India Archives - 附近上门 News /tag/india/ Data-driven reporting on private markets, startups, founders, and investors Tue, 06 Jun 2023 20:59:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 /wp-content/uploads/cb_news_favicon-150x150.png India Archives - 附近上门 News /tag/india/ 32 32 Sequoia Splits Its Global Fund Into 3 Separate Businesses /venture/sequoia-global-fund-china-india/ Tue, 06 Jun 2023 16:42:29 +0000 /?p=87540 announced this morning that it is breaking its global fund into three independent businesses that will chart their own paths going forward.听

Sequoia will continue to invest in the U.S. and Europe. Its China business will keep its name in Chinese and be known as in English. And the India and Southeast Asia business will become .听

鈥淚t has become increasingly complex to run a decentralized global investment business,鈥 the firm said in its announcement signed by the leaders of each of its regional funds. But more significantly, as local companies compete on a global basis, the firm is seeing more portfolio conflicts which could lead to passing on opportunities to invest in competitive sectors.听

Search less. Close more.

Grow your revenue with all-in-one prospecting solutions powered by the leader in private-company data.

Even within a region, the firm faces an issue with competition. Sequoia divested from due to perceived competition in payments with its portfolio company . In an interview with , the firm said the breakup is .听

‘Patient capital’

Sequoia Capital had already made a significant change to its fund structure in recent years. It announced that a single fund for its U.S. and European business would distribute to sub-funds, stating the 鈥10-year fund cycle has become obsolete.鈥 As part of that November 2021聽 announcement, months before the market correction, Sequoia restructured itself as a registered investment adviser. This new role allowed the firm to set itself up to retain stock when its private companies go public, and to invest in public companies as well as opportunities in crypto and Web3.听

In an early 2021 interview, the firm鈥檚 steward emphasized the firm’s 鈥減atient capital鈥 approach. The firm will often wait years before it disperses shares to shareholders, he said.听

鈥淪ometimes people don鈥檛 realize how patient we are,鈥 Botha said 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e earned this right with our LPs, to have patience with distributions.鈥

The regional funds have operated from the start with a 鈥渓ocal-first鈥 approach. The India fund was launched in 2000 and the China-based fund in 2005. Each business will become fully independent by March 31, 2024.听

Illustration:

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/Money_Stack.jpg
Funding To VC-Backed India Startups Falls To Lowest Levels Since Early 2020 /data/venture-funding-india-startups-third-quarter-2022/ Fri, 21 Oct 2022 12:12:02 +0000 /?p=85612 While seemingly everywhere is seeing a significant pullback in venture capital funding, some countries are seeing a much more precipitous dropoff.

India鈥攚hich like many regions had a banner year in 2021鈥攊s one of those areas seeing the most pronounced decline.

Search less. Close more.

Grow your revenue with all-in-one prospecting solutions powered by the leader in private-company data.

Funding in India dropped to its lowest point since the first quarter of 2020. VC-backed companies took in $2.9 billion in the third quarter of this year, a massive 66% drop from the previous quarter and a mind-blowing 81% drop from the same quarter last year.

Deal flow did not see nearly as major a dropoff, but numbers were still down. Just more than 420 deals were announced in Q3, a 12% drop from the second quarter and a 32% decrease from the same period last year.

鈥淭he funding environment globally has weakened significantly, and India is no different,鈥 said , managing director at .听

鈥淲e have seen several hedge funds and global investors without local/regional presence recede from the market to focus on core markets,鈥 said Ravishankar, adding the dramatic drop should also be seen in the context of a very exuberant market in 2021.

Asia鈥檚 issues

To that point, India certainly is not alone in the dropoff. Venture funding in Asia sank to its lowest level in 10 quarters, mirroring what is going on in the public markets, and investors slowed funding to private companies with only $21.2 billion for startups in the region. That is a 26% decrease from the second quarter and an astonishing 56% decrease from the third quarter of last year. The total funding amount marked the lowest investment since the first quarter of 2020, when the world was just entering into a pandemic.

Many likely would point toward China for such a decline, especially with the regulatory crackdown on tech firms there. While China鈥檚 numbers have dipped significantly quarter to quarter鈥擟hinese startups saw only $9.6 billion invested last quarter, compared to $18.5 billion in the same quarter of 2021鈥擨ndia took a more pronounced decline in venture funding by percentage.

