<ul><li><keyword id="1836134" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="icertis" source="Orion">Icertis</keyword> is exploring options for Nasdaq listing in the US for sometime next year.</li><li>The company aims to double its valuation to $6 billion, as per sources aware of the development.</li><li>The company counts Google, Microsoft, Johnson &amp; Johnson, Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant as its customers. </li></ul>Software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Icertis is holding serious discussions to hit the public markets by the end of 2022. Pune and Seattle-headquartered company — valued at $2.8 billion — is considering to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States sometime next year, Icertis’ cofounder and chief technology officer (CTO) Monish Darda told Business Insider. The company counts Google, Microsoft, Daimler, Airbus, Johnson &amp; Johnson, Lupin, Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant as its customers. A Nasdaq listing is the top priority of the company, which offers contract management solutions to businesses, at the moment. Though Darda did not share details like the amount the company plans to raise or the valuation it is looking to list at, people aware of the development told Business Insider that Icertis plans to double its valuation to $6 billion by next year with this public issue. Darda clarified that Icertis is ready to hit the public market in terms of its business growth, however the plan still hinges on two major developments. First, the growth of the business by next year. Second, the economic situation globally. Regardless, the company is open to raising capital through both private as well as public markets depending on the economy and the COVID-19 situation. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“If we need a round, with our valuation and our revenue, we always have an option of going public, so we'll evaluate that as well. So there are a couple of things we could do next year in terms of, you know, how we move, we can raise another round and you know, defer going public. Or we could choose the path of going public as well.”" auname="— Monish Darda, co-founder and CTO of Icertis, told Business Insider."></div> Last week, another Indian <keyword id="9231180" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="saas-company" source="Orion">SaaS company</keyword> Freshworks<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/enterprise/enterprise-software/news/freshworks-files-for-an-ipo-in-the-us-looks-to-raise-100-million/articleshow/85707900.cms"> filed </a>for an IPO in the USA, seeking permission to list on Nasdaq. It is looking to raise $100 million. Founded in 2009 by Darda and Samir Bodas, Icertis’ flagship product ‘Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI)’ manages over 10 million contracts with an aggregate value of more than $1 trillion. Icertis added 70-100 customers in 2020 and 100 customers in the first half of 2021. It plans to add over 100 customers by the end of 2021. “I think what is interesting is that the last four quarters have been successively the best quarters we've ever seen in Icertis. We have beaten every quarter, every year. So the last two quarters, January-February-March and April-May-June. April-May-June has been the best quarter in the history of Icertis,” Darda added. Icertis claims to have a revenue between $100 million to $200 million, growing at 60-70% rate annually. The 12-year-old company raised<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/icertis-raises-80-million-in-series-f-funding-and-triples-valuation-in-less-than-two-years/articleshow/81450882.cms"> $80 million</a> in March this year to add more customers as well as develop more products for its existing customers. Overall, the company has raised $291 million to date from marquee investors like B Capital, PremjiInvest, Greycroft, Meritech Capital Partners, and PSP Growth. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/tata-power-bharat-forge-bharti-airtel-and-other-top-stocks-to-watch-out-for-on-august-31/slidelist/85786005.cms">Tata Power, Bharat Forge, Bharti Airtel and other top stocks to watch out for on August 31 </a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/ami-organics-wants-to-become-debt-free-post-the-ipo/articleshow/85781458.cms">Ami Organics wants to become debt-free post the IPO, to cut dependence on China in the coming years</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/news/a-us-f-22-raptor-pilot-describes-the-challenge-of-going-up-against-f-35-red-air-aggressors/articleshow/85784261.cms">A US F-22 Raptor pilot describes the challenge of going up against F-35 red air aggressors</a>

After Freshworks, Icertis is looking for an IPO for next year in the US

<ul><li><keyword id="11949917" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vijaya-diagnostic-ipo" source="Orion">Vijaya Diagnostic IPO</keyword> will open for subscription on September 1 and close on September 3.</li><li>Analysts advise investors to subscribe to the IPO because of the company’s strong footing in south India and that it is cash rich and does not require any further capital for growth.</li><li>The diagnostics lab chain is looking to raise ₹1,895 crore through an entire offer for sale (OFS) from existing promoters with 3.56 crore equity shares.</li></ul>Diagnostics lab chain <keyword id="11949918" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vijaya-diagnostic" source="Orion">Vijaya Diagnostic</keyword> will open its ₹1,895 crore initial public offering (IPO) for subscription from tomorrow, September 1, and will close on September 3. Analysts advise investors to subscribe to the IPO given the chain’s strong footing in south India. “The company is cash rich and does not require any further capital for growth,” said Ventura Securities while recommending to ‘subscribe’ to the IPO for long-term investing with a price target of ₹672, indicating an upside of 27% over the next 24 months. However, the <keyword id="938640" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="grey-market-premium" source="Orion">grey market premium</keyword> for Vijaya Diagnostic IPO is not very exciting. The firm has ₹250 crore cash on its books, Sunil Chandra Kondapally, executive director at Vijaya Diagnostic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/ipo-bound-vijaya-diagnostics-is-planning-more-acquisitions-in-east-india/articleshow/85755911.cms">told Business Insider</a>. Here are some of the important details of the Vijaya Diagnostic IPO: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Price band </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹522-₹531 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IPO open date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">September 1 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IPO close date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">September 3 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Allotment date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">September 8 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Initiation of refunds </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">September 9 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Credit of shares to demat account </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">September 13 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">IPO listing date </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">September 14 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Minimum lot </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">28 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table> Meanwhile, analysts at Angel Broking believe that all the short term positives are priced in and indicate a not-so-big listing for Vijaya Organics IPO. “The company has fixed the IPO price at [a] price to earning [sic] of 35.5 times of FY2021 earning, we believe that all the short-term positives have been priced in...Currently, the grey market premium for the IPO is at ₹50 which is 8.2% of IPO price, so the grey market is not suggesting any big listing...We have a neutral outlook for Vijaya organics IPO,” said Yash Gupta, equity research analyst at Angel Broking. Analysts at Ventura Securities expects the company’s revenue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.7% to ₹600 crore by FY24 driven by its deepening footprints in core markets of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, opening additional diagnostic centres and expanding adjacent geographies. Analysts at Kotak Securities highlight the firm’s long track record of delivering consistent profitable growth, with strong cash generation and return metrics. More about the company The company offers a “one-stop solution” for pathology and radiology testing services through its 80 diagnostic centres and 11 reference laboratories i.e. labs that perform routine and speciality tests in high volume, across 13 cities and towns in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The company claims it has a 7% market share in the two states with an estimated market size of ₹5,100 crore. <div type="image" title="Vijaya correct chart" height="900" width="1200" msid="85789071" hostid="261"></div> Aside from the two states, it also has centres National Capital Region and Kolkata. It has a strong presence in south Indian states. However, 96% of its revenue comes from the city of Hyderabad alone, as per the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). Existing promoters, including private equity investor Kedaara Capital, are selling 3.56 crore equity shares via IPO. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/enterprise/enterprise-software/news/saas-company-icertis-is-looking-to-hit-the-public-market-next-year/articleshow/85786657.cms">After Freshworks, Icertis is looking for an IPO for next year in the US</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/ami-organics-wants-to-become-debt-free-post-the-ipo/articleshow/85781458.cms">Ami Organics wants to become debt-free post the IPO, to cut dependence on China in the coming years</a>

