B construction platform Infra.Market, fintech startup Groww, messaging tech startup Gupshup, Indian language social media platform ShareChat, and SaaS Startup Chargebee. 

Experts believe that if Tiger Global continues in the same trajectory, it may even cross the quantum of deals it made in India in 2015 (35 deals worth $2.19 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

An alumnus of IIT Delhi and Columbia University, New York, Samarth Agarwal built MaxWholeSale.com, a B2B ecommerce company that is looking to transform India's supply chain through technology.

From a humble start in 2014, the company has crossed the $15 million revenue mark in 2020, Samarth talks about the growth journey of the company and what lies ahead.

Editor’s Pick: Changing digital landscape for SMBs and SMEs in India

The pandemic has been challenging for most businesses, especially for the millions of micro, small and medium enterprises that were compelled to go digital.

At the India MSME Summit 2021, Ashish Sikka, Director of SMB and Channel, Lenovo India; Alok Paul, Co-founder, Berrylush; Kirti Poonia - Head, Okhai; and Jaspreet Dhingra, Founder and CEO, BANC, discussed and deliberated on the changing digital landscape for SMBs and SMEs. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Helping tech startups fill job vacancies

During his startup stints, Shivam Dutta was often tasked with hiring for data science roles, which turned out to be challenging because of the dearth of talent.

So, he teamed up with Vikash Shrivastava to start AlmaBetter, a community and cohort-based data science learning platform that aims to upskill aspirants through fast-paced online bootcamps. Read more.

News & Updates

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the infusion of an additional Rs 1.5 lakh crore into the ECLG scheme, which was introduced last year as part of the Rs 20 lakh crore Aatmanirbhar Bharat stimulus package.

• Mastercard made a strategic equity investment in Instamojo to bring one billion people and 50 million MSMEs into the digital economy by 2025.

• Mumbai-based women’s wellness D2C brand Nua raised Pre-Series B funding of $7.1 million led by Lightbox Ventures and others. It also added Deepika Padukone as an investor.

• Domestic traders' body CAIT urged the government not to dilute the draft of ecommerce rules under any pressure of foreign-funded online firms. In a communication, CAIT said it has been observed that voices of terming the rules as stringent are being created.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“It is great for the startup ecosystem with growth capital (from investors like Tiger) flowing in as the founders can scale their business rapidly.”

— Sanjay Mehta, Founder and Partner, 100X.VC

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