Indian startups raise $12.1 billion in H1-2021: Report

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In the first six months of 2021, Indian startups have raised $12.1 billion from venture capitalists and private equity firms, surpassing the funding in the last calendar year by $1 billion. The consistent flow of funds at steep valuations helped a record number of startups become unicorns or privately held companies with a valuation exceeding $1 billion.

Consistent fund flows

The number of $100-million-plus funding deals that were closed in the first half of 2021 was 31, compared to nine in the same period last year. Some of the big fundraisers signed between January-June 2021 are Byju’s ($1 billion), Swiggy ($800 million), Zomato ($576 million), ShareChat ($502 million) and Dream11 ($400 million), Economic Times reported citing data shared by Venture Intelligence.

More funds have lined up to invest in young start-ups because of the amplified adoption of digital technology across businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. There were in total 382 VC deals amounting to $12.1 billion in the first six months of 2021, compared to 764 deals worth $11.1 billion which were sealed in the entire 2020.

 E-commerce leads the pack

The e-commerce sector received the maximum capital inflow of $4.15 billion in the last six months, while $2.3 billion was injected into fintech companies, $1.9 billion into logistics and $1.6 billion in enterprise software start-ups.

“These segments are likely to continue to attract investments in the near future as they are gaining mainstay relevance and will be a crucial peg in our adoption to the post-pandemic world,” Ankur Pahwa, Partner and National Leader for e-commerce and Consumer Internet Sectors at EY India, told Economic Times.

Among the start-ups, food-delivery giant Zomato is all set to go public later this month.  Paytm, Nykaa and PolicyBazaar are also planning to hit the stock market sometime later this year. Sudhir Sethi, Founder & Chairman of Chiratae Ventures told ET that for Indian startups, the product launch and scaling upcycle have become shorter, with many growing faster than expected and accessing capital to fund their growth ambitions. Sethi also added that over the next five years, Indian startups could see a capital flow worth over $500 billion from VC and PE funds.