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<ul><li>Banking technology startup <keyword id="702953" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zeta">Zeta</keyword> is the latest to join the Indian <keyword id="152045" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Unicorn">unicorn</keyword> club.</li><li>The company has been valued at $1.45 billion after raising $250 million in its Series C round of funding.</li><li>Zeta plans to use the fresh infusion of capital to expand its presence in the US and European markets where banks are moving away from branches to offering their services online.</li></ul>Zeta, a banking technology startup based in Bengaluru, is the newest Indian startup to attain the ‘unicorn’ status. In its Series C round of funding the company raised $250 million from Softbank Vision Fund II at a valuation of $1.45 billion. A ‘unicorn’ is a private company that is valued at $1 billion or more. The deal more than quadruples Zeta’s valuation since 2019, when Sodexo SA valued the startup at $300 million. With new money in its pocket and a brand new unicorn tag, Zeta plans to use the new funding to expand in the US and European markets. “They [banks] have been slow to innovate and provide poor user experiences,” said Bhavin Turakhia, co-founder of Zeta. According to him, Zeta is poised to capture the markets where banks are moving online and away from the conventional branches. It provides backbone technology for credit and credit-card processing, core banking, loans, mobile banking and personal finance management. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“Banking software is a $300 billion industry globally. Most banks still employ technology, which is significantly older than their customers, impacting user experience and engagement." auname="Munish Varma, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers"></div> The company is banking on its simplified approach being different enough to attract customers. Rather than work with numerous supplies, as banks and financial institutions typically do, Zeta wants to combine all of those services and provide one cloud-based offering. So far, Zeta has 10 banks and 25 <keyword id="2461546" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="FinTech">fintech</keyword> companies across eight countries among its customers. This includes bigwig Indian banks like HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Axis, and others. Sodexo, an existing investor, is also a customer. It participated as a minority investor in the Series C round of funding. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="List of startups that have entered the unicorn club in 2021:" comment="subhead" text="List of startups that have entered the unicorn club in 2021:">List of startups that have entered the unicorn club in 2021:</cmsannotation> <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Startup </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Valuation </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Digit Insurance </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.9 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Innovaccer </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.3 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Meesho </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Infra.Market </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">PharmEasy </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.5 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Cred </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.2 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Groww </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">ShareChat </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2.1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Gupshup </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Chargebee </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Urban Company </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$2 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Five Star Finance </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Moglix </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 billion </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Zeta </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1.4 billion </td></tr></tbody></table> Turakhia doesn’t normally rely on external funding. In fact, most of the startups he’s been involved in, in the past, have been without institutional funding. Zeta’s move to raise capital marks a departure from his preference for bootstrapping his businesses. Zeta founder, 41-year old Turakhia, launched the startup in 2015 after already having dipped his toe — more like submerged his toe — in multiple startups with his brother, Divyank. He was already coding at the age of 10 and had attained millionaire status by the time he hit 20. By the time he was 26, he shared a billion-dollar fortune with his brother. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/indias-silicon-valley-bengaluru-is-awed-by-the-rainbow-coloured-halo-in-its-skies/articleshow/82909806.cms">India's Silicon Valley is awed by the rainbow-coloured halo in its skies — but take pictures at your own risk</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/indias-prime-minister-narendra-modi-gets-a-unique-proposal-via-a-newspaper-advertisement/articleshow/82908689.cms">India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets a unique proposal via a newspaper advertisement</a>