鈥淭here has been a significant pullback from the large crossover funds鈥, , etc.,鈥 said , co-founder of New Delhi-based . 鈥淭hese funds typically led later-stage rounds with significant checks, so their retrenchment shows up as a big drop in the amount of funding.鈥

The numbers bear out that large late-stage and growth rounds鈥攚here crossover funds normally participate鈥攄id take the biggest drop in India during the third quarter. The quarter saw only $1.5 billion go to Indian startups for those late, large rounds鈥攁 76% drop from the second quarter, which saw $6.2 billion invested in such rounds.

Even more dramatically, the Q3 numbers represent a 89% decline from $13.6 billion invested in Q3 2021.

Those numbers are not shocking, as late-stage and growth rounds are also down in the U.S. and globally, but it does show the trend is affecting areas with even less mature tech startup ecosystems.

Ravishankar said growth and late-growth rounds are being the most impacted, due to the IPO windows being shut and therefore companies don鈥檛 have near-term liquidity prospects.听

That is not to say there were not some large rounds in the region in the third quarter. Edtech giant closed a venture round worth approximately $210 million in August and fintech platform raised a $100 million Series D, minting it as a unicorn in July.

However, such large deals have become few and far between as investors become more wary of spending big money in large valuations and large crossover investors pull back.

Early and seed

All that is not to say earlier rounds have not been affected.

Seed and angel funding鈥攚hich totaled about $400 million in Q3鈥攊n the region fell about 16% quarter to quarter and 4% year to year.

Early-stage funding hit approximately $1 billion in the third quarter, falling 47% from the second quarter and 32% from Q3 2021.

鈥淓arly stage seems to have recovered in the last few weeks and we are seeing some buoyancy return here,鈥 Ravishankar said.

What鈥檚 next?

The current downturn has affected most sectors, including SaaS, fintech and B2B, Ravishankar said.听

But certain sectors like edtech have been even more impacted as a result of the strong comeback of offline markets,鈥 Ravishankar said. 鈥On the positive side, there is more demand for consumer and financial services businesses that are profitable and compounding.鈥

Just like in the U.S., investors are eyeing strong cash flow and profitability or at least a road map to it.

鈥淭he downturn has affected all companies, but companies in spaces that have high growth but unclear monetization鈥 have been hit hardest, Verma said. 鈥淭hree words鈥攑ath to profitability鈥攈ave made a resurgence.鈥

While investors are not expecting that to change in the near future and believe the fourth quarter may resemble the currently ended third, some light remains at the end of the tunnel.

鈥淲e expect the rest of the year to continue to be slow and all eyes are on the actions of the U.S. 贵别诲,鈥 Ravishankar said. 鈥We are cautiously optimistic about 2023 as there are several funds that have raised significant capital in 2021/2022 and they would look to pick interesting opportunities in the market.鈥

Verma adds that while more short-term pain is likely, from a longer-term point of view this is a great time to be investing.

鈥淲e will also see more (local institutions and families) bring later-stage capital to the table, making for a more resilient ecosystem in future,鈥 Verma said.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of Oct. 3, 2022.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥 naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥 round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/India_Funding_2022.jpg
These Are Countries Where Startup Funding Is Really Taking Off /venture/these-are-countries-where-startup-funding-is-really-taking-off/ Thu, 20 Feb 2020 15:21:21 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=25528 In tech circles, it feels like Silicon Valley has been around forever. But in reality, the region鈥檚 first big venture-backed tech companies launched barely over 50 years ago.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

Other global hubs, including Seattle, Bangalore and Beijing, have even shorter track records for startup funding. And tech hotspots like Austin and Sao Paolo, have really taken off only in the past few years.

So which places are set to be the next growth centers of startup action? For this latest 附近上门 slideshow, we perused our country-by-country funding data to pinpoint which nations are seeing the biggest jumps in funding activity.