Vijaya Diagnostic IPO ⁠— analysts say ‘subscribe’ but the grey market premium isn’t exciting

<ul><li><keyword id="2645087" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rategain" source="Orion">RateGain</keyword> intends to raise over ₹400 crore through its fresh issue, which will be used for investments and acquisitions.</li><li>Rate Gain has over 1,434 customers, spread across 110 countries.</li><li>The company counts Lemon Tree, OYO and several other hotels and OTAs as its clients.</li><li>It will continue to focus on the US market after its public listing as well.</li></ul>Software-as-a-service startup (SaaS) RateGain Travel Technologies — which has less than 1% business coming from India — had decided, earlier this year, that it will get listed in its home country. This is rather odd as several tech entrepreneurs dream of getting their startups listed in American stock exchange Nasdaq. It’s not just a matter of pride, but also a strategic move. There are majorly two reasons for Indian tech startups to explore a Nasdaq listing — retail investors have better understanding of tech business in the US and/or majority of their revenue is coming from that market. Besides this, international listing gives Indian companies a larger and more diverse pool of capital. Whether it's the already listed Freshworks or soon-to-be-listed Icertis, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/inmobi-prepares-for-nasdaq-listing-to-seek-15-billion-valuation/articleshow/81789159.cms">InMobi </a>or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/pine-labs-reportedly-joins-the-long-list-of-indian-tech-startups-heading/articleshow/81760763.cms">PineLabs</a> — one of these three factors are the driving force of listing abroad. So it is quite amusing why RateGain would choose to get itself listed in India and that too in 2021 — potentially the worst time for any travel tech business due to the ongoing pandemic. Bhanu Chopra, the chairperson and managing director of RateGain told Business Insider that there were three reasons why the company decided not to go for a Nasdaq listing. First, the ability to drive up brand value being a local company is much higher. Second, they wanted to be the torchbearer of the first product SaaS company to list in India. Third, there were several logistical issues that couldn’t have been solved without making some organisational changes and it was quite cumbersome. Therefore, the company decided to stick to its home market and be the first SaaS company to list in India. Rate Gain has over 1,434 customers — across the hotel, hospitality and online travel agency (OTA) segment — spread across 110 countries. In order to serve the customers in these locations, RateGain has set up its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, United States and Spain. It has also acquired three companies to date — US-based DHISCO and BCV, and<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/ipo-bound-rategain-acquires-germany-based-myhotelshop/articleshow/86454447.cms"> Germany-based myhotelshop</a>. About 65% of RateGain’s revenue comes from the US market, while nearly 2% comes from India. The company will continue to focus on the US market even after the public listing as the majority of its customer base is settled or registered there. <div type="image" title="Despite majority of its revenue coming from the US, this is what compelled RateGain to be the first SaaS company to list in India" msid="87269616" hostid="261"></div> The company — founded in 2004 and bootstrapped till 2017— intends to raise ₹400 crore through its fresh issue. Besides, the company will also sell 2.26 crore as offer for sale (OfS). This capital will be used to make strategic investments, acquisition and fund inorganic growth initiatives. Its last reported valuation was $133 million in 2015. But why now? <div type="image" title="Despite majority of its revenue coming from the US, this is what compelled RateGain to be the first SaaS company to head for an IPO in India" msid="87286549" hostid="261"></div> It’s no secret that the travel and hospitality segment was severely hit since March 2020, when the world stepped into pandemic-induced lockdowns. As the entire segment was suffering, RateGain was bound to suffer too as they comprised its clients. The company decided to take a pause and arm itself with better products to meet the pent-up demand that may come back soon as people indulge in revenge travel and COVID-related restrictions are lifted. The company counts Lemon Tree, OYO and several other hotels and online travel aggregators (OTAs) as its clients. Besides this, the company believes that Indian investors are now ready to invest in tech businesses. Chopra believes that the investors' interest in Indian startups have increased in both private as well as public markets. This can be seen in terms of the number of unicorns -- private firms valued at or more than $1 billion -- that are being created as well as the number of companies hitting the public market. “My sense is that the Indian investor is now ready and they understand the future of any industry is digitisation. Now, RateGain is leading that effort in digitisation of the travel and hospitality industry” Chopra added. The pent-up demand of the travel industry and the positive global outlook is driving 26% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) growth. “Retail investors understand that the travel industry is recovering very fast and it is going to be the fastest growing industry in the next four-five years,” he added. Chopra believes that the ecosystem has developed enough for retail investors to understand the upcoming trends. In a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/droom-founder-explains-why-he-is-considering-a-us-ipo-and-where-he-intends-to-spend-the-money/articleshow/84917608.cms">previous interaction</a> with Business Insider, Droom’s founder and CEO Sandeep Aggarwal highlighted that Indian investors now have a stock appetite to invest in tech businesses. Earlier, he was of that view that Indian new age businesses are not rewarded in the Indian stock exchange. WATCH ALSO: <div type="Video" msid="84897976" hostid="261" title="India's latest unicorn is prepping for an IPO now" dataSource="BUSINESSINSIDER" thumbUrl="https://denmark.timesinternet.in/cmslite/api/app/images.jpg?msid=84897976"></div> SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/bharti-airtel-tech-mahindra-bajaj-finance-and-other-top-stocks-to-watch-out-for-on-october-26/slidelist/87268702.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance and other top stocks to watch out for on October 26</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/elon-musks-wealth-surged-by-36-billion-the-largest-single-day-gain-bloombergs-ever-recorded/articleshow/87267131.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Elon Musk's wealth surged by $36 billion, the largest single-day gain Bloomberg's ever recorded</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/opinion-the-next-four-letter-word-taking-the-world-of-finance-by-storm/articleshow/87260681.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">OPINION: The next four-letter word taking the world of finance by storm</a>