This banking tech startup is the newest Indian unicorn with a $1.45 billion valuation

<ul><li>Zynga’s <keyword id="205426" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mark-pincus" source="Orion">Mark Pincus</keyword>, Coda’s <keyword id="1749672" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shishir-mehrotra" source="Orion">Shishir Mehrotra</keyword> and serial entrepreneur <keyword id="12598127" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="elad-gil" source="Orion">Elad Gil</keyword> have invested an undisclosed amount in <keyword id="44033" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hike" source="Orion">Hike</keyword>.</li><li>The development comes after Hike raised capital from top angel investors, in August 2021, for the first time in five years.</li><li>Earlier this year, Hike decided to close down its flagship messaging app and focus on the gaming segment.</li></ul>Messaging platform and super app Hike, which shut down its core operations in January this year, has now raised capital from three marquee investors— Zynga’s Mark Pincus, Coda’s Shishir Mehrotra and serial entrepreneur Elad Gil. The transaction details of this deal remain undisclosed. The development was announced by Kavin Mittal, chief executive and founder of Hike, on Twitter. The development comes after Hike raised capital from top angel investors, in August 2021, for the first time in five years. Several big names like Tinder’s co-founders Justin Mateen and Sean Rad, SoftBank Vision Fund’s chief executive (CEO) Rajeev Misra, Tribe Capital’s Arjun Sethi, Zeta’s cofounder Bhavin Turakhia, Cred’s Kunal Shah, Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and South Park Commons’ Aditya Agarwal participated in this round. Hike was founded in 2012 and was considered one of the fastest growing unicorns (company valued at or over $1 billion) back then. It was valued at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/hike-raises-175mn-in-series-d-funding/articleshow/53720179.cms">$1.4 billion </a>during its last fundraise of $175 million in 2016 despite its inability to generate any revenue from operations. Earlier this year, Hike decided to <a href="https://m.economictimes.com/tech/technology/hike-shuts-down-hike-sticker-chat-to-pivot-to-other-social-products/articleshow/80328203.cms#:~:text=Kavin%20Bharti%20Mittal%2C%20CEO%20of,data%20from%20within%20the%20app.">close down </a>its flagship messaging app and focus on the gaming segment. “The rapid technological evolution over the last few years has paved the way for massive disruption in social and gaming. There’s little to separate these two categories. Gaming is now inherently social, evolving into a new way for people to hang out and interact in the virtual world,” Mittal said in August 2021. The company, in its previous press note, also mentioned that it will be looking to experiment with social and cryptocurrency. It also added that a part of the capital raised to expand its product strategy and hire across functions. It has a team of over 160 employees that are working across 50 cities in India. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/india-to-get-6g-by-2023-end-or-2024-indias-communications-minister-says-while-the-country-still-waits-for-5g-rollout/articleshow/87883592.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">India to get 6G by 2023 end or 2024, India’s communications minister says while the country still waits for 5G rollout</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/jio-is-slowing-down-in-the-race-to-500-million-subscribers/articleshow/87862415.cms" style="">Jio is slowing down in the race to 500 million subscribers – a goal set by none other than Mukesh Ambani</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/vodafone-idea-has-lost-nearly-a-billion-dollars-every-three-months-this-year/articleshow/87669146.cms" style="">Vodafone Idea has lost nearly a billion dollars every three months this year</a>

Kavin Mittal’s Hike bags another funding to experiment with gaming, crypto

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Michael Seto/Business InsiderZeta co-founder and former Apple CEO John Sculley.</div></div></div>Zeta Interactive, the big data and analytics company co-founded by former Apple CEO John Sculley, announced Wednesday it has raised a $125 million investment funding round.Business Insider understands this now values Zeta Interactive at ~$1 billion, although the company would not confirm its valuation when asked.Zeta competes with the likes of Oracle, Salesforce, IBM, and Adobe. It lets companies input their customer data into its marketing cloud, which uses machine learning to figure out the attributes of their audiences (such as age, income, location, and interests,) and also segments their best customers based on its own proprietary. Zeta then analyzes that data to send out targeted marketing messages via email, and help marketers create wider marketing plans.Where Zeta differs from its competitors is that it focuses on using this data for customer acquisition - targeting potential new customers who have opted in to marketing messages - whereas its marketing cloud rivals largely focus on the retention of existing customers.Speaking to Business Insider, Zeta Interactive CEO and co-founder David A. Steinberg, said the company has grown 72% year on year, and that it is on track to generate $200 million in revenue by the end of 2015. He said Zeta has been both gross and net profitable for "three years in a row."