Click through to see which countries saw the biggest year-over-year investment gains. The聽tabulations also include a look at deal counts, top cities for startups and notable rounds.*

from

*For this dataset, we did not include seed financings, focusing only on venture rounds of Series A and beyond.听

Flag illustrations:

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/iStock-164552417-1024x640.jpg
Three Deals You Missed From Bengaluru鈥檚 Growing Startup Scene /venture/three-deals-you-missed-from-bengalurus-growing-startup-scene/ Thu, 07 Nov 2019 22:19:30 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=22049 We that India鈥檚 startup scene is pretty much unignorable at this point, but after some extra activity in Bengaluru, a city in India known for its tech scene, I thought we鈥檇 tie together some interesting deals in one post.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

Before that, let鈥檚 just get a picture of how the city鈥檚 scene has grown over time. According to 附近上门 data, both deal and dollar volume is increasing over time. Last year, Bengaluru saw a specifically cash-strong year with on-demand food delivery startup .

Now let鈥檚 start with the news, literally.

Lokal

wants to make local news in India more accessible and digitally focused, from big cities to small villages. Through an app, Lokal wants to offer multilingual local news to users in different regions around India.

It has raised $3 million in funding from , , , , and . Other investors include co-founder and .

Digitized news is a busy sector, with apps like and already comfortably powering millions of articles and users a day with local news. The key with Lokal is a localized experience right down to the language (it is unclear how many languages the company offers currently).

The Y Combinator-backed startup was founded by and in 2018. According to Pasha, Lokal is operational in three of India鈥檚 most concentrated states, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. It targets more than 900 million non-english speaking users in India.

In addition to news, Lokal offers digitized classified ads, a 鈥渓arge and lucrative opportunity鈥 according to a partner at . I imagine the opportunity he鈥檚 talking about is for advertisers, who have largely lost out on classifieds in traditional news outlets.

With that under our belts, let鈥檚 move to a later stage company founded in February 2016 that is finally getting some traction from investors.

YourOwnROOM

Founded by , , and , connects millennials to rental properties, from fully furnished shared rooms to private rooms and full houses.

The company raised $1.3 million in a seed round this week, bringing its total known funding to $2.1 million,.

When I saw this startup, I immediately thought of as a San Francisco counterpart, and one one of the other startups in the growing industry of tech-enhanced rental properties. describes itself as 鈥渟martly furnished neighborhood homes for extended stays.鈥 One of Zeus鈥 gaps is that it is only in the United States in big cities for now (including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington D.C., and New York City).

I think the value proposition that a company like YourOwnROOM has, then, must be its deep relationships with Bengaluru鈥檚 residential asset owners, developers, building owners and individual homeowners. Plus, that becomes even more important as through fake documents.

There is a unicorn in the room, however. , a hotel marketplace company reportedly worth $5 billion, is pushing into the housing space through OYO living. in cities across India, including Bengaluru. As we reported previously, Gurgaon, India-based OYO has raised so much money that the company is distorting India鈥檚 venture market, accounting for the lion鈥檚 share of the past year鈥檚 total funding in India鈥檚 hospitality startups. YourOwnROOM will have its work cut out for it in order to differentiate.

Finally, let鈥檚 move on from rooms and into what is inside of them: furniture.

Urban Ladder

, launched by and in July 2012, sells furniture through an online marketplace, offering everything from sofas and beds to storage shelves and dining tables.

The company raised $2.1 million in a financing round this week. Investors in the company include SAIF Partners, Trifecta Capital, Sequoia Capital India, and Steadview Capital. , Urban Ladder has $114.9 million in known venture funding to date.

Beyond the classics, Urban ladder it offers both modern and traditional designs and 鈥減roducts that are difficult to spot elsewhere during furniture online shopping; for example room dividers, corner storage units, and more.鈥

The company recently opened up physical stores to bring its online products to Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi.

It鈥檚 not immediately clear what differentiates Urban Ladder from IKEA – but , the startup isn鈥檛 intimidated by the behemoth expanding in its region. In the same story, , Urban Ladder鈥檚 founder and CEO, said that 鈥檚 strength is homewares, while Urban Ladder鈥檚 strength is in furniture.

鈥淕enerally speaking, IKEA is an early starter household brand, like a few fresh college graduates moving into and setting up an apartment together. And that鈥檚 an area that nobody can beat them in. That鈥檚 not a market we are present in. We believe we know how to service a customer who is starting to move forward in life,鈥 said Goel.