Despite majority of its revenue coming from the US, this is what compelled RateGain to be the first SaaS company to head for an IPO in India

<ul><li><keyword id="55847" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="postman" source="Orion">Postman</keyword> has overtaken BrowserStack in valuation with this round.</li><li>The company has now raised more than $430 million across four rounds, and was valued at $350 million in 2019.</li><li>Postman will use the funding to hire across multiple verticals like sales, marketing, product and engineering.</li></ul>San Francisco and Bengaluru-based software-as-a-service (<keyword id="6395918" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAAS" source="Orion">SaaS</keyword>) platform Postman has raised $225 million in a Series D round, at valuation at $5.6 billion. The round was led by existing investor <keyword id="7496169" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="insight-partners" source="Orion">Insight Partners</keyword>. New investors like Coatue, Battery Ventures, BOND, DoorDash product leader Gokul Rajaram and Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham also participated in the round, along with existing investors CRV and <keyword id="175881" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nexus-Venture-Partners" source="Orion">Nexus Venture Partners</keyword>. Founded in 2014 by Abhinav Asthana, Abhijit Kane, and Ankit Sobti, Postman helps developers and companies simplify their application programming interface (API) workflow. It also enables the companies to streamline collaboration and create API faster. The company has over 17 million developers and 500,000 organisations on its platform. Postman will now use this Series D funding to hire across multiple verticals like sales, marketing, product and engineering. The company will also invest in its community of developers across the globe, support students through innovative APIs and contribute towards open source projects. The company has now raised more than $430 million across four rounds. Postman had raised $150 million in 2020 at a valuation of $2 billion valuation in its Series C investment round led by Insight Partners. It was valued at $350 million in 2019. In June 2020, BrowserStack was positioned as the highest valued venture capital (VC) funded SaaS company in India. The company had raised $200 million in a Series B round led by US-based investment firm BOND, at a valuation of $4 billion. Postman has overtaken BrowserStack in valuation with this round. Other Indian highest valued <keyword id="3499933" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="SaaS-startups" source="Orion">SaaS startups</keyword> are Zoho, Freshworks, Icertis, Druva, Postman, Zenoti and ChargeBee in the ‘unicorn club’. A unicorn is a privately valued company with a valuation of over $1 billion. Zoho is not venture capital-backed and its valuation is not publicly known. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;" class="redcator-table-advance"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">SaaS unicorns </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Valuation </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Postman </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$5.6 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">BrowserStack </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Freshworks </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$3.5 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Icertis </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.8 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Zenoti </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.5 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Chargebee </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">MindTickle </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.2 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Highradius</td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Druva </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/a-third-of-internet-users-would-be-actively-shopping-online-by-the-end-of-this-decade-offline-retail-to-take-a-back-seat/articleshow/85390712.cms">A third of internet users would be actively shopping online by the end of this decade, offline retail to take a back seat</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/with-pharmeasy-mobikwik-and-ixigo-all-set-to-hit-the-public-market-orios-plans-to-go-deeper-into-pre-ipo-bets/articleshow/85359703.cms">With PharmEasy, MobiKwik and ixigo all set to hit the public market, Orios plans to go deeper into pre-IPO bets</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tamil-nadu-government-is-upset-about-losing-money-on-luxury-cars/articleshow/85322536.cms">Tamil Nadu government is upset about losing money on luxury cars</a>

Postman is now the highest valued VC funded-SaaS startup in India, after a $225 million fundraise