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Zeta InteractiveZeta Interactive CEO David A. Steinberg.</div></div></div>Steinberg said Zeta plans to use its funding to invest further in its platform and to acquire technology that will accelerate growth, and that it is particularly focusing on companies in the machine learning, analytics, and email service provider space.In a statement, Sculley, who was also the former CEO of Pepsi, said: "This investment will help us attract and retain world-class talent, enhance our award-winning technology platform and sharpen our offerings for our Fortune 500 and middle-market clients. This funding is a testament to the great job David and his team have done to date, as well as an indication that even bigger things are still to come."Zeta's latest financing round was led by Blackstone and GSO Capital Partners.It last raised funding back in 2012 - when the company was called XL Marketing - <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xl-marketing-announces-70-million-funding-for-growth-capital-157787295.html">a $70 million round led by GCP Capital Partners.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-changes-coming-ipad-ios-9-multitask-new-apple-2015-7">The 2 best features coming to the iPad</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="dxYzc1djoXDxpNw53fCtBBZv5ICoIKtG" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The former CEO of Apple just raised a big funding round at a ~$1 billion valuation for his new company

<ul><li><keyword id="44033" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hike" source="Orion">Hike</keyword> had raised $175 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion in 2016.</li><li>The company was known as the fastest growing unicorn despite its inability to generate revenue through operations.</li><li>Earlier this year, Hike closed its flagship messenger to focus on the gaming segment.</li></ul>One-time messaging platform and super app Hike has raised funding for the first time in five years. This development comes almost eight months after the company decided to<a href="https://m.economictimes.com/tech/technology/hike-shuts-down-hike-sticker-chat-to-pivot-to-other-social-products/articleshow/80328203.cms#:~:text=Kavin%20Bharti%20Mittal%2C%20CEO%20of,data%20from%20within%20the%20app."> close down </a>its flagship messaging app and focus on the gaming segment. Several big names like Tinder’s co-founders Justin Mateen and Sean Rad, SoftBank Vision Fund’s chief executive (CEO) Rajeev Misra, Tribe Capital’s Arjun Sethi, Zeta’s cofounder Bhavin Turakhia, Cred’s Kunal Shah, Flipkart’s Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and South Park Commons’ Aditya Agarwal participated in this round. The company did not disclose any financial details of the funding round. <keyword id="6567188" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kavin-bharti-mittal" source="Orion">Kavin Bharti Mittal</keyword>, founder and CEO of Hike, said, “The rapid technological evolution over the last few years has paved the way for massive disruption in social and gaming. There’s little to separate these two categories. Gaming is now inherently social, evolving into a new way for people to hang out and interact in the virtual world.” Hike will use this funding to expand its product strategy and hire across functions. The company has 25 open positions at the moment. It has a team of 160 employees that are working across 50 cities in India. The company will use this funding for its recently launched online gaming vertical Rush and said it will experiment in other domains like social and cryptocurrency. The company was founded in 2012 and was considered one of the fastest growing unicorns in the country. A unicorn, in startup parlance, is a company valued at or above $1 billion. Hike was valued at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/hike-raises-175mn-in-series-d-funding/articleshow/53720179.cms">$1.4 billion </a>during its last fundraise of $175 million in 2016 despite its inability to generate any revenue from operations. <div type="image" title="Hike raises money for the first time in five years to experiment with crypto &amp;amp; gaming" msid="85588763" hostid="261"></div> The company had been trying to find ways to montinse its messaging app and even decided to launch a super app, combined with other services like digital wallet, ticket booking, e-commerce and more. However, it did not pay off. The company decided to shut off the messaging app in January 2021. Instead the company decided to focus on HikeLand, which is a virtual hangout zone launched by the company in June 2020. The company plans to generate revenue from Hikeland through in-app purchases. HikeLand is now rebranded as Vibe and would continue to offer interactive social media experience. Meanwhile, Rush is a mini games platform that offers casual games. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/khatabooks-valuation-touches-600-million-with-zero-revenue-to-show/articleshow/85586956.cms">Khatabook’s valuation touches $600 million with zero revenue to show </a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/swiggy-sharechat-byjus-lead-the-funding-race-as-indian-startups-raised-6-5-billion-between-april-and-june/articleshow/85583697.cms">Swiggy, ShareChat, Byju’s lead the funding race as Indian startups raised $6.5 billion between April and June</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/ikea-products-would-now-be-even-cheaper-in-india/articleshow/85585775.cms">Ikea products would now be even cheaper in India</a>

