Nykaa, PolicyBazaar, Paytm — the Indian startup IPO lineup

Good Morning,

After the successful IPO of food delivery aggregator Zomato, the Indian startup ecosystem seems to have a flurry of upcoming IPOs — cosmetic marketplace Nykaa, insurance-tech platform PolicyBazaar, and fintech major Paytm.

Earlier this week, Nykaa filed papers with SEBI to raise funds via an initial public offering (IPO). It will comprise a fresh issue of shares of up to Rs 525 crore and an offer for sale of up to 4.3 crore shares by existing shareholders. Interestingly, Nykaa is the first profitable startup to file its documents. 

PolicyBazaar, founded by Yashish Dahiya and Alok Bansal in 2008, filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI. Operating under PB Fintech Pvt Ltd, PolicyBazaar is currently one of the largest insurance selling portals. It seeks to raise over $800 million from the proposed initial public offering (IPO).

Moreover, online auto classified platform Cartrade has fixed a price band of Rs 1,585-1,618 per share for its nearly Rs 2,999-crore initial public offer that opens for subscription next week. The IPO will open for subscription on August 9 and conclude on August 11. 

Last month, Paytm said it will raise Rs 8,300 crore from a primary fundraise, and the remaining Rs 8,300 crore from a secondary sale of shares by its existing investors in its DRHP filed with SEBI.

India is currently witnessing an IPO rush, with at least 28 companies already concluding their IPOs and raising more than Rs 42,000 crore over the last seven months. 

New-age tech-based companies, including PhonePe, MobiKwik, Grofers, Flipkart Internet, and Delhivery are also expected to go public this year. 

The Interview

India could be on the cusp of unlocking a $1 trillion opportunity for SaaS companies, creating nearly half a million new jobs by 2030, according to a report titled 'Shaping India’s SaaS Landscape' by SaaSBOOMi, Asia’s largest community of SaaS founders and product builders, in association with McKinsey. 

Manav Garg, Founder of Eka Software and Together Fund, and Noshir Kaka, Senior Partner at McKinsey, deep-dive into how Indian SaaS providers can scale to their full potential, generating annual revenues of $50-$70 billion by 2030 and winning 4-6 percent of the global SaaS market.

Editor’s Pick: 100X Entrepreneur 

The digital shift in healthcare delivery, fuelled by the pandemic, accelerated the adoption of telemedicine services. 

In this episode of 100X Entrepreneur Podcast, Prasad Kompalli, Co-founder and CEO, Mfine, talks about the startup’s journey, COVID-19 impact, and the future of the healthtech sector in India. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Turning kiranas, retail stores, petrol pumps into virtual ATMs

The distribution of ATMs across India is erratic with only 17 machines per lakh people. In some places, people still have to travel miles to withdraw cash. 

This is the gap bridged by tech platform PayMart, which converts next-door merchants, retail outlets, kirana stores, pharmacies, restaurants, and petrol pumps into virtual ATMs, and enables cash withdrawals through them. Read more.

News & Updates

• BYJU’S has acquired Bengaluru-based computer vision and AR startup Whodat for an undisclosed sum. BYJU'S is set to take ownership of Whodat's team and its proprietary computer vision platform to accelerate its new product development.

• Venture lending fund Stride Ventures announced the first close of Stride Ventures India Fund II. Stride Ventures has secured commitments of Rs 550 crore, out of its target corpus of Rs 1,000 crore, with an additional greenshoe option of Rs 875 crore.

• A year after BYJU'S acquired coding startup WhiteHat Jr for $300 million, its founder Karan Bajaj has decided to exit the edtech unicorn. In an internal email to the employees, Byju Raveendran, Co-founder and CEO, BYJU's, announced the exit of Karan Bajaj.

• Singapore-based short video app Lomotif is all set to launch in India in the next two to three months, according to Founder and CEO Paul Yang. Lomotif lets users take any part of a video, such as a song, background, and voiceover, and incorporate it in their own video. 

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

"IPOs will drive our startup revolution. Indian startups will raise money in Indian markets from the Indian public. This is truly Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Digitisation has provided an impetus to the startup ecosystem in India." 

— Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog  

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