<ul><li><keyword id="46718" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="iday" source="Orion">iDay</keyword> is dubbed as India's Largest &amp; most Definitive Startup Event for Tech Entrepreneurs featuring Global Icons, Unicorn Founders &amp; Leading Investors</li><li>Focuses on Tech trends including Fintech, Crypto SaaS for SMEs, Gig Economy, Capital Markets, Healthcare, Hybrid education &amp; More</li><li>Spread across 2 Days | 100+Speakers |50+ Sessions | Unicorn Roundtables, Workshops, Masterclasses &amp; Engaging Sessions</li></ul>With a huge number of companies witnessing accelerated scale, despite uncertain times, <keyword id="502904" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tie-delhi-ncr" source="Orion">TiE Delhi-NCR</keyword> is organising the 10th edition of <keyword id="4390638" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India-internet-day" source="Orion">India Internet Day</keyword> (iDay) in virtual format, with the theme ‘Digital India: Escape Velocity. With a Focus on Tech trends including Fintech, Crypto SaaS for SMEs, Gig Economy, Capital markets, Healthcare, Hybrid education &amp; more, it will span over 2 days 23rd &amp; 24th September. The conference plays host to in-depth sessions &amp; keynotes by leading founders &amp; investors from India and around the World. Speaking about the event, Karan Mohla, Co- Chair for iDay 2021 &amp; Partner, Chiratae Ventures said – “As India leapfrogs to being a tech enabled economy, India Internet Day 2021 rings in with the theme - Digital India: Escape Velocity. The year 2021 has been a defining one for the Indian startup ecosystem in more ways than one — record amount of fund inflow, creation of new unicorns, companies going public, and a new benchmark in terms of mergers &amp; acquisitions. This reflects the strength of the Indian start-ups. Through iDay this year we are putting a spotlight on the learning, insights &amp; trends which have in last 18 months, seem to have lent ESCAPE VELOCITY to the entire startup ecosystem.” Business Insider is the media partner for TiE's ‘Digital India: Escape Velocity' event. The Stellar line up at the event includes Global Speakers, Leading Entrepreneurs, Investors, Influencers, Startups, Tech Innovators likeRuchir Sharma, Morgan Stanley | Monish Darda, Icertis | Surojit Chatterjee, Coinbase | Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera |John T Chambers, JC2 Ventures |Kanwaljit Singh, Fireside Ventures |Balaji S. Srinivasan, Angel Investor &amp; Entrepreneur, | Byju Raveendran, Founder &amp; CEO- Byju’s |Kunal Bahl, Co-founder &amp; CEO – Snapdeal|Kushal Bhagia, CEO – firstcheque | Rajan Anandan, Sequoia India &amp; Surge | Kumara Raghavan, Amazon Internet Services |Bikram Singh Bedi, Google Cloud | Lathika Pai, Microsoft |Vani Kola, Managing Director – Kalaari Capital | Supria Dhanda, Western Digital. “India Internet Day is curated &amp; led by a team of serial entrepreneurs &amp; investors. It has become a leading platform to catch the makers and leaders of the India Internet Growth story. Over the years, tech entrepreneurs have hugely gained from the conference. This year we put a spotlight on how technology &amp; resilience have shown the way through the worst crisis of our times. 40% of Indian unicorns have been added in 2021 &amp; this augurs well for the startup ecosystem. With engaging conversations at #iDay in form of Keynotes, Fireside Chats, AMAs. Masterclasses, Panel Discussions, Unicorn Roundtables, we wish to continue to foster entrepreneurship.” said Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR The Conference was supported by Startup India, Google, Western Digital, Sequoia Capital, Morgan Stanley, Coinbase, Microsoft, AWS, Icertis, Kalaari and Avendus. About TiE Delhi-NCR’s India Internet Day From its inception #iDay has set out to be a leadership conference that looks to set conversations around vision 2025 for the industry. After a resounding debut in 2012, it has grown from being relevant to being indispensable for stakeholders across the ecosystem. #iDay hosts the entire gamut of internet mobile industry in India like no other forum. India Internet Day 2020 Co-Chairs – Lathika Pai &amp; Mohit Bhatnagar along with the team Abhishek Gupta, Alok Mittal, Arvind Jha, Deep Kalra, Dev Khare, Gautam Gandhi, Karan Mohla, Latika Pai, Miten Sampat, Prasanto K Roy, Rajan Anandan, Rajat Garg, Rajesh Sawhney, Ravi Gururaj and Vani Kola are the torchbearers who put together the conference that has emerged as the only voice of India’s internet industry. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/airtel-rights-issue-details-record-date-issue-price-and-more/articleshow/86446419.cms">Airtel rights issue worth ₹21,000 crore opens next month – record date, price, ratio and everything else you need to know</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/freshworks-ipo-500-crorepatis-12-billion-market-cap-and-more-that-emerged-from-indias-first-saas-listing-at-nasdaq/articleshow/86445614.cms">Freshworks IPO — 500 crorepatis, $12 billion market cap and more that emerged from India’s first SaaS listing at Nasdaq</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/zee-sony-merger-heres-what-sony-is-really-getting-from-zee-entertainment/articleshow/86420990.cms">Zee-Sony merger: Here’s what Sony is really getting from Zee Entertainment</a>

TiE Delhi-NCR kickstarts the 10th Edition of India Internet Day themed Digital India: Escape Velocity

<ul><li><keyword id="2463144" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="BrowserStack">BrowserStack</keyword> has become the most valued VC-backed SaaS company to enter the Indian <keyword id="3009432" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="unicorn-club">unicorn club</keyword>.</li><li>The company is valued at $4 billion, followed by Girish Mathrubootham-led Freshworks valued at $3.5 billion.</li><li>BrowserStack will be accelerating its acquisition plans in order to expand its global presence and product offerings.</li></ul>BrowserStack has become the most valued venture capital-backed software-as-a-service (SaaS) company in India. The Mumbai-based startup has raised $200 million (₹1,474 Cr) in a Series B round led by US-based investment firm BOND, at a valuation of $4 billion. Insight Partners and existing investor Accel also participated in the round. BrowserStack will be joining SaaS firms like Freshworks, Icertis, Druva, Postman, Zenoti and ChargeBee in the ‘unicorn club’. A unicorn is a privately valued company with a valuation of over $1 billion. BrowserStack is going to be a leader in terms of valuation, among the other SaaS unicorns in India. <img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/79IgTgyzobExhPw3tbwgfSHdSn6vOS_iSyikI-bUfkbNt7Hd2XNrZ7A8XbBDzu3VqCO635QAmx4yrW6-jz7Uv4bB33ux_-XU3QpouJEC1o5mIMDwAG4x39tagtvzVd7lANuSGgOo" /> Notably, companies like Icertis, Zenoti, Postman and few others are registered in the United States, but are considered by many as Indian startups due to their Indian roots. Some of these companies also have the majority of their offices and workforce in India. Notably, Sridhar Vembu-led Zoho Corp is also one of the biggest SaaS companies in India and is estimated to be valued at over $1 billion, given it has over 45 million customers across the globe and has earned a profit of<a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/what-the-financials-zohos-profit-streak-continues-as-fy20-revenue-crosses-inr-4300-cr/"> ₹800 crore </a>in FY20. The valuation has, however, never been accorded to the company as it continues to be bootstrapped since its inception in 1996. According to a <a href="https://www.sify.com/finance/indian-saas-firms-may-clock-20bn-in-revenue-by-2022-report-news-news-umbpOObeijgje.html">report</a> by Bain &amp; Company, the Indian SaaS companies have the potential to capture a 7-9% share of the global SaaS market by 2022. Such an expansion would also aid Indian SaaS firms to reach a combined revenue of $18 billion to $20 billion in the same timeline. BrowserStack’s entry into the unicorn club further proves the interest of the investors in the Indian SaaS sector. Commenting on the same, BOND’s general partner, Jay Simons, said, "As software continues to rewire everything, the bar on speed and quality continues to rise, and testing software across the expanding number of browsers and devices is a huge and expensive challenge for development teams to manage on their own." Founded in 2011 by Ritesh Arora and Nakul Aggarwal, BrowserStack is a software testing platform used by developers to test their websites or mobile applications across browsers, operating systems and devices. The company claims to have over 50,000 customers and over four million developer signups. The company’s clientele also includes over half of Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Twitter, Barclays and Expedia, and claims to power over two million tests every day across 15 global data centres. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td colspan="4" style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#cfe2f3;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">BrowserStack's Raises $250 Mn To Date </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Series </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Funding </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Investors </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Year </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Series A </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$50 Mn </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Accel </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2018 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Series B </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$200 Mn </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">BOND, Insight Partners, Accel </td><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2021 </td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">*Source: BrowserStack </td></tr><tr></tr></tbody></table> BrowserStack has raised about $250 million in funding till date, with $50 million coming in from Accel as a part of its <a href="https://www.browserstack.com/press/browserstack-announce-50-million-investment-accel">Series A</a> round raised in 2018. It plans to use the latest capital infusion to scale its global presence, expand product offering and also enable strategic acquisitions. Prior to this, the company <a href="https://www.browserstack.com/percy">acquired</a> San Francisco-based visual testing platform Percy in July last year. "We will continue to scale rapidly across functions to accelerate the rate at which we take new products to market. This funding will allow us to explore the different ways in which we can bring new products to market -- via acquisitions, via acqui-hires, or by investing more heavily in our product and engineering teams," Ritesh Arora, cofounder and chief executive of BrowserStack, said in statement. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/bigbasket-makes-more-revenue-than-32-year-old-spencers-retail/articleshow/83570315.cms">Did you know? BigBasket makes more revenue than 32-year old Spencer’s Retail</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/paytm-has-appointed-goldman-sachs-and-jp-morgan-as-the-bankers-for-its-upcoming-ipo/articleshow/83574242.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Paytm ropes in Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan as bankers for upcoming IPO ⁠— there may be more along the way</a>

