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Almost one in five of India’s future unicorns drop off the race as funding winter bites

Total funding raised by <keyword id="17404081" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mom-and-baby-care-startups" source="Orion">mom and baby care startups</keyword> and companies was $418 million in 2022, a plunge of 80 per cent from $2.1 billion in 2021, a report has shown. <keyword id="17404082" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mom-Baby-Care-companies" source="Orion">Mom &amp; Baby Care companies</keyword> in the US have raised $5 billion till date, while those in China and India raised $2.8 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively, according to Tracxn, a leading global SaaS-based market intelligence platform. The drop in funding is majorly due to the absence of late-stage investments. Seed-stage funding in Q1 2023 fell 21 per cent as against Q1 2022 but jumped 444 per cent from Q4 2022. Early-stage investments in the first quarter of 2023 rose 158 per cent when compared with Q4 2022, but dropped 64 per cent from Q1 2022, the report noted. The sector attracted investments worth $21 million in Q1 2023, compared with $3.86 million in Q4 2022 and $26.5 million in Q1 2022. "The space is seeing minimal or no activity in terms of unicorns and IPOs. In 2022 and 2023 till date, no new unicorn companies were created in this space," the report mentioned. No IPOs have taken place in 2023 so far, while 2022 witnessed one company and 2021 witnessed two companies going public. In terms of funding, <keyword id="17404084" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gamified-learning-platforms" source="Orion">Gamified learning platforms</keyword> for Pre-K children is the top-funded business model in the last two years in this space, followed by Online Retailers and Breast Pumps. 500 Global, Techstars and New Enterprise Associates are the most active investors in this space till date. IPV, Angel List and Techstars are the top seed-stage investors and Innoven Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital are the top early-stage investors, while Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic and IPGL are the top late-stage investors in the last two years. The pandemic accelerated the growth of the Mom &amp; Baby Care space, giving rise to innovation in this segment. The rise in the working class population with a higher disposable income, is also a supporting factor for growth in this space, said the Tracxn report. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tata-motors-posts-net-profit-of-5408-crore-in-q4-beats-estimates/articleshow/100189259.cms">Tata Motors posts net profit of ₹5,408 crore in Q4, beats estimates</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/adani-hindenburg-row-sc-hints-at-granting-sebi-extension-on-probe-report-to-decide-on-may-15/articleshow/100185994.cms">Adani-Hindenburg row: SC hints at granting SEBI extension on probe report, to decide on May 15</a>

Funding into mom & baby care companies plunges 80%, no new unicorns

<ul><li><keyword id="1836134" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Icertis">Icertis</keyword>, which caters to the likes of <keyword id="6354427" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="apple">Apple</keyword>, Airbus, <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> and Best Buy, plans to increase its headcount by 30% to 40% in 2021. </li><li>Most of this hiring will be done for engineering and sales. </li><li>The uptake of employees comes as Icertis’ looks to move beyond its enterprise clients and focus on the mid-market segment. </li></ul>Icertis, the billion-dollar unicorn based out of Pune in India, which manages contracts for bigwigs like Apple, Airbus, Microsoft and Best Buy has plans to increase its headcount by at least 30% in 2021. Over the last year, the company has added over 300 employees globally, with at least 50 being hired from Indian campuses. Before 2020 comes to an end, Icertis intends to add another 200 employees to its <a href="https://www.owler.com/company/icertis#:~:text=Icertis%20has%201%2C300%20employees%20and,among%20it's%20top%2010%20competitors.">1,300-strong</a> headcount. “We’ll continue to hire aggressively to support our growth and expect to increase our headcount 30% to 40% in the next year,” co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Icertis, Monish Darda, told Business Insider in an exclusive interview. This means onboarding at least 450 new faces in 2021. The development at a time when the startup has plan to shift its focus on bringing more mid-market customers. The challenge there is that it takes at least 10 to 15 clients from that segment to bring the same amount of revenue as an enterprise client. Software companies need to sell For those who aren’t familiar with Icertis, the startup used artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to manage contracts on the cloud. Rather than keep track of compliance or payments on paper, everything is managed automatically by the company’s <keyword id="10399864" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="contract-intelligence">contract intelligence</keyword> software-as-a-service (SaaS). And, as a SaaS company, Darda believes being able to sell your product is a necessity for growth. “If you cannot sell, that’s the end of the company when you’re smaller… The ability to sell is critical for any company especially for an enterprise Saas company which is dependent on companies renewing every year — it’s not a perpetual license,” he explained. On the hunt for hunters and farmers According to Darda, there are two types of salespeople — hunters and farmers. Hunters go out and convince the customer to buy new software like Icertis. Farmers, on the other hand, reach out to clients that already have Icertis and grow the business by uncovering new ways and new value for the customer. “When we hire, we hire at different levels. Experienced people for large accounts and people who may be capable of doing that a mid-level. This allows you to expand that pyramid and sell better,” explained Darda. Former Airbus and BMW procurement honcho <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/icertis-adds-former-airbus-and-bmw-chief-procurement-officer-dr-klaus-richter-to-board-of-advisors-301178658.html">Klaus Richter</a>, for instance, has recently joined Icertis’ advisory board and can be profiled as a hunter. “He brings in a lot of raw experience into the company in how to cater to large deals,” according to Darda. The freshers come in on the analytics side of sales. Their role is to rummage through raw data to figure out how sales are performing and what lies ahead to improve the efficiency of sales. Cloud development is a skill that you have or don’t Sales can help you expand your business but you need engineers to stay ahead of the competition. When Darda first joined Icertis, the first line of code he wrote was on Azure. And, the entire company is built on the cloud. According to him, cloud development is a skill that people have or don’t have. Candidates need to be able to think ten steps ahead and be proficient at what’s called ‘defensive programming’. “How do you think about a problem and how do you solve a problem? Do you take care of what will happen under five different scenarios,” he explained. And, since Icertis is a contract ‘intelligence’ company the value of having the basic computer skills to navigate the Microsoft Stack and the AI/ML stack, which consists of languages like R and Python, is a bare necessity. Icertis was among the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/iit-roorkee-receives-7-international-offers-until-day-3-of-placement/articleshow/79547532.cms">seven international companies</a> to dole out a placement offer at IIT Roorkee. And, the secret sauce to getting selected — more than the clout of being good at coding — is ‘elasticity’. “The most important aspect that we look for is elasticity — how can people learn, especially when we’re hiring young people fresh out of college with very little industry experience,” said Darda. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/tata-group-company-voltas-is-telling-analysts-that-it-may-hike-ac-prices-by-3-4-to-cover-rising-input-costs/articleshow/79624340.cms">Voltas is telling analysts that it may hike AC prices by 3-4% to cover rising input costs</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/mount-everest-taller-by-2-8-feet-as-nepal-and-china-set-aside-their-differences/articleshow/79622601.cms">Mount Everest is 2.8 feet taller as China and Nepal finally agree on the height of the world's highest peak</a>

EXCLUSIVE: This Indian unicorn helping Google, Microsoft and Apple manage their contracts is hiring⁠— it needs techies as well as people in sales

You Searched For "saas unicorn 2021" and got 3 results

Almost one in five of India’s future unicorns drop off the race as funding winter bites

Katya Naidu

Funding into mom & baby care companies plunges 80%, no new unicorns

IANS

EXCLUSIVE: This Indian unicorn helping Google, Microsoft and Apple manage their contracts is hiring⁠— it needs techies as well as people in sales

Prabhjote Gill

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