Ten Indian start-ups become unicorns

(billion-dollar companies) in just 100 days

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, April 10:

The market value of as many as 10 Indian start-up companies, popularly known as unicorns) has crossed one billion US dollars each during the past one hundred days!

Business to consumer messaging solution Gupshup has raised $100 million in funding from Tiger Global at a valuation of around $1.4 billion. This makes it the sixth unicorn in the past week and tenth since January 1, 2021.

The $100-million marks the first close of a round and is set to be followed by a second close of higher value to be completed soon, Silicon Valley (USA)- and Mumbai-based Gupshup said.

Gupshup intends to use the investment to augment its product, expand in global markets, and also plans to evaluate acquisitions to help it transform business communications across various messaging channels.

Gupshup, which claims 80% revenue growth from pre-pandemic time, closed 2020 with annual revenue run rate of around $150 million. This is Gupshup’s first fundraising in almost a decade as the profitable (Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based messaging platform raised $10 million earlier in 2011 from Charles River Ventures, Helion and Globespan. With the current round, total funds raised by Gupshup stands at $150 million.

Serial entrepreneur Beerud Sheth, co-founder and CEO of Gupshup, said the investment will help them meet rising demand for conversational experiences in business to customer interactions. And they chose to go for it rather than having an operational cash flow need.

“The pandemic has accelerated digital communications by businesses. And messaging platforms have emerged as the new digital storefront,” Sheth said. He previously founded Elance (now called Upwork), a US-based listed enterprise.

Launched in 2004, Gupshup is a pioneer in business messaging and its Application Programming Interface (API) enables over 100,000 developers and businesses, and delivers over six billion messages per month across 30+ messaging channels. Its clients span banking and financial services, travel and hospitality, e-commerce, and other businesses.

Over the years, business messaging has gone beyond just SMS (Short Message Service) with the rise of Internet Protocol (IP)-based messaging channels such as WhatsApp, RCS, and Gupshup’s own Gupshup IP (GIP) messaging.

“Gupshup is uniquely positioned to win in this market with a differentiated product, a clear and sustainable moat, and an experienced team with a proven track record,” John Curtius, partner at Tiger Global Management, said.

This is the firm’s second investment this week after leading an $83 million funding in online investment app Groww on Wednesday.

Ten startup companies have announced reaching unicorn (over $1 billion) in 2021 till date, and six of them have entered the elite league in just the past week.

Gupshup, Groww, Sharechat, PharmEasy, Meesho, and CRED turned unicorns this week. India saw 11 companies making it to the unicorn charts in the year 2020.