- 2022 is also expected to be a big year for India’s new economy with the soaring valuation of Startups and a number of companies going for IPO.
- India’s startup scene is exploding as digitalization becomes the new norm in the post-Corona world.
- India has emerged as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world
In 2021, India witnessed a historic rise in the number of IPOs, especially of the companies that were started no more than a decade ago and have grabbed huge market share in the new businesses. IPOs show the dynamism of an economy as they produce wealth for new investors and entrepreneurs, who overshadow the old ones. India’s digital economy matured in the last decade and this resulted in billions of dollars of valuation for companies like Paytm, Zomato, MapmyIndia, Freshdesk, Nykaa, and many others.
This year is also expected to be a big year for India’s new economy with the soaring valuation of Startups and a number of companies going for IPO. The first startup to go for IPO would probably be Pine Labs, a company that makes Point of Sale (PoS) software and financing and last-mile retail transaction technology.
The Noida headquartered company plans to list in the United States Stock Market this year, and before IPO, the State Bank of India has trusted it with an investment of 20 million dollars.
SBI, the largest bank in the country, is working hard to stay relevant in the era of digital banking, and it is not only improving its digital operations but also investing in other fintech companies. Previously it invested in another fintech company named Cashfree in June 2021.
Pine Labs, which raised around 700 million dollars in the last year and is valued at 3.5 billion dollars, is planning an aggressive expansion in foreign markets including the United States. Investment from an established banking giant would prove useful in establishing its credibility in the markets outside India. The company counts Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Actis, PayPal, and Mastercard among its global investors.
“In the past year, several marquee investors have placed their trust in our business model and growth momentum, and that is a gratifying feeling,” Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau said. “This association with SBI is a personally satisfying experience as I had started my career selling financial services technology to SBI.”
India’s startup scene is exploding as digitalization becomes the new norm in the post-Corona world. The companies based in India are serving the domestic as well as global markets because skilled labour is available in abundance at very cheap rates in the country. In the very first week of 2022, India has at least two unicorns – AI company Fractal and e-commerce company Mamaearth.
Apart from the new-age companies, the old giants are either opening their digital captive centres in India or outsourcing the digital process to Indian companies. In the last year, the salary of IT employees has doubled and lakhs of new employees entered the job market with pickup in hiring.
In the six to seven years of the Modi government, the Indian startup ecosystem started maturing and with a conducive environment for new businesses, 2021 became the year when the true prowess of India’s entrepreneurship became visible to the world.
India has emerged as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world after the United States and China. With 43 Unicorns (companies valued over 1 billion dollars) in 2021, the Indian startup ecosystem that was in making for almost a decade started maturing.
Startups going for IPO is the best sign of maturity of the ecosystem. India witnessed the IPO of 8 startups in the last year and at least 10 are lined for this year. The startup ecosystem that started to emerge in the early 2010s has started maturing in the early 2020s and by the 2030s, these companies are expected to push the old leaders to edge and emerge as the face of Indian industry.