6 hours Ago
Logistics startup Shadowfax is nearing completion of funding round, expected to double its valuation. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch. Also in the letter: ■ Titan Capital’s new fund close ■ IT cos see uptick in discretionary spends ■ Stellapps raises $26 million Logistics firm Shadowfax eyes $50 million, doubling value to $700 million Abhishek Bansal, founder, Shadowfax Shadowfax is finalising a Rs 350-400 crore funding round, likely to value the company at Rs 5,500-6,000 crore, with this round being its last private funding before an initial public offering (IPO) , according to sources.
Details: The company was planning to raise around $30-35 million in this round, but with the upcoming IPO and the company’s quick commerce exposure, it will expand the funding, one of the people cited above said. With the increase in the funding round, some investors may part-sell stakes in a secondary share sale. Domestic family offices, mutual funds and high net-worth individuals (HNIs) who are typically onboarded before a public issue will join the capitalisation table of Shadowfax Wealth managers such as Nuvama and InCred, who pool investment deals for their private clients, have also held discussions with Shadowfax for this round.
Upgrad secures $60 million from Temasek at a flat valuation of $2.25 billion Ronnie Screwvala, founder, Upgrad Temasek, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, has invested an additional $60 million in Upgrad, maintaining the higher education and upskilling startup’s valuation at $2.25 billion, sources told us.
Driving the news: Separately, Ronnie Screwvala, the edtech’s founder and chairman, has bought out Bharti Enterprises’ stake in the firm for $20 million. Bharti Enterprises had a 1% stake in Upgrad after the latter’s stock swap acquisition of skilling and training solutions firm Centum Learning in 2022 . ET reported on October 16 that the founder is playing a bigger role at the firm after the exit of cofounder Mayank Kumar.
The report also mentioned an impending funding round. Upping stakes: Ronnie Screwvala, a veteran entrepreneur, holds a significant 45% stake in Upgrad now, making him one of the few entrepreneurs with the largest shareholding in a venture-backed startup. He is eyeing a public issue for the company in the coming seven to eight quarters.
“Currently, they (Upgrad) are doing a quarterly revenue of around Rs 600 crore, translating to about Rs 2,400 crore for the ongoing financial year,” one of the people cited above said. Also Read | Eruditus raises $150 million led by TPG Rise, company to flip domicile to India from Singapore Sector watch: Upgrad’s total funding round of $80 million, including the secondary transaction between Bharti Enterprise and Screwvala, is the third largest funding in the edtech sector amid broader stress in the space. Edtech startups have now seen around $650 million in funding so far this year, compared to $4.
1 billion in 2021. However, this is still higher than the $315 million funding for the entire 2023. Also Read | PhysicsWallah closes $210 million funding round led by Hornbill Capital valuing it at $2.
8 billion Titan Capital logs final close of new fund at Rs 333 crore L-R, Rohit Bansal, Kunal Bahl, cofounders, Tital Capital Titan Capital has announced the final close of its new opportunities fund at Rs 333 crore, earmarked for follow-on investments in its existing portfolio companies. Driving the news: Titan Capital, led by Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, typically backs startups at a seed or pre-seed stage. This is the first time it raised external capital, with Bahl and Bansal having used personal capital for investments so far.
Also Read | From Rs 57 lakh investment to Rs 110 crore exit: Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal clock bumper return from Urban Company Focus: Through this fund, the company will back around 20 companies with an average cheque size of Rs 15 crore. It will invest exclusively in follow-on rounds of companies from Titan Capital’s seed portfolio, utilising high-signal data to make informed investment decisions, Bahl said. It will invest in pre-series A and series A stages from this fund while continuing to back seed-stage startups from the original pool of capital.
Quote, unquote: “We usually invest very early...
(where) the company is very young but has green shoots of product-market fit. As the company grows, we participate in subsequent rounds to the extent of pro rata. But the founders, instead of looking for multiple new investors, want to find maybe one external investor and us to fill in the remaining part of the round,” Bahl told us.
Also Read | Titan Capital closes Rs 200-crore fund to double down on existing portfolio startups IT firms upbeat on BFSI discretionary spends takeoff India's IT industry is recovering from a deep slowdown aided by a spike in discretionary spending, particularly in the financial services vertical and the North American market. Analysts also see an uptick in hiring and upward guidance revisions by IT firms. Leading growth: The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector, the largest revenue generator for the Indian IT industry, is the biggest technology spender.
While some experts point to an increase in discretionary spending linked to regulatory compliance, others highlight that projects previously on hold are resuming. Tell me more: Infosys said its financial services vertical continued to experience an uptick in discretionary spending At Wipro, the Americas 2 strategic market unit saw strong demand and robust execution in the BFSI sector HCLTech's BFSI vertical grew about 4% sequentially in dollar terms Tata Consultancy Services also reported an improvement in BFSI and North America performance Also Read | How BFSI is playing a lead role in Indian IT services comeback Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Ranjith Mukundan, CEO, Stellapps Dairy tech firm Stellapps raises $26 million: Dairy technology solutions startup Stellapps has raised $26 million in a mix of equity and debt . The funds will be used for expanding Stellapps' mooMark business, which focuses on contract manufacturing and private-label dairy operations.
India's chip industry: From stalled to successful | India’s semiconductor journey, long stalled on the silicon highway, has finally crossed a significant milestone . The government has found success in its first phase of the Rs 76,000 crore incentive fund under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), initiated in December 2021. Global Picks We Are Reading ■ This AI tool helped convict people of murder.
Then someone took a closer look ( Wired ) ■ Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is reportedly fundraising for a new AI startup ( TechCrunch ) ■ Uber can be a super app without being a ‘super app’ ( FT ).