BrowserStack’s unicorn status further strengthens India’s SaaS club

The sale of residential <keyword id="-460" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="real-estate-in-mumbai" source="Orion">real estate in Mumbai</keyword> is not only higher than pre-covid levels but stands at its highest in the last 10-years in July 2021. Going by the recent trends, a substantial push came from the millennials. It demonstrates yet another behavioural change induced by the COVID-19 pandemic as these millennial cohorts were once perceived to be more inclined to rent a home as opposed to buying one. According to <a href="https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/India-millennials-growth-sectors">reports</a>, there are over 400 million millennials in India, which is higher than the entire population of the US. Now aged between 25-40 years, millennials in India comprise one-third of its total population and 46 % of the country’s total workforce, with a spending capacity of $3.6 billion. The millennial generation is generally defined as people born between the mid-1990s to early 2000s, more specifically within the 1981 to 1996 period. In India, the millennials are considered profligate spenders and a generation that seeks instant gratification, not worrying or planning much about the future. As proponents of the sharing economy, they would rather use ride-share apps like Ola and Uber than buy a car, look after its repair, fuel, and pay EMIs. The same logic applied to owning a house too. They would prefer to rent a house than buy one, pay maintenance and EMIs. This behaviour by the millennials held true till early-2020 before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. The same millennials have shown a marked change in their habits. <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/real-estate/millennial-prefer-home-ownership-over-renting-survey/article33861200.ece">Reports</a> indicate that this largest spending cohort of people is now turning serious in their spending. Two factors could be playing a part in this behavioural pattern change, one is the coming of age of the millennials and in many cases, they are the sole providers of their families. Experts <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.in/story/expert-speak-why-millennials-wont-settle-for-small-cramped-city-homes-anymore/">believe</a> that the second reason for the change in spending priorities is the pandemic induced lockdown that revealed the handwriting on the wall - the non-sustainability of the ‘reckless’ spending and the advent of WFH with its wide acceptance. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What’s driving this change in sentiment?" comment="subhead" text="What’s driving this change in sentiment?">What’s driving this change in sentiment?</cmsannotation> A recent news <a href="https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/millennials-borrowed-for-health-and-credit-refinancing-in-2020-survey-11614249892908.html">report</a> highlights this shift in the spending pattern of millennials from borrowing for lifestyle and recreational purposes to serious priorities like home repairs and medical emergencies in the family. Another study by Standard Chartered Bank discloses that as a cohort the millennials are the most inclined to conscientiously strive for their far-sighted monetary objectives. The study specifically shows that 48% of the Indian millennials who are saving for a substantial buy like a car or a house whereas only 28% of the 45+ generation. This matured approach to financial matters also reflects in a recent study by 360 Realtors, a renowned name in <keyword id="6354553" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="real-estate" source="Orion">real estate</keyword> advisory services, wherein 3/4th of millennials expressed their desire to purchase a residential property in the next three years. A similar report by Anarock Property Consultants echoes the same intent mentioning that 55% of total buyers looking to buy their own homes are from the millennial age group. This number stood at 42% last year. 68% of the millennials polled by Anarock indicated that these home purchases were for their own end-use. Nobroker.com, a leading real-estate platform, says that millennials as a group constituted 63% of all its buyers amongst its entire user base, up from 49% from the pre-covid period. For the city of Mumbai, the millennials buyers were 74% of all the buyers across all the age groups. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The COVID-19 impact &amp; rising need to own a home among millennials" comment="subhead" text="The COVID-19 impact &amp; rising need to own a home among millennials">The COVID-19 impact &amp; rising need to own a home among millennials</cmsannotation> While the pandemic has largely been instrumental in the shift in millennials’ mindsets towards buying homes, other significant factors are influencing this decision. The success of the WFH model means both employers and the millennial employees view a hybrid model of work wherein one does not have to go to an office every day as a sustainable framework of the future of work culture. This also means that the idea of career mobility and city-hopping for jobs is not at the forefront and a hybrid model of work. The major constituent, which is fulfilling the millennial aspiration of buying a house of their own in Mumbai into a real possibility is the lowest ever interest regime prevailing in the current times. The easy availability of credit and having experienced the flexibility and commute-less remote work means that the millennial buyer can now fulfil his bigger home dreams away from the island city to accommodate his/her remote WFH and their children’s online schooling in extended suburbs of MMR. The combination of record-low interest rates that have limited scope to reduce further and incentives by government augur well for both the millennial buyers of first-time home as an end-user and ones looking at a second home for investment. Disclaimer: This is a sponsored article in partnership with Lodha Group SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/enterprise/enterprise-software/news/saas-company-icertis-is-looking-to-hit-the-public-market-next-year/articleshow/85786657.cms">After Freshworks, Icertis is looking for an IPO for next year in the US</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/ami-organics-wants-to-become-debt-free-post-the-ipo/articleshow/85781458.cms">Ami Organics wants to become debt-free post the IPO, to cut dependence on China in the coming years</a>