To Close

That鈥檚 a quick snapshot of some activity happening in Bangalore, a growing startup hub in India that has scored over in the 附近上门 data set. We have more in the works on this region鈥檚 struggles and strengths as a hub, but in the meantime send any tips to me at natasha@crunchbase.com or by tweeting me .

Illustration:

Data credit:

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/image.png
India鈥檚 OYO Acquires Danamica To Refine Hotel Room Management With Data Science /business/indias-oyo-acquires-danamica-to-refine-hotel-room-management-with-data-science/ Tue, 03 Sep 2019 14:26:21 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=20256 , an India-based travel startup backed by Airbnb and SoftBank, has acquired , a European data science company. that OYO paid approximately $10 million in the deal.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

The acquisition, announced on Monday, will help the travel company further refine its pricing, manage inventory, and manage revenue, according to a statement provided by OYO to 附近上门 News. The roll out will start with Europe, which adds to OYO鈥檚 promise to invest 鈧300 million in the vacation homes business, 鈥渨ith a special focus on strengthening the relationship with homeowners and enabling them with the resources,鈥 according to the aforementioned statement.

, OYO offers hotel rooms for rental. It optimizes budget hotel rooms and leases them out to individuals and offers fresh linens, wifi and tech support. In India鈥檚 fragmented hotel industry, OYO鈥檚 model is apparently in demand as the company has raised $1.7 billion in known venture capital funding and acquired seven companies to-date, .

鈥淒ata sciences across Pricing, AI, and Imaging Sciences have been a cornerstone of OYO鈥檚 proprietary revenue enhancement technology. It is also a huge missing piece in the way traditional vacation rentals industry is run,鈥 said , the global head of OYO Vacation and Urban Homes and chief strategy officer of OYO Hotels & Home, in the statement.

It鈥檚 notable that $10 million isn鈥檛 much for a company that has raised billions in the past. In fact, as I reported back in June, OYO raised so much money at that point that it is distorting India鈥檚 venture market, accounting for 92 percent of the past year鈥檚 total funding in India鈥檚 hospitality startups.

In the past, OYO鈥檚 CEO has credited his company鈥檚 proprietary technology for its competitive edge amid other travel giants in the world. But as it expands (the company currently hosts guests around the world in over 23,000 franchised and leased hotels in 800 cities in 19 countries across the world, ), the extra help might be what it needs to keep up.

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听.

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/image.png
Why Y Combinator Went 8,725 Miles Away From Mountain View To Find The Next Big Startup /startups/why-yc-went-8725-miles-away-from-mountain-view-to-find-the-next-big-startup/ Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:48:36 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=20118 This year, had two stops on its trek to find the next big startup: Mountain View and Bengaluru (also known as Bangalore).

As the famed early-stage accelerator ups the amount of startups it invests in each year, India has become a focus. In this summer鈥檚 batch, 12 startups were from India, compared to five from the same time period a year prior. Applications to the accelerator from India increased by 50 percent, too.

, a partner at YC and the previous founder of Homejoy, even lived in India for a month prior to the pitch day to 鈥済et a sense of what the Indian consumer was like.鈥 Then, Cheung and three other YC partners conducted 140 interviews with Indian startups from 鈥檚 headquarters, a YC alum backed by Facebook. About 8 percent of those startups were accepted.

Before we learn more about those startups, here鈥檚 a teaser for you: Cheung told me that India, like China, was previously known to 鈥渃opy cat things that worked in the U.S.鈥

鈥淏ut now they鈥檙e distinctly not doing that, they鈥檙e coming out with these big products,鈥 she said during a phone call Wednesday.

Now, onto the big products.

The WhatsApp Wave

During YC Demo Day, a few founders cited WhatsApp as part of their business strategy, specifically its growth and influence within India.

wants to leverage WhatsApp to match low-skilled and skilled workers with on-demand companies that need labor. , the founder of the company, said WhatsApp has 400 million users in India, and 96 percent of smartphone users in the region use WhatsApp.

Cheung said that she always tells startups to 鈥渢ake advantage of what [is] in front of them.鈥 Since WhatsApp is allowing people to build atop them right now, now is the time to leverage the platform for customer acquisition, she added.

