TV Mohandas Pai on why India’s startup boom is here to stay

Good Morning,

For Indian startups, 2021 has been the year of unicorns and raging IPOs, and we’ve only scratched the surface of the ecosystem’s potential. 

In an interview with YourStory, TV Mohandas Pai, Co-Founder of Aarin Capital, says that the future is extremely bright for India’s startup ecosystem, with the country poised to have more than one lakh startups creating a value of $1 trillion by 2025.

Pai says we will see many IPOs from unicorns in the next few years as “they have to give exits to the investors and also raise fresh capital”. 

As of December, the startup community has already added 42 new entrants to the coveted $1 billion valuation club. The total number of active unicorns in the country now stands at 75. 

“By 2025, India will have more than one lakh startups creating a value of $1 trillion, with 200 unicorns creating 3.5 million jobs,” Pai tells YourStory. Read More. 

The Interview

Aarya Vora who is an actor turned travel influencer has been turning heads with her creative and knowledge-rich content. In this episode of Influencers Inc by YourStory, watch Aarya narrate her journey in the creator's space.

Editor’s Pick: App Friday 

In this week’s App Friday, we unpack Sortizy, a platform that offers smart grocery shopping, recipe recommendations, meal planning, managing kitchen inventory, and more. 

Developed by IIT, NIT, and BIT alumni, the Hyderabad-based app helps users eat better by providing nutritional information as well as food recommendations depending on the season. Read More. 

Startup Spotlight

Finding the right address with Pataa

Take a left from the banyan tree, then a right from the tailor’s shop, and then enter the second lane after the temple, you’ll find the location on your left. You can’t miss the house, it’s painted blue! 

Addresses in India can be confusing and for e-commerce companies (and others) trying to find the location, a nightmare. Launched in May this year by entrepreneur brothers Rajat Jain and Mohit Jain, Indore-based Pataa is an app that offers users a seamless tool to share addresses and lead others to their location. Read More. 

News & Updates

• Ola has raised $500 million through a Term Loan B (TLB) from marquee international institutional investors. This is a milestone transaction as only a few Indian companies have raised capital through the TLB route. 

• D2C (direct-to-consumer) brand unicorn The Good Glamm Group has appointed Sukhleen Aneja as the CEO to head the brand's business as it builds a digital-first House of Brands.

• The electric vehicles (EVs) segment in India is likely to witness investments of $12.6 billion across the automotive supply chain over the next five years, according to a joint report by Indospace and Colliers titled “electric mobility in full gear.”

• Labelling 2021 as the 'Year of Crypto', Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX revealed in its latest report that this year it witnessed a trading volume of over $43 billion - which accounted for 1,735 percent growth over 2020. 

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“The pandemic tried and tested us as human beings. Nobody had expected to be locked up for one-and-a-half years.”

Abhishek Kapoor, director, producer, and writer