Changing landscape of real estate in India — millennials are driving the demand

<ul><li><keyword id="3077592" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zenoti">Zenoti</keyword>, a Software-as-a-Service startup catering to the beauty and wellness industry, has raised $160 million in a series D round of funding.</li><li>The round was led by Advent International, while it also saw participation from existing investors Tiger Global and Steadview Partners. </li><li>With this, Zenoti becomes the fifth SaaS-based Indian startup to become a unicorn.</li></ul>Zenoti, a Software-as-a-Service startup catering to the beauty and wellness industry, has <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/zenoti-enters-unicorn-club-with-160-million-fundraise-11607954375274.html">raised </a>$160 million in a series D round of funding with a valuation of over a billion dollars. The round was led by Advent International, while it also saw participation from existing investors Tiger Global and Steadview Partners. With this, Zenoti becomes the fifth SaaS-based Indian startup to become a unicorn, the previous ones being Zoho, Freshworks, Druva and Icertis. All of these <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> have found a major customer base in the United States. Zenoti, which is based out of Hyderabad and Bellavue, Washington, offers cloud-based software solutions for the spa, salon and medspa industry and counts over 12,000 outlets across 50 countries as its clients. With the latest investment, the startup now aims to fuel Artificial Intelligence-led innovations while also scaling up operations. The company also aims to hire new employees to double its headcount to 900 from the current 550 by 2022. The 10-year old startup had also ranked 316 in the Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™, which is a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. The company’s founder Sudheer Koneru had also said that the company’s revenue had registered a 320% revenue growth in the last year. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/steadview-capital-invests-in-softbank-backed-logistics-unicorn-delhivery-founder-eyes-an-ipo-in-the-next-15-months/articleshow/79732530.cms">Steadview Capital invests in SoftBank-backed logistics unicorn Delhivery – founder eyes an IPO in the next 15 months</a>

Another unicorn – Indian SaaS startup Zenoti enters the coveted club with a $160 million funding

<ul><li>The new <keyword id="7567986" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="auto-debit" source="Orion">auto-debit</keyword> guidelines for recurring <keyword id="6359540" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="payments" source="Orion">payments</keyword> kicked in from today, October 1.</li><li>“The current <keyword id="30067" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rbi" source="Orion">RBI</keyword> guidelines place more friction in recurring payment,” said Upekkha’s Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan.</li><li>Industry experts believe that this move will push more SaaS companies to move overseas and chase international clients.</li></ul>The new auto-debit guidelines for<a href="https://businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/what-is-e-mandate-or-upi-autopay-and-how-to-enable-it-for-jio-hotstar-and-others/articleshow/86650600.cms?_ga=2.76036176.459036666.1632714936-227132192.1626769520"> recurring payments</a> kicked in from today, October 1, but the Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry expects this new regulation to have a much deeper impact on their businesses. Before getting into this, it is important to understand what the guidelines really say. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to do away with automatic recurring payments by adding a layer of authentication for transactions. A user will have to manually mandate such transactions every month, dropping the idea of recurring payments altogether. Now where does the <keyword id="11064864" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SaaS-industry" source="Orion">SaaS industry</keyword> come into play? The <keyword id="4360787" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-saas-companies" source="Orion">Indian SaaS companies</keyword> — which are poised to meet a fifth of world’s software demand and pocket a revenue of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/amazon-twitter-hyundai-and-dominos-are-buying-indian-software-fuelling-a-75-billion-dream-chased-by-top-vcs-like-sequoia-and-tiger-global/articleshow/85646116.cms">$75 million in the next four years</a> — are worried that this would lead to default or delayed payments, impacting their revenue. Suresh Sambandam, founder of work management software company Kissflow, in a conversation with Business Insider, explained that any small ticket-size SaaS companies in India — whose payments range between $5 to $500 a month — go through a credit card-enabled payments system that is recurring in nature. The latest step, which adds an additional layer of authentication, is going to introduce default in payments, a lot of paperwork and a lot of human involvement to follow up with customers on past payments. “Earlier it was a smooth transaction and now it's overcomplicated,” he added. Thiyagarajan Maruthavana, partner at Upekkha Value SaaS Accelerator, told Business Insider said, “In the last 15 years, while the global SaaS market grew manifold to $200 billion in revenue, the domestic SaaS market failed to take off due to lack of easy collection of recurring payments. Many global SaaS startups and corporations have dialled back their India market plans in the last 5 years due to this issue.” “The current RBI guidelines place more friction in recurring payment,” he further added. Both Sambandam and Thiyagarajan reiterated that this move will push more SaaS companies to go after international clients as well as headquarters. “However it does not impact the SaaS industry from India as these Indian SaaS companies had already moved away from serving the domestic market to the global market. The guidelines impact only a handful of SaaS businesses that focus on Indian customers. These companies will now be forced to move their geography focus elsewhere,” Thiyagarajan said. Ankur Bansal, co-founder of BlackSoil Capital, in a previous conversation with Business Insider, had highlighted that SaaS business margins are really high and they are even higher from customers based out of the US or Europe. This is why most SaaS companies — such as Zoho, Freshworks, Postman, MindTickle and others — usually go after clients in international markets. This, in turn, also increases their valuation in the eyes of the investors significantly. These companies, along with many others, do have a portion of their customers coming in from India as well, which is going to get impacted now. The latest move will leave Indian SaaS companies with little reason to actually operate in India. What do other experts have to say? <div type="image" title="India’s new guidelines on recurring payments sends SaaS industry in a turmoil" msid="86679002" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Anand Jain, cofounder and chief strategy officer at CleverTap&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> “Recurring services don’t need the friction of executing the payment on a recurring basis — that friction makes business, especially SaaS business, tougher… The requirement for banks to provide at least 24 hour notice before a recurring payment is executed also ensures that unnecessary payments or buyers’ guilt are reduced. The only challenge I see is that this will need better help and training by financial institutions for their end users in setup. But India is getting much more savvy with these things.” — Monish Darda, cofounder and chief technology officer at Icertis, said. “These are a matter of habit, for instance, when RBI made 2FA [two-factor authentication] mandatory, we all thought that it would dent online transaction volumes. While there was some inconvenience felt initially, digital transactions (one-time password et al) have grown manifold in recent times and are set to continue to grow. In fact, the safety net provided by these checks and balances will only bring new users to the fold. Having said that, this will [be an] inconvenience [to] merchants and customers both for pre-existing debit mandates, since the card issuers will have to revalidate the mandates now.” — Shishir Mankad, managing partner and head of financial services at management consulting firm, Praxis Global Alliance said. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/ritesh-agarwal-led-oyo-files-preliminary-papers-for-its-1-2-billion-ipo/articleshow/86674003.cms">Ritesh Agarwal-led OYO files preliminary papers for its $1.2 billion IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/markets/news/zee-entertainment-falls-nearly-3-in-trade-as-board-refuses-to-hold-egm/articleshow/86678219.cms#:~:text=to%20hold%20EGM-,Zee%20Entertainment%20falls%20nearly%203%25%20in%20trade,board%20refuses%20to%20hold%20EGM&amp;text=Zee%20Entertainment%20has%20declined%20to,board%20to%20consider%20the%20demand.&amp;text=Post%20the%20development%2C%20Zee%20Entertainment's,3%3A30%20p.m.%20on%20Friday.">Zee Entertainment falls nearly 3% in trade as board refuses to hold EGM</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/air-india-gets-a-saviour-in-tata-sons/articleshow/86675842.cms#:~:text=The%20government%20has%20reportedly%20accepted,was%20also%20among%20the%20bidders.">Tata Sons reportedly wins bid to takeover the ‘Maharaja’</a>