In some ways, it鈥檚 a gamble. Building your startup atop a social media platform is risky. At any given time, the company can stop sharing access to its API. It could, in theory, kill your business on a whim and get away with it. The concept isn鈥檛 crazy: , and Google鈥檚 also impacted competitors.

But Krishna assured me that he鈥檚 working with WhatsApp 鈥減retty closely鈥 to secure a solid relationship. If not, the 12 million on-demand workers, and 320 low-skilled workers, could lose the app.

also said during its presentation that it would acquire customers through to build out its online pharmacy in India, citing the messaging app鈥檚 prominence in the area.

Cheung said she thinks we鈥檙e going to see a 鈥渇lood of really big startups built on top of WhatsApp鈥 but that startups need to not be reliant on just one platform. Diversification equals protection.

The Indian Consumer

One surprise from pitch day in Bangalore, according to Cheung, was that Indian startups were straying from a once-normal stereotype: Global SaaS companies.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e building for the Indian consumer,鈥 she said.

Take , for example. The company is connecting gas stations to truck drivers, and delivers fuel directly to customers.听CEO told me that he is offering an app to truck drivers that allows them to request gas delivery. There鈥檚 a live dashboard at their fingertips, he said.听Plus, Gupta said, MyPetrolPump is helping everyone avoid fuel theft.

鈥淔uel theft happens here,鈥 he told me. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l find that drivers collude with operators of gas stations in India.鈥 MyPetrolPump managing that transaction will help create balance, he hopes. The company raised $1.6 million last month from Y Combinator and . Now, Gupta said he is working to raise a $10 million Series A round.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

Another consumer-friendly startup is . It wants to make podcasts more accessible and understandable to people around India. On stage during Demo Day, a co-founder said that half a billion people are coming online in India鈥攂ut there is no podcast platform that works well there.

鈥淪potify has no traction, and the only available audio content is on YouTube, which gives broken audio,鈥 the company said. So, they鈥檙e working with 2,500 creators to bring audio in every Indian language to the populace.

And with that we鈥檒l step back and take a balcony view of YC鈥檚 tagline: 鈥淢ake something people want.鈥 It seems from this recent crop of startups, that鈥檚 exactly what India’s entrepreneurs have been doing.

Illustration Credit:聽

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/image.png
Twitter Leads $100M Investment In Sharechat, India’s ‘Rival To WhatsApp’ /venture/twitter-leads-100m-investment-in-sharechat-indias-rival-to-whatsapp/ Fri, 16 Aug 2019 14:32:01 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=20032 has led a $100 million Series D in , what has been as 鈥淚ndia鈥檚 homegrown rival to WhatsApp,鈥 according to and various other news outlets. The round values Sharechat at around $650 million, according to TC, which cited an unnamed source.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

Founded in 2015, Sharechat is considered to be India鈥檚 鈥.鈥 It currently reportedly has 60 million monthly users across 15 regional languages, according to TechCrunch.

The news isn鈥檛 entirely a surprise as a few regional publications, including and , reported in June that the deal was in the works.

The round is notable in that it gives Twitter a foothold in one of the world鈥檚 largest countries and marks its first significant commitment into another region outside the U.S. Founder and CEO had firsthand involvement in securing the financing, according to . By investing in Sharechat, Twitter will have the ability to 鈥済o deeper into India鈥檚 smaller towns at a time when its user growth has plateaued,鈥 noted the Times.

, , , SAIF Capital, and , also participated in the financing. With this round, Bangalore-based Sharechat has , according to 附近上门 data. It last raised in September 2018 led by China鈥檚 .

While Twitter has acquired dozens of companies, it鈥檚 only , including Sharechat, according to 附近上门 data. This round marks its first time leading an investment.

Illustration:

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/india-1-1024x576.png
Y-Combinator Backed MyScoot Reportedly Raises $1.7M For Verified House Party Guests /venture/y-combinator-backed-myscoot-reportedly-raises-1-7m-for-verified-house-party-guests/ Tue, 30 Jul 2019 18:38:00 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=19733 Your friends might not appreciate your themed dinner party or your carefully crafted cheese board, but a stranger who pays to hang out with you might.