Hike raises money for the first time in five years to experiment with crypto and gaming

<ul><li>India saw 10 unicorns emerge in the first four months of 2021 as compared to 11 unicorns from the whole of 2020. </li><li>Venture capitalists and money managers in India say that this number might seem pretty small by the end of the year.</li><li>India may soon see more than 100 technology startups as unicorns, much before the 2025 target. </li></ul>India saw 10 unicorns emerge in the first four months of 2021 as compared to 11 unicorns from the whole of 2020. But the venture capitalists and money managers in India say that this number might seem pretty small by the end of the year. India currently has over 40 technology startups that are unicorns. Even after the 10 strong unicorns that have cropped up already, there are many more in the line – home services startup Urban Company, neo-bank Zeta, are among the many companies that are currently raising funds over a billion dollar valuation. Industry bodies like <keyword id="6372077" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="nasscom">NASSCOM</keyword>, <keyword id="137810" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="tie">TiE</keyword> have been bullish about the Indian startup ecosystem’s growth and believe the country is set to hit 100 unicorns by 2025. But we will be getting there much sooner. “In the next couple of years, we should hit 100 unicorns,” Lathika Pai, country head, venture capital and private equity partnerships at <keyword id="10387" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> said in a conversation with <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword>. And Haresh Chawla, partner at True North is even more enthusiastic. He said “I believe we will do 3X of last year, so over 30 unicorns in this year alone.” VCs are more than willing to bet on startups When the COVID-19 pandemic started, startups in India feared that VCs might hold on to their purses and think twice before investing. But with the digital acceleration and the boom of sectors like edtech, healthtech, fintech and more, all the fears have been kept away. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, India has seen $11.85 billion in private equity and venture capital funding. <div type="image" title="PE VC funding" msid="82097878" hostid="261"></div> Chawla believes that the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the consumers’ willingness to pay and that distribution is no longer a challenge, which has brought in investor’s interest. “This has created a new landscape from 12 months ago. Many of these new companies at some level are going to profitably disrupt the market,” he said. Pai, who agrees that COVID-19 has been a boon to startups, gives us a snapshot of what’s happening in the VC zoom calls as they meet new companies. “It’s no longer vanity metrics that we are talking about, people are downloading, transacting. I know of a startup and the valuation they got right now was 20X from a year ago for their series A round. It’s phenomenal that the valuations have increased because the potential is now suddenly open more than ever,” she said. The unicorn rush And with the demand more than ever, valuations are justified. For Chawla, the unicorn tag does more than just make the founder and the investor happy. “If you were doing a deal at $800 million valuation, you would rather do it at $1.2 billion and call it a unicorn. This will signal to everyone that this company is now funded and competing with it will be difficult. Some bit of the froth is due to the competitive signalling,” he said. The number of unicorns being produced in India have more than doubled in the past few years. And it’s not a shocking factor anymore, especially when compared to markets like China and the US, which see crazy valuations and unicorns being produced every year. There are a total of over 650 unicorns in the world, with cumulative valuations hitting $2,173 billion. China and the US alone account for 80% of the world’s unicorns. In fact, China is also home to the world’s most valued unicorn – ByteDance, with a valuation of $140 billion. “Look at China, and the number of unicorns they produce every year. There’s a lot of money in the world. But on the other side, it speaks significantly of the depth of the Indian market. The market has grown significantly, GMV is growing, and that’s leading to companies becoming unicorns,” Rehan Yar Khan, managing partner at Orios Venture Partners told Business Insider. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/pharmeasy-investor-orios-ventures-shares-why-it-promises-to-invest-in-every-round-even-after-an-ipo/articleshow/82061415.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">This VC firm invested in Pharmeasy when it was valued at just $10 million – here’s why it promises to invest in every round even after an IPO</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/adar-poonawalla-serum-institute-of-india-has-bought-stake-policybazaar/articleshow/81985425.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Serum Institute of India buys into IPO-bound insurance unicorn PolicyBazaar, as True North sells part stake in secondary sale</a>

VCs say 10 unicorns in 4 months may seem too small by the end of this year

Mumbai, Jan 22 () Serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia on Wednesday said he is focusing on taking his newest business Zeta to the US and Europe as he looks to decrease the fintech firm's reliance on India for revenues.
