Leading investor in Indian tech start-up market, SoftBank, has announced that it may invest another $5 billion to $10 billion in the country by 2022 provided that it finds the right companies. According to a Bloomberg report, SoftBank Investment Advisers chief executive officer Rajeev Misra said that they are ready to invest more in India if they find the valuations of the companies attractive. This move signals an aggression from the Japanese investor, which has already invested $3 billion in the country so far this year itself, on various companies at the startup ecosystem. Many of these companies are to be listed for IPO soon, amid the recent gold rush that the country is witnessing.
Speaking at Bloomberg’s sixth ‘India Economic Forum 2021’, Misra said Softbank had been investing in India for more than 10 years. This has pumped in roughly USD 14 billion over the past six years, he added.
“So far this year, we have invested USD 3 billion and are looking to invest in more. It’s not in three or four companies, we have invested in 24 companies in India. “So, it’s not that there is a feeding frenzy for three or four assets. There are tech companies, education, e-commerce to Ola Electric to fintech,” Misra said on Thursday.
The top official said that there is a lot of private capital coming in into India, backed by the robust private capital market. Several companies where SoftBank acts as an investor are going in for IPO. These include PolicyBazaar, Delhivery and Oyo. Companies like Ola are also reportedly looking at approaching the market regulator Sebi for listing in the coming months. PayTm, also backed by SoftBank, closed its IPO on Thursday.
“If we find the right companies, we could invest another USD 5 billion to USD 10 billion…if we find the right opportunities at the right valuation,” Misra was quoted as saying by PTI.
“We came in and invested again in Flipkart, which we had exited in 2018…a lot of investments we have done over the past three years, we will be putting new money into them (as follow-on investment) as they raise new capital,” he stated. Misra explained that the quantum of capital being raised by founders now is not as high as a few years ago. SoftBank has witten large cheques for companies like Paytm and OYO in the past.
“They’re (founders) raising USD 150-300 million. Unlike two-three years ago, when we could deploy in a billion dollars, the ticket size has come down dramatically. So to invest USD 3-4 billion, it would require like investing in 15 companies,” he added.
“I think fintech is the biggest opportunity in India because India is underbanked. We had Paytm and Policybazaar, we are looking at a few other fintech companies, because financial inclusion is a must in India…of course education is another big piece of investing,” he said. Misra also said that India is a “major part” of the growth ambitions of SoftBank.
Read all the Latest Business News here
Comments
0 comment