Sound a little odd? Well, apparently not.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

聽 (and reports by and ) Delhi-based raised $1.7 million in seed funding so we can all meet 鈥渧erified鈥 new friends through theme-based house parties in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Bangalore.

The seed round included investors like , and .1 , chief strategy officer at also participated in the round, . The startup also previously was in .

From classic dinners to salsa parties to rooftop bonfires, the website offers an array of social gatherings with open doors. At least, for those that will pay.

A neon glow house party, for example, is about聽 鈧750, or $11 dollars per person to attend. In the advertisement for the party, a recommended age range is also set. The aforementioned party, for example, is . Think of it as a party, but with profit. The average host profit is 鈧3,700, or about $54 dollars.

The concept is catching on. In a blog post on the site, company founders wrote that they have helped more than 2,500 strangers meet someone new. 鈥淧eople have made friends in the new city they moved to, found their next coffee dates, got jobs, business partners and met new people with same interests,鈥 the website reads.

I don鈥檛 know who the main competitors would be, other than, say a bar during happy hour. The startup wants to offer a place that makes meeting new people fun and safe, 鈥渨ithout burning a hole in the pocket,鈥 .

Some say it鈥檚 the . I would go more with the for friends. Maybe, the for Friday night plans? On its website, MyScoot promises it with a 鈥5 step verification process to make sure you attend fun, creep free parties.鈥 It claims its 150 parties so far have all gone on without 鈥渁 single mishap.鈥

All of a sudden, paying for a party that promises to be creep-free doesn鈥檛 seem so odd after all.

Illustration: .


  1. Disclosure: Mayfield Fund is an investor in 附近上门, the parent company of 附近上门 News. 附近上门鈥檚 investors are listed as part of its . For more about 附近上门 News鈥檚 editorial policies on disclosure, see the News team鈥檚 About page.

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/image.png
As OYO’s Founder Triples-Down On Company, A Second Look At Secondaries /venture/as-oyos-founder-triples-down-on-company-a-second-look-at-secondaries/ Mon, 22 Jul 2019 15:24:49 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=19596 , the India-based hotel unicorn has made news over the past week for two reasons. First, it’s moving into the coworking space that has proved lucrative for giants like WeWork. And second, the company’s founder is聽boosting his stake in the firm, giving us a new form of secondary to consider.

Subscribe to the 附近上门 Daily

If you recall our recent work regarding — better known by its former name WeWork — you can see where we’re going with this. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

OYO’s New Valuation

附近上门 News first covered OYO, an Indian company building low-cost hotels around the world, in September of 2018 when the Vision Fund into the company. Noting that normally “hospitality is a bit afar from the world of high-growth startups and their attendant sectors and investors,” we were surprised at the scale of capital that OYO was putting to work.

A company working to invest $1 billion in growth capital is very much our jam, meaning that OYO has been on our radar since that key investment.

And we’re not the only folks with one eye on the rocketship hotel-focused startup. The firm has raised three primary rounds since, including with , with several groups including , and from .

As you can see, a number of platform-aspirant companies (ride-hailing apps all want to become super apps, and Airbnb as a “people-to-people platform”) are putting cash into OYO as it looks like a future partner and integration mark.

Having some of the most highly-valued private companies in the world line up to put money into your growth-oriented business is a mark of confidence. As such, we can presume that OYO’s growth rates are very high. I’d also toss in that the company is probably pretty unprofitable today; recall how Luckin’s insane build-out translated to sharp deficits as it grew.

All this money and optimism brings us to today’s news. Here’s the impending $2 billion transaction that will reprice OYO far above its prior worth:

Oyo Chief Executive Ritesh Agarwal is buying part of the shareholdings of聽early investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The聽buyback, which is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, will be through a Cayman Islands company called聽RA Hospitality Holdings, and financed by institutional banks and finance partners, the company said.

The secondary transaction gives OYO a shiny new $10 billion valuation, pushing the hotel chain into the decacorn range, and making it part of a far more elite club than its prior unicorn horn society.

Secondaries, Redux

News last week that WeWork’s founder has sold or borrowed against a piece of his stake in his own firm. It wasn’t the best timing for the company, which is both looking for additional debt capital and an IPO.