 The 40-year-old billionaire said the company is not looking at any acquisitions or stake sales at present, but will be open for a strategic investor coming in like French player Sodexo.
 Turakhia said over USD 70 million has been invested in the company, including USD 40 million by him and co-founders and USD 30 million by Sodexo, for creating a product suite targeted at banks.
 "We have been building the product for four years and 
will be launching in US, which is the biggest market for fintechs, and European countries this year," Turakhia told .
 He said all his previous businesses, including Directi, have depended on overseas clients for revenues, but Zeta has been an exception, wherein it sold services to Indian banks initially, and then branched out to Brazil, the Philippines and Vietnam in its four-year journey till now.
 The UK, Italy and Spain are the markets in Europe the company is looking at, Turakhia said, adding it takes up to six months for customising a product to local compliance requirements and ensuring connectivity with local financial switches.
 The company launched the suite called 'Tachyon' on Wednesday, wherein it has integrated a host of applications and services into a single suite. 
 The company is looking at increasing its total headcount to 650 by end of March 2021, and half of the incremental talent will be hired overseas across functions, Turakhia said.
 It will continue to look at India as a key for its engineering and product development activities, but will also hire talent for this function overseas, he said.
 At present, it counts on Kotak Mahindra Bank, RBL Bank, IDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank as among clients, Turakhia said, adding that it has also developed core banking softwares for which it is in a few conversations.
 Typically, a new age bank or one which is entering into a new vertical like credit cards is the one which will be looking for the core banking solution, he said, adding the company sees the ongoing mergers of state-run banks as an opportunity.
 Turakhia said the company will be "self sufficient" from a cash flow perspective and added that it does not require any external capital. It has last raised capital at a USD 300 million valuation. AA MR
MR

Bhavin Turakhia looks to take fintech product to US, Europe

Hello, and welcome to this week's edition of the Insider Tech <keyword id="621414" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Newsletter">newsletter</keyword>, where we break down the biggest news in tech, including:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-miami-mayor-is-worried-about-tech-vc-startup-scene">Miami techies bristle at Silicon Valley "saviors"</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kellie-gerardi-palantir-employee-tiktok-virgin-galactic-astronaut-2021-6?r=rr">Palantir's TikTok astro-mom</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-name-most-promising-startups-of-2021-6">The most promising startups of 2021</a></li></ul><h4><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-tech">Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.</a></h4>Soundtrack: This week's newsletter has been specially designed to be consumed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRcPA7Fzebw">while listening to David Bowie's "Starman."</a><h3>This week: Tech egos are clashing, from the shores of Miami to the depths of space</h3>For more than a year, Silicon Valley techies have abandoned their homeland and poured into Miami in search of startup El Dorado. As Candy Cheng reports, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-miami-mayor-is-worried-about-tech-vc-startup-scene">influx of newcomers is causing friction with the locals. </a><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-miamis-hot-new-tech-scene-2021-6">A Founders Fund VC who moved to Miami in April declared the start of the inaugural "Miami Tech Week,"</a> never thinking that there already was a Miami Tech Week.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-miami-mayor-is-worried-about-tech-vc-startup-scene">"These folks are saying they 'discovered' Miami, which to us is frustrating,"</a> said Brian Breslin, a longtime figure in the city's tech scene, comparing the newcomers' attitudes to "Columbus coming and claiming he discovered America."</li><li>If you're in Miami, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/miami-vc-startup-founders-meeting-places-restaurants-carbone-kyu-2021-5">here are some of the hotspots where newcomers and longtime locals network and make deals.