US investors cut valuation of Byju and Swiggy

Some of India’s biggest startups are taking a haircut in their valuations — at least in the eyes of their investors — as some backers adjust their estimates amid a weakening global economy.

BlackRock slashed the valuation of Byju’s, which is India’s most valuable startup at $22 billion, by nearly half to $11.5 billion, according to documents seen by TechCrunch. Indian media The Arc first reported on the valuation drop.

Swiggy, India’s most valuable food delivery startup at $10.7 billion, has been downgraded to a valuation of around $8 billion by Invesco, according to disclosures from the US fund seen by TechCrunch.

Byju raised capital last year at a $22 billion valuation and has completed more funding in recent quarters on a convertible note with the previous valuation set as a cap, according to people familiar with the matter. BlackRock disclosed its valuation adjustment on the Indian edtech giant in its 2022 annual report to shareholders.

Swiggy soared to $10.7 billion in a round led by Invesco itself in January 2022. By late October, the Atlanta-based firm had written down its Swiggy holdings and valued the company at around $8 billion. dollars, according to the filings.

Valuation declines add a new dimension to the impact of declining market conditions on Indian startups. Funding activity in India’s startup ecosystem slowed in the past year, but as many of the biggest startups raised capital on convertible notes (and therefore pushed back price discovery to a later date) or did not raise any capital at all, their latest valuations remained largely unchanged. .

Masayoshi Son, founder and chief executive of SoftBank Group, alluded to this trend last year when he warned that the startup funding winter could continue longer as some unicorn companies were unwilling to accept lower valuations in further funding deliberations.

It is important to note, however, that investors value the equity of their existing portfolio startups in different ways, and a backer’s value adjustment, no matter how remarkable, does not necessarily represent the equity points. view of other investors – and sometimes those of the startups themselves.