Indian e-commerce firms are witnessing a rapid rise in their valuations due to the high penetration of internet and the increased use of smartphones.
Indian e-commerce firms are witnessing a rapid rise in their valuations due to the high penetration of internet and the increased use of smartphones. According to a recent study by Avendus Capital, the number of users who access internet through 3G connections has risen to about 22 million in the last three-four years. The most recent to enter the Rs 1,000 crore elite club include Olacabs, BookMyShow, Zomato and Quikr.
The quick growth of internet-based companies comes at a time when e-tail major Flipkart is valued at an estimated $4-5 billion (Rs 24,000-30,000 crore) and listed entity Justdial has market capitalisation of Rs 11,000 crore.
Leading taxi services company Ola Cabs has seen its valuation double in the past six months, following the company’s move to raise Rs 250 crore from hedge fund Steadview Capital and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. In November 2013, the three-year-old company had raised funds from Matrix Partners India and Tiger Global, at a valuation of Rs 500-600 crore.
BookMyShow, a leader in the online ticket-booking space, has seen threefold growth in its valuation, after raising funds from SAIF Partners in June. In 2012, the company had raised funds from Accel Partners and Network18, at a valuation of Rs 350-400 crore.
In March this year, a $90-million investment by a group of investors led by Swedish private equity firm Kinnevik, saw online and mobile classifieds venture Quikr being valued at about Rs 1,500 crore.
The founders of the elite club of start-ups are educated at leading India institutes; many have worked at large multinational organisations earlier. Deepinder Goyal, fonder of Zomato, and Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Cabs, have graduated from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi and IIT-Mumbai, respectively. Quikr founder Pranay Chulet is a chemical engineer from IIT-Delhi and has master’s degree in business administration from Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta.
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