Startup IPO plans are most likely dead
Singed investors, inflationary pressures and poor growth prospects put paid to hopes of startups tapping public markets for funds.
Why read this story?
Editor's note: IPOs of startups like MobiKwik, Yatra Online, Snapdeal, PharmEasy, OYO and Ola are in the works. But it increasingly looks like they will have to be postponed indefinitely. 2021 was an important year in the annals of public markets in India. It was the first year in which home-grown technology startups, which were until then funded by private equity investors, unveiled their IPOs in local bourses. It was a sort of a coming of age of the much-hyped startup industry in India. And it looked like a good year. One that saw eight companies, including Paytm, which was the first Indian startup to be valued at over $10 billion, hit the public markets. In all, the companies raised nearly $7 billion from investors and, going by the initial response to the issues, it seemed like the Indian startups had struck the right chord with public investors. Most of the new stocks traded above their offer price on listing and it seemed like Indian startups did have a story to tell. A year on, 2021 may well have been a mirage. …
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