OfBusiness becomes 18th startup to enter unicorn club in 2021
Gurugram-based B2B startup OfBusiness raised a $160 million round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2.
Good morning,
Seven months into 2021, India has had 18 startups enter the unicorn club.
The latest is Gurugram-based B2B startup OfBusiness, which raised a $160 million round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2. Existing investors Falcon Edge Capital and Matrix Partners also participated in the round.
The funding almost doubled the startup's valuation from $800 million to $1.5 billion, making it the 18th unicorn to enter the coveted $1 billion valuation club this year.
This year, the Indian startup ecosystem has raised record funding. In the first six months, total funding raised by Indian startups touched $10.15 billion, already exceeding the $9.94 billion raised in the whole of 2020. This was raised across 543 deals from around 1,020 active investors in the ecosystem.
The Interview
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Karthik Venkateswaran, Co-founder and CEO, Jumbotail and Ashish Jhina - COO and Co-founder, Jumbotail talks about using capital optimally to empower kirana stories.
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The business-in-a-box platform is targeted at individual professionals offering services such as video marketing, scheduling, payments, and CRM amongst others. Read more.
Startup Spotlight
Making differentiated beauty products
Garima Juneja observed that most beauty blenders absorb the foundation rather than blending it into the skin. So, she launched D2C beauty product startup Plume Beauty with an initial investment of Rs 1 lakh in 2019.
Plume claims to have generated Rs 96 lakh in gross revenue in FY21, and the firm estimates that it will reach Rs 5 crore revenue in FY22. Read more.
Credit: YourStory Design
News & Updates
- Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma called out Google Play Store's fees as "costlier than business tax on India's internet ecosystem", in a tweet. This comes after Tesla's Elon Musk called Apple's App Store fees "a de facto global tax on the Internet".
- Uttar Pradesh Mahila Shikshak Sangh president Sulochana Maurya said three days period leave is necessary for women teachers. A five-member delegation of the association met Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi regarding the issue.
- PV Sindhu's hopes of securing India's first-ever Olympic gold in badminton dashed as she was defeated by Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the women's singles semifinals. However, she will be competing against China's He Bing Jiao for bronze.
Before you go, stay inspired with…
“The time for disruption in B2B commerce in traditional sectors of the economy was long overdue and has arrived.”
— Asish Mohapatra, CEO and Co-founder, OfBusiness
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