</a></li></ul>If not Miami, then space. There's another group of brash Silicon Valley adventurers setting off for new horizons, and lucky for them, where they're going there are no locals to clash with (we think). <ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-first-human-flight-mark-bezos-2021-6">Amazon founder Jeff Bezos</a> announced that he and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-mark-bezos-jeff-bezos-brother-space-flight-2021-6">his brother Mark</a> will be on-board the first rocket from his <keyword id="199288" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Blue-Origin">Blue Origin</keyword> company to blast into space, on July 20.</li><li>Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-spaceflight-unlike-any-prior-rocket-launch-2021-6">completely automated and will provide passengers three minutes of weightless bliss in space</a> before returning to Earth.</li><li>There's one seat left on Bezos' spaceship, and the auction to buy the ticket closes on Saturday (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blue-origin-auction-highest-bid-jeff-bezos-space-flight-2021-5">as of Thursday, the bidding had reached $4 million</a>). You may recall that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-donald-trump-space-amazon-2015-12">Bezos once promised to reserve a seat on his rocket to send Donald Trump into space</a> - could there be a surprise bid from Mar-a-Lago? </li></ul>Meanwhile, rival space entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson may try to beat Bezos to orbit <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rumor-suggests-richard-branson-racing-to-launch-before-jeff-bezos-2021-6">by blasting off in a Virgin Galactic spaceship on July 4.</a>Elon Musk, the other space race billionaire, has yet to announce plans for his own imminent trip. But chatter has centered on a prediction <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-science-fiction-nasa-colonize-colony-planets-solar-system-2021-6">from a 1953 book that describes a leader called "Elon" leading humans to Mars</a>- seriously.And a former Blue Origin employee <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/relativity-space-3d-printing-startup-raises-650m-from-fidelity-2021-6">has just raised $650 million to build 3D-printed rockets</a>. Even Palantir, the data analysis company, has a spacebound employee. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kellie-gerardi-palantir-employee-tiktok-virgin-galactic-astronaut-2021-6">Kelli Gerardi 32-year old Tik Tok star and logistics expert at Palantir</a>, will be aboard a separate <keyword id="130495" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Virgin-galactic">Virgin Galactic</keyword> flight expected to launch in 2022."Less than a thousand humans have ever been to space - fewer than 100 women, only a handful of moms - and my 3-year-old is going to watch her mommy become one of them," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kellie-gerardi-palantir-employee-tiktok-virgin-galactic-astronaut-2021-6">Gerardi told Insider. </a><h3><keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="startups">Startups</keyword> to watch</h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-name-most-promising-startups-of-2021-6"><div type="image" title="Li Jin, Hans Tung, Gabby Cazeau, and Mike Duboe on a purple background." height="1250" width="1668" msid="83461797" hostid="261"></div></a>Insider asked dozens of top VCs to name the most promising Startups of 2021. They were asked to nominate startups they had invested in as well as ones where they had no financial ties. And they delivered an exciting list of companies, across all stages from newly launched to unicorns, each thriving for different reasons.In our first on a series of stories of the Most Promising Startups of 2021, we present a list of 46, many of whom were named by multiple VCs as being companies to watch this year.<h3>Read the full story:</h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-name-most-promising-startups-of-2021-6">46 of the most promising startups of 2021, according to top VCs</a></h3><h3>Snaphot: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hands-on-polaroid-go-tiny-instant-camera-summer-2021-5">Polaroid's life lesson</a></h3>Yesterday's innovative breakthrough is today's retro tchotchke, and the miniaturized version of Polaroid's classic instant camera is a fun, and instructive, reminder of the olden times.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hands-on-polaroid-go-tiny-instant-camera-summer-2021-5">The tiny plastic Polaroid Go spits out photos that gradually, over a period of 10 to 15 minutes, develop all by themselves.</a> Once upon a time, that was a big deal - it meant you didn't have to take your film to be developed at a shop and then wait a couple of days to get prints of your photos.