But, as with all things, if WeWork’s S-1 drops and shows solid growth and paring losses, no one will care what Neumann did before the numbers were shared; that ‘growth cures all ills’ is a market adage is no accident.

But what did catch my eye is that in the case of OYO, we’re seeing a founder work to recapture share in his company, instead of potentially reducing their exposure. It seems tonally important.

In the venture capital world, you’ll often here about “signaling.” Perhaps “signaling risk” is a better way to phrase it. There were, once upon a time, a set of unwritten rules in venture regarding what various moves would “signal” to the market. For example, if you raised a round from Billy Bob Capital, and then raised your聽next round from Billy Bob Capital, that was read as a “signal” that you couldn’t find a new lead investor for the new capital event.

In 2019 all that action might indicate is that Billy Bob Capital was desperate to double-down on the deal to fend off dilution by preempting the round before someone else could swoop in. So, things have changed.

But no matter what has changed in the world of venture, seeing a founder seek to control more of their company聽飞丑颈濒别听it is in hyper-growth mode is pretty bullish I reckon. We’ll see a WeWork S-1 before we see a similar filing from OYO, but the former will inform the latter.

And given that OYO is taking baby steps towards WeWork’s bread and butter, this is all going to get even more interesting.

Illustration: .

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/india-1-1024x576.png
In International Push, Indian Edtech Company BYJU’S Buys Osmo For $120M /startups/in-international-push-indian-edtech-company-byju-buys-osmo-for-120m/ Wed, 16 Jan 2019 18:17:03 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=16990 Today, it鈥檚 announced that , one of the most-funded education technology companies in the world, is acquiring for $120 million, according to executives from both companies. This comes roughly a month after led by private equity firm , which valued the edtech company at about $3.64 billion, post-money.

Follow 附近上门 News on

Osmo develops and launched its app and a suite of educational toys that interact with its software platform through the camera of an iPad or Kindle Fire tablet. Kids can learn basic problem solving and spatial reasoning with these toys and through the game-like interface of the application.

Prior to its acquisition, Osmo had raised in outside funding, the last of which arrived in . , , and , among , are investors in Osmo. The company will continue operating as a separate brand of hardware and software products after the transaction is complete, according to a statement from the company. Osmo is Palo Alto-based and has about 60 employees.

, co-founder and CEO of Osmo, told 附近上门 News in a phone interview that the deal made strategic sense for both companies and kind of came by surprise.

Three months ago, Sharma said, Osmo had almost closed a new round of funding (for what would have been its Series C), when he met , co-founder and CEO of 叠驰闯鲍鈥橲. Realizing they had similar backgrounds鈥攂oth working in educational technology, both hailing from small villages in India鈥攁nd complementary businesses, acquisition talks proceeded quickly. 鈥淲e made the decision within a week,鈥 according to Sharma.

鈥淧latform-thinking is in our DNA,鈥 said Sharma, who, alongside his co-founder , quit software engineering jobs at Google to start Osmo. According to Raveendran, 叠驰闯鲍鈥橲 had been focused on 鈥渂uilding a content-driven platform鈥 built around what he referred to as 鈥渢he DNA of learning.鈥 Add to that that Osmo already had traction in a market segment and geography 叠驰闯鲍鈥橲 wanted to expand, and you鈥檝e got a corporate genetic match.

Raveendran said he鈥檚 known about Osmo鈥檚 product for awhile. 叠驰闯鲍鈥橲 had been working to develop and roll out content for a younger audience, aimed at kids between the ages of three and eight. Accordingly, Raveendran had a professional interest in tracking the market for young kids鈥 educational products, but he also had a personal reason: 鈥淚 have a five year-old son, and he鈥檚 been playing with Osmo for the past eight months.鈥

Raveendran said that 叠驰闯鲍鈥橲 currently has 鈥渙ver 1,000 people鈥 working on video content and game development.

鈥淭his makes us one of the biggest studios in India,鈥 he said. Raveendran said his company is growing revenues by ten percent month-over-month. The application has 30 million registered students, two million of which pay for a subscription.

Osmo is the first U.S.-based company that 叠驰闯鲍鈥橲 has acquired, but it has made in the past. in the education technology company include , , , and the .

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听

]]>
/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Naming-trends-1024x342.png