New guidelines on recurring payments may send SaaS companies out of India, say experts

<ul><li>This is SoftBank’s second bet in <keyword id="2000014" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="MindTickle" source="Orion">MindTickle</keyword>, which helps enterprises improve their sales.</li><li>MindTickle will use this funding to expand its presence, acquire companies and hire aggressively.</li><li>The company has over 200 clients across the globe, including Dabur, Johnson &amp; Johnson, Wipro</li></ul>MindTickle, a startup that helps small and large enterprises improve their sales, is the latest entrant to India's <keyword id="3009432" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="unicorn-club" source="Orion">unicorn club</keyword>. The decade old startup on Thursday, August 8, announced a $100 million Series E funding round led by existing investor SoftBank, at a valuation of $1.2 billion. Existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Canaan, NewView Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in the Series E round. This makes MindTickle the third Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup to become a unicorn in 2021, after Chargebee and BrowserStack. Overall, there are over nine venture capital (VC) funded SaaS unicorns in India. A unicorn is a privately valued company with a valuation of over $1 billion. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;" class="redcator-table-advance"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">SaaS unicorns </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Valuation </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">BrowserStack </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Freshworks </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$3.5 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Icertis </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.8 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> Postman </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> Zenoti </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.5 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Chargebee </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion</td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">MindTickle </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.2 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Highradius </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Druva </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table> MindTickle wants to gain greater momentum in international markets MindTickle was founded by Krishna Depura, Mohit Garg, Deepak Diwakar and Nishant Mungali in 2011. It helps companies build sales capabilities. It also offers solutions for onboarding, micro-learning and skills development. MindTickle plans to use this funding to expand its presence in multiple verticals as well as markets like Europe and Asia. A part of the funding would also be used to acquire more companies and expand their technology stack, MindTickle’s chief executive officer (CEO) and cofounder Depura told Business Insider. “So a reasonable chunk of [the] money will go into global expansions, getting into more territories and geographies. The second amount [sic] will go into R&amp;D [research and development], which we’ll use to develop our stack. I think $100 million is a lot of money and it’s not like we’ll deploy the money in the next six months or one year. But it’ll give us sufficient power to plan for the next three-four years to set up our base and continue to think over the horizon,” Depura added. He also highlighted that the company has a good presence in India at the moment, especially in the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors. MindTickle will also use a part of the funding to go aggressive on hiring across geographies and functions. It has already hired over 100 employees in 2021 and has openings for 115 positions. The company has a workforce of 500 employees. MindTickle’s current clientele has already set its global presence This is SoftBank’s second investment in the Pune and San Francisco-based startup. The Japanese conglomerate had previously led MindTickle’s $100 million round raised in November 2020. Existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Canaan, NEA, NewView Capital, and Qualcomm Ventures had also participated in the round. The SaaS startup has raised over $281 million to date. Its clientele includes 200 enterprise companies like Johnson &amp; Johnson, Splunk, Wipro, Ola, Cloudera, Dabur and United Colors of Benetton. Its customer base includes a few dozen Fortune 500 and Forbes Global 2000 companies, which is an annual ranking of the top corporations worldwide measured by revenue. MindTickle claims to have presence in over 115 countries as its clientele has subsidiaries across the world. “We continue to be impressed by Mindtickle’s performance in creating and becoming a category leader in the sales readiness space. The product has become an essential part of any sales organisation and we are excited to support the company in its growth,” Munish Varma, managing partner with SoftBank Investment Advisers, said. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/ipo-bound-ixigo-acquires-bus-ticketing-platform-abhibus-to-strengthen-its-footprint/articleshow/85062903.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">IPO-bound ixigo acquires bus ticketing platform AbhiBus to strengthen its footprint</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/flipkart-and-tiger-global-have-a-billion-dollar-notice-to-respond-to-in-the-next-90-days/articleshow/85059732.cms">Flipkart and Tiger Global have a billion dollar notice to respond to in the next 90 days</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/whitehat-jrs-ceo-karan-bajaj-quits-exactly-a-year-after-byjus-acquisition/articleshow/85029450.cms">WhiteHat Jr’s CEO Karan Bajaj quits exactly a year after Byju’s acquired the company</a>