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hands-on-polaroid-go-tiny-instant-camera-summer-2021-5"><div type="image" title="The Polaroid Go" height="2274" width="3024" msid="83461798" hostid="261"></div></a>For today's digital generation, there's nothing special about being able to view pictures right away, of course. But perhaps the Polaroid has something better than mere nostalgia to offer Gen Z.Scarcity is an increasingly foreign concept to those living in a time of <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/inflation-increase-outlook-us-money-supply-explodes-jeremy-siegel-2021-5-1030432547">super-low interest rates</a>, bottomless social media feeds, on-demand streaming movies, and smartphone cameras that take infinite selfies. With a film camera - even a toy-like instant camera - you only get a finite number of pictures. Each shot needs to count. Imagine that.<h3>Recommended readings:</h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/poppy-seed-health-launches-app-raises-seed-funding-alexis-ohanian-2021-6">'I was pregnant and then I wasn't.' How a miscarriage led a startup employee to build a company that's now funded by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six.</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-execs-cybersecurity-strategy-carbon-black-2021-6">VMware is in an all-out sprint to grow its $1 billion security business, doubling its engineering staff to compete with cyber giants like Microsoft and Cisco</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/travis-kalanick-cloudkitchens-americas-manager-leaves-to-healthtech-startup-2021-6">Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens loses second exec in a month</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-zeta-banking-250-million-1-45bn-valuation-from-softbank-2021-6">This pitch deck persuaded Softbank to make its first banking tech investment, sending Zeta's valuation rocking to $1.45 billion</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-salaries-engineers-business-analysts-digital-strategists-2021-6">IBM salaries revealed: How much the $132 billion tech giant paid software engineers, business analysts, and more in 2021</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/magic-leap-executives-depart-in-leadership-shake-up-peggy-johnson-2021-6">Top executives at Magic Leap are leaving the company in the biggest leadership shakeup under CEO Peggy Johnson</a><h3>Not necessarily in tech:</h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subway-founder-ceo-fred-deluca-inside-story-2021-6">Subway cofounder Fred DeLuca ruled the company like a demigod and pursued wives of franchisees. How one man sent the world's biggest fast-food chain into a tailspin.</a>Thanks for reading, and if you like this newsletter, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-tech">tell your friends and colleagues they can sign up here to receive it</a>.- Alexei

Miami and Space - the new battlegrounds for tech's top egos

Zeta GlobalZeta Global founder CEO David SteinbergOn Thursday, Zeta Global, a company co-founded by David Steinberg and former Apple CEO John Sculley announced a$140 million round of financing - $115 million in equity capital and $25 million in debt financing. The nearly 10-year-old startup has now raised more than $250 million in total.While the company wouldn't comment on the valuation, a source tells us it rings in at $1.3 billion, up from over $1 billion in 2012, the last time the company raised equity capital. Zeta Global offers cloud sales and marketing software.This funding is a moment of triumph for founder CEO David Steinberg, he jubilantly told us on the phone."We were looking to raise maybe a $50 million to $75 million round, really trying to accomplish bringing in enough money to do another acquisition. But every group we met with were saying 'We don't do deals that small anymore,'" he said.Given that no one would invest $75 million or less, the team went back to the drawing board with its bankers, upped their ask to $100 million and the term sheets started pouring in, Steinberg said."We started off looking for a smaller amount of money and got rejected. Then we raised the amount and got oversubscribed," he laughed. His analysis: funds today are overflowing with money and partners don't want to spread themselves too thin with smaller deals and too many portfolio companies.But there was an even sweeter win to all this. Steinberg, Sculley and the top management team didn't have to give up that much of their company in equity. They still own more than half of it, Steinberg says.Turns out, they had an old-fashioned secret weapon: profits. "We are already profitable and have been cash-flow positive for three years," Steinberg said. In 2016, the company <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2016/11/18/zeta-global-new-name-behind-300-million-in-revenue/#828ea6928636">was said to have brought in $300 million in revenue</a>, up from $200 million the year before. And it's been growing "by about 50% a year," he said.That cash flow has helped the company largely finance its needs through debt over the years.Things could have turned out very differently. Unlike a typical Silicon Valley startup however, Steinberg and his partners didn't listen to the VCs back in the day when the company hit a trouble spot and was looking for investors.