Some of India’s biggest startups have seen their valuations fall, at least in the eyes of investors, as some backers adjust their estimates amid a weakening global economy.
BlackRock has nearly halved the valuation of Byju’s, India’s most valuable startup, from $22 billion to $11.5 billion, according to filings seen by TechCrunch. Indian news outlet The Arc was the first to report on the valuation cut.
India’s $10.7 billion market capitalization food delivery startup Swiggy has been cut by Invesco to a valuation of around $8 billion, according to a US fund disclosure seen by TechCrunch.
Byju raised capital last year at a valuation of $22 billion and raised additional capital in recent quarters in a convertible bond capped at its previous valuation, according to people familiar with the matter. . BlackRock disclosed a valuation adjustment to the Indian edtech giant in his 2022 annual report to shareholders.
Swiggy climbed to a $10.7 billion valuation in January 2022 in a round led by Invesco itself. By the end of October, the Atlanta-based company had slashed the value of its Swiggy holding, raising the company’s valuation to about $8 billion, filings showed.
The valuation cut adds a new dimension to the impact of the contracting market environment on Indian start-ups. Fundraising activity in the Indian startup ecosystem slowed last year, as many of the larger startups either raised in convertible bonds (thus delaying price discovery) or did not raise at all. The final valuation has remained largely unchanged. .
SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son alluded to this trend last year, citing a startup funding winter as some unicorns are unwilling to accept lower valuations in new funding deliberations. warned that could last for a long time.
Nonetheless, it’s important to note that investors value the equity of startups in existing portfolios in a variety of ways: one backer’s value adjustment, while notable, isn’t necessarily the other’s. It does not represent the views of any investor, and sometimes does not represent the views of the startup itself.