MindTickle is the third SaaS firm from India to enter the unicorn club in 2021

<ul><li>In 2021, <keyword id="8990323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-VCs">Indian VCs</keyword> (venture capitalists) believe that the investment deal flow will continue as global funds too jump in for a pie of the Indian startup ecosystem.</li><li>Indian investors say they will continue to bet on sectors like e-commerce, edtech, fintech and SaaS, while there’s room for sectors like SpaceTech and Agritech to grow.</li><li>The year ahead could see consolidation in India’s tech ecosystem as well. Investors believe more mergers and acquisitions are on the cards in 2021.</li></ul>India’s tech ecosystem is riding into the new year with a lot of enthusiasm. There are multiple <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/2021-could-finally-be-the-year-of-indias-tech-ipos-as-startups-like-zomato-delhivery-policybazaar-head-for-the-public-markets/slidelist/80019978.cms">startup IPOs</a> on the cards, investments are flowing in, and the spirit of recovering in a post-pandemic era is high. In 2020, despite the coronavirus pandemic PE-VC (private equity and venture capital) deals hit $39 billion across 814 deals led by the onslaught of deals by Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail. And in 2021, Indian VCs (venture capitalists) believe that the investment deal flow will continue as global funds are eyeing a slice of the Indian startup ecosystem. “2021 will be a watershed year for the tech economy in India. While foreign investors have been extremely bullish about it, domestic investors and even large corporates have been largely bystanders past 10 years waiting for the change to reach a certain critical mass. They will now jump in or be left out of the handsome gains that will be accrued in the next 10 years, by participating in the tech economy,” said Anup Jain, Managing Partner at Orios Venture Partners. India’s internet ecosystem in numbers <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; width: 468pt; table-layout: fixed;"><colgroup></colgroup><col /><col /><col /><col /><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Internet Subscribers </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Smartphone devices </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Social media users </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Daily mobile time </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">749 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">500 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">376 million </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">4.8 hours </td></tr></tbody></table>Source: HDFC Securities report dated December 17, 2020 And to ride this internet growth of India, here are the sectors that Indian VCs are betting on in 2021. Edtech will continue to shine 2020 was the year of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/india-edtech-in-charts-how-the-shift-to-online-learning-meant-money-valuation-and-users-for-the-likes-of-byjus-unacademy-and-others/articleshow/80040270.cms">edtech</a> in India. With schools and colleges shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s educational technology <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> stood at the forefront of online transition of schools. In 2020, edtech startups raised a total of $2.2 billion, and VCs believe that the money will continue flowing into the sector. Fintech is the next big bet As the internet penetrates India's hinterlands, the adoption of digital payments, financial tech instruments will increase across the country. And VCs believe that fintech cos will drive the growth. "If 2020, the year of the pandemic, was all about edtech and health tech, 2021 will be the year of Fintech in India. Consumers and businesses alike have made substantial changes to the way they lead their lives and businesses and set new goals and practices for saving, investing and spending," said Jain. Jain lists that financial services or neo-banking ecosystem, wealth creation and management will reign big in fintech along with "the use of tech by consumers, just like in e-commerce, will be reflected in discovery and purchase of financial products and services." E-commerce boom to linger With the coronavirus pandemic, offline retail was hit in a big way, which also led to India's e-commerce firms' boom along with grocery retail, which saw their numbers multiply. From Amazon and Flipkart seeing the number of sellers grow on their platform to JioMart, BigBasket, Grofers, saw their average order volumes and app downloads grow during the pandemic. This e-commerce boom will continue to linger in the new year, believe VCs. The durable shift to online has gone well beyond just the top 50 million users, and all incumbents brands have embraced it and are providing a good experience. The sector will keep expanding, and new retail (formats+omnichannel), Social commerce, warehousing, etc should see innovation," said Deepak Gupta, Founding Partner, WEH Ventures. Within e-commerce, Direct to Consumer or DTC brands that sell directly from their websites saw massive growth in 2020. And that has seen investor appetite also grow, with brands like boAt raising over $100 million in funding already in 2021. SaaS to ride on the benefit of digitization One of India’s best performing bets has been in the SaaS (Software as a Service) sector with unicorns like Freshworks, Zoho, Druva, Zenoti, Icertis. And experts believe that the offerings in SaaS are far from over. “We expect adoption of SaaS (software-as-a-service) products to become more widespread as people realized the benefits of digitization during the COVID 19 pandemic. Cyber Security companies would have tailwinds as data leaks / data thefts have made sure people take this aspect into cognizance,” said Jatin Desai, Managing Partner at Inflexor Ventures. Space, agri and electric vehicle infra are among other sectors to watch out for Here are the other sectors that VCs are betting on <ul><li>SpaceTech</li><li>AgriTech</li><li>InsurTech</li><li>Electric Vehicles Infrastructure</li></ul>Pankaj Makkar, MD of Bertelsmann India Investments, sums it up that sectors like e-commerce, e-commerce logistics, direct-to-consumer, Edtech, HealthTech, and some portions of FinTech will do well in the new year. But he also sees consolidation in India’s tech ecosystem. “We will also see Mergers and Acquisitions happening as competitors may join hands because there is less space to grow,” he said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/with-whatsapp-popularity-hit-zoho-plans-to-launch-arattai-messaging-app/articleshow/80206802.cms">Zoho plans to woo WhatsApp defectors with its own messaging app Arattai</a>

You Searched For "icertis in ipo" and got 12 results

After Freshworks, Icertis is looking for an IPO for next year in the US

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Postman is now the highest valued VC funded-SaaS startup in India, after a $225 million fundraise

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TiE Delhi-NCR kickstarts the 10th Edition of India Internet Day themed Digital India: Escape Velocity

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Another unicorn – Indian SaaS startup Zenoti enters the coveted club with a $160 million funding

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