Notable VC Funding H1 2021: A Round-Up

In the business world, financing plays a crucial role. Especially when a firm comes up with several ideas but lacks funding to execute its idea proficiently, this is when the venture capitalists come into pictures, who are wealthy investors. With the financial assistance obtained from them, the companies could implement their ideas. The venture capitalists are addressed as risk investors or patient risk investors, as their investment involves a higher level of risks, and the firm may even end up with a loss and the burnt be borne by the VCs. 2021 has witnessed a massive VC funding. According to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics firm, the overall fundraising obtained by Indian startups has touched $9.7 billion across 193 deals. Also, it is noted that global VC funding has reached $288 billion in the first six months this year, according to the Crunch base data. Here we have compiled some notable VC funding deals of H1 2021.

Blackstone's $250 mn funds to aid Simplilearn in global expansion

Recently, Global private equity firm Blackstone has announced it is venturing into a definitive agreement to acquire more than 60 percent stake in edtech and digital skilling platform Simplilearn for $250 million. With this deal, the firm's existing investors, namely Kalaari Capital, Helion Venture Partners, and Mayfield fund. 

Simplilearn has collaborated with certain renowned educational institutes such as MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, Caltech CTME, Purdue Online, UMass Amherst, and the Isenberg School of Management, Jagdish Sheth School of Management and IIT Kanpur; and organizations such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and KPMG.

Mukesh Mehta, a Senior Managing Director, Blackstone says, "We have been impressed with Simplilearn's synchronous model of pedagogy focused on delivering superior outcomes for its learners. Simplilearn has demonstrated strong, profitable growth and we want to turbocharge that growth through focused investments in technology, leveraging Blackstone's global network and expertise in education technology and bringing to bear our relationships with global universities and enterprises."

BlackBuck turns unicorn, fundraise from Tribe, IFC funding soared its value to $1.02 billion

Online trucking logistics firm BlackBuck has gets fund escalating its over a billion dollars. With this funding round, BlackBuck became the latest entrant to India's unicorn club in a record-breaking year for startup funding.

The company has obtianed $67 million led by Tribe Capital, Vostok Emerging Finance (VEF), a European investor, and IFC's Emerging Asia Fund. It did not mention its valuation, but a person familiar with the matter has stated that it was valued at $1.02 billion, slightly higher than the $950 million it was valued at in May 2019, according to reports. It is further revealed that BlackBuck's valuation two years ago was about $850 million. Its other investors such as Accel, Goldman Sachs, venture firms Sequoia, and B Capital.

Rajesh Yabaji, co-founder and CEO of BlackBuck, says, "BlackBuck started with a dream to re-imagine trucking, to make it 10X simple and 10X efficient. It has been six years and we are just getting started to make a difference. We continue to dedicate ourselves for the foreseeable future to solve fundamental Indian trucking problems. The new financing round gives us more firepower to invest in fundamentally hard trucking problems and continue deepening our reach & impact." 

Dream11's valuation touches $5 billion with $400 mn fundraise

Dream Sports, which owns the online fantasy sports platform Dream11, has closed a $400 million funding round led by marquee global technology investors like TCV, an early investor in Netflix, D1 Capital Partners, and Falcon Edge. After this funding, Dream11's valuation has escalated to nearly $5 billion, almost doubling in six months, according to the sources close to the firm.

This is a completely secondary fundraise as certain Dream11's early investors, such as Multiples Alternate Asset Management and Kalaari Capital, have sold parts of their stake with multi-bagger returns. However, the Chinese technology major Tencent hasn't sold any of its single-digit holdings, in that it has now turned to be one of the top-tier startups in India. 

Securing over $1 billion funds Byju's valuation nears $15 billion

Edtech major Byju's has secured over $1 billion from investors led by Baron Funds, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's B Capital Group, and US-based investment hedge fund XN Exponent Holding, regulatory filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler showed. This round is a continuation of its capital-raising to fund the recent takeover of Aakash Educational Services.

Thus has taken its total fundraising from the latest round to $1.5 billion, which the decacorn is expected to use for inorganic growth (acquisitions). The latest fundraising, the company's value touches $15 billion. Byju's has raised a total of 11,364 crore in three tranches of Series F, beginning with 912 crore from Black Rock and T. Rowe Price in December 2020, according to the filings.

Swiggy gets $800 million funding; valuation reach $5 billion 

Online food delivery major Swiggy secured $800 million from investors led by Falcon Edge, Amansa Capital, Think Investments, Carmignac, and Goldman Sachs, the company's co-founder announced in an internal email to employees. The deal clinches Swiggy's valuation at $5 billion, sources stated. Sovereign wealth funds Qatar Investment Authority and GIC of Singapore new investors to Swiggy's cap table are also part of the financing round, sources close to the firm revealed. 

The existing investors Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers), its largest shareholder, and venture fund Accel have also participated in the funding round, according to the report. Swiggy had closed its previous funding round at a valuation of around $3.7 billion when it raised $158 million, led by its largest investor, South Africa's Prosus Ventures, in February 2020.