Meesho, Bharat Pe on funding spree, set to bag unicorn status

NEW DELHI:  If India’s startup ecosystem proved to be resilient during a pandemic year, which saw the birth of 12 unicorns and a total investment of over $14 billion, this year is going to be even better. 2021 has already seen insurtech start-up, digit insurance entering the coveted unicorn club. Social commerce platform Meesho and digital payments start-up, Bharat Pe, may be the next entrants in the unicorn club as investments continue to pour in despite the Chinese funding block.

Between February 1 and 6, the start-ups have received nearly $322million led by Bharat Pe, which has raised $108 million in funding at a valuation of $900 million. Existing investor, Coatue management led the funding round in which Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital also participated. Bharat Pe will join the likes of Phone Pe, RazorPay and Paytm which focus on digital payments in B2C as well as B2B verticals.

Bharat Pe’s valuation has risen by $500 million since its last funding round in February 2020. Ashneer Grover, co-founder and CEO, Bharat Pe said with the fundraise, the company will continue deepening the credit ecosystem for the merchants. “We want to stay aligned with categories in financial services that will provide us margins, contributing to our growth,” Grover added.

On the other hand, Meesho is likely to be SoftBank’s next investment bet in India after the Japanese tech fund giant led a $150 million funding round in edtech firm Unacademy, marking its entry into the unicorn club. Facebook, Naspers and Sequoia Capital, were some of the earliest backers of Meesho.