<h2>Silicon Valley math</h2>The catalyst for Zeta came during a dark phase in the company's history.Steinberg was lying awake in bed one night. The company he and Sculley had bootstrapped to about $60 million of profitable revenue was in trouble.It was a big-data cloud-software platform that specialized in helping the for-profit education industry find customers. Things had gone well, but many such schools had gained a sleazy reputation for charging a lot, putting students in big debt and underdelivering on the promised new careers. The government was cutting off funding for schools when their job placement stats didn't meet muster. And <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/barack-obama-pushes-for-profit-colleges-to-the-brink-119613">the once thriving sector was withering.</a>"If we don't pivot, we're going ot die,"Steinberg thought to himself that night.He decided to twist his startup into a marketing cloud that was broad enough for any company to find new customers, beyond those focused on education. He knew he needed to make some acquisitions to acquire the tech and customers for a quick turnaround.And to do that, he was going to need funding.He and Sculley had invested the first $15 million or so themselves and Zeta was cash-flow profitable even in its early years.They did the rounds on Sand Hill and "nobody liked us,"Steinberg recalled. They were perturbed that the company was managing its growth to stay at around 50% to keep its costs in check and its profit margins healthy.One "top tier VC" told them,"The fact that you've built this business to profitability doesn't interest us. We care about market share and growing as fast as possible,"Steinberg remembers. He advised them to take all their cash, put themselves into the red, hire a bunch of sales people and grow revenue as fast as they could.Many Valley VCs still think that way. Very few VC-backed companies are profitable when they start selling their shares in the public market. Many startups even radically boost their sales and marketing spend before their IPOs to show investors they are still in hot-growth mode.Although venture capital investors might object to the characterization, a common knock against VCs is that their primary goal isn't to build a sustainable long-term company, but to grow the company's value through revenue and market share - at least until the VC can sell its stake at a profit via an acquisition or an IPO."You could argue that [the motivation] is even worse than that. They are not only looking for a quick exit, but also to deploy as much capital as they have, and keep you needing money, so they can keep pumping money in and taking over a bigger percentage of the company," Steinberg says of VCs.That kind of Silicon Valley math <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-founders-give-up-90-of-the-company-2014-5">definitely works for many</a> founders. But Zeta was founded in New York - although it now has offices globally - and prefers the New York attitude that profits do matter.In the end, they found a VC that appreciated their old-fashioned, profit-loving style of leadership, Bob <a></a>Niehaus of New York's GCP Capital. "He gave us $20 million and helped us raise another $50 million in debt and helped us buy our first software assets,"Steinberg says.With healthy cash flow coming in, the company continued to prefer to borrow money rather than sell pieces of itself to finance things like acquisitions. By 2017, its value had grown vast enough to raise a lot of cash by selling a small piece of itself, while keeping its controlling stake in its founders' and executives' hands.The $140 million round was led by GPI Capital and GPI's Bill Royan will join Zeta's board. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-some-people-turn-red-drink-alcohol-2017-4">The disturbing reason some people turn red when they drink alcohol</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

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