• With $2 billion valuation, Mobile Premier League is ready to turn Unicorn

Popular online gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) is in talks with existing investors including Composite Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures and SIG and some new investors like DST Global to raise up to $150 million. If the potential round materializes, it would be the third funding round for the two-and-a-half-year-old company in the past seven months. In addition, MPL announced the acquisition of New Delhi-based e-sports gaming platform Gaming Monk.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3eRqTTs

AAA Valuation Comment: Mobile Premier League (“MPL”) is a mobile e-sports platform operated by Galactus Funware Technology Pvt. Ltd. having a user base of more than 60 million in India and 3.5 million users in Indonesia, also serves as a publishing platform for other gaming firms. MPL is a platform where users can sign up to play skill-games and win cash prizes in return. The company had raised $95 million in February 2021 at a valuation of $945 million and $90 million in September 2020. A user can choose to play three different formats of games namely tournaments, 1-vs-1 battle, Fantasy sports as compared to the Dream11 which is only a fantasy sport gaming platform. According to a FICCI-EY report, the current online gamer’s base in India stands at 360 million and projected to cross the 500 million mark by 2025.

  • Clubhouse closes $4 billion valuation after an undisclosed Series C funding

A new type of audio based social networking app Clubhouse recently bagged Series C funding led by the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz along with other major investors such as DST Global, Tiger Global, and Elad Gil. The company did not disclose the scale of funding but it is said that the funding will value the company at $4 billion. Currently, the app is available only for iOS users, however, it is preparing for its Android launch sooner next month.

Read more at: https://tcrn.ch/3tLgfUu

AAA Valuation Comments: Clubhouse is an audio-only app that hosts virtual rooms for live discussions, with opportunities for individuals to participate through speaking and listening. Clubhouse, a year-old platform, has reported 10 million weekly active users which has thrived during the pandemic while people were under a locked down. The app is available only for iOS and is currently working on building a version for Android.  This app is banned by countries such as Oman, Jordan and China etc for not having a proper license to operate and due to privacy issues. The lack of censorship and regulation associated with Clubhouse rooms is concerning for many governments. Clubhouse has plans to monetize the platform by tracking its users and selling user information. The competitor of this audio only apps are Facebook, Twitter spaces, Reddit, Spotify, telegram etc.

  • Druva raises $147M funding, valuation hits $2B

Cloud data protection and management company Druva on Monday announced it has raised $147 million led by CDPQ, a global investment group, taking its valuation to $2 billion. This round of funding also has a significant investment by New York-based Neuberger Berman and had participation by already existing investors Viking Global Investors and Atreides Management.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/337yI1y

AAA Valuation Comments: Druva Inc. is a privately-held software company based in Sunnyvale, California engaged in providing SaaS-based data protection and management products for corporations and government agencies which includes enterprise data from endpoints, data center, and cloud workloads for backup and restore, disaster recovery etc. In the last year, the Druva’s data under management has grown by more than 40 per cent as it supports industry leaders and pioneers including GameStop, Marriott, NASA, National Cancer Institute, Pfizer, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. With the enterprises moving swiftly to adopt cloud solutions to strengthen business resilience, maintain critical business operations, and support hybrid work models the adaption of cloud based platform has increased.

  • Razorpay raises $160 million, valuation triples to $3 billion in six months

Bangalore based fintech Razorpay has raised $160 million in its Series E financing round that valued the startup at $3 billion in less than 6 months. The rounded was funded by investors like Sequoia India and Singapore-based GIC and existing investors included Ribbit Capital and Tiger Global. It is said that the company will use the funding to take its digital payments offering to South East Asia, make acquisitions and build out its neo-banking platform.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3ubVrp9

AAA Valuation Comment: Razorpay is a payment service provider that helps businesses automate collections through its gateway service, while helping small businesses manage money flow. It provides payment solutions to over 5 million small merchants and its neo-banking platform “Razorpay X” helps merchants run current accounts and access credit from partner banks, processes loans worth Rs 700-800 crore every month. Its clients include food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato, as well as Facebook, Cred, ICICI Prudential and Ola. The digital payment transactions are increased by 76% in Jan-March, 2021 due to digital adoption by the business in tire-2 & tier 3 cities also. The fintech company competes with BillDesk, CC Avenues, Paytm and PayU in the payment gateway business, and with others such as Jupiter, Niyo and Open in the business of neo-banking.

  • Urban Company enters unicorn club with $2B valuation, following $188M fund raise

Home service providers Urban Company has raised $188 million in its latest funding round Taking the valuation of the startup to $2 billion. The funding round was led by Prosus, along with participation of two new investors – DF International and Wellington Management.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3nFkUVr

AAA Valuation Comment: According to filings made with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Urban Company issued 2,613 equity shares and 50,490 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS). This latest round of capital infusion takes Urban Company into the coveted unicorn club as it was last valued at around $933 million during its funding round in 2019. The Company formerly know an UrbanClap is the 12th startup from India to have entered the coveted $1 billion valuation club this year

  • Unacademy set to raise $100 Mn at $3 Bn valuation

The second-largest company in the Ed tech segment after Byju’s, Unacademy is all set to score a new round at a higher valuation. The company is in talks to raise fresh financing with about $1 billion premium in its valuation. SoftBank and D1 Capital Partners are in an advanced stage to invest $100 million in the company at a valuation of $3 billion. It has made over half a dozen acquisitions which include PrepLadder, Mastree, Kreatryx, CodeChef, Coursavy, NeoStencil and most recently management-focused coaching institute Handa Ka Funda.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3aUh71q

AAA Valuation Comments: Unacademy claims to have over 500,000 active paid subscribers on the platform as of March 13, 2021. The company has raised around $350 million in primary financing in the past 15 months. With the increase in the online learning environment, access to the global universities distant learning courses, adoption of Edtech adoption due to Covid-19 pandemic, school/universities taking digital routes and other reasons these Edtech companies provides platform to both the tutors and the students and  it can be said that these companies will be growing rapidly in comping years.

  • Accenture completes acquisition of Cygni

Accenture has completed the acquisition of Cygni, a Stockholm, Sweden-based cloud-native, full-stack development firm that helps companies transform their business through advanced technical software development services and innovative technical solutions.

Read more at: https://bwnews.pr/3ebfU8e

AAA Valuation comments: It is being that that the acquisition will enhance the global capabilities of Accenture Cloud First. With over 70,000 cloud professionals, and a $3 billion investment over the next three years, the group brings together cloud expertise, industry cloud solutions, ecosystem partner capabilities, and assets that help clients realize greater value from cloud at speed and scale.

AAAVP Monthly Highlights

New Assignments

  1. Secured assignment for valuation of real estate firm in NCR with Assets with Book Value more than 300 Cr.
  2. Secured assignment for valuation of real estate firm in NCR with Assets with Book Value more than 700 Cr.
  3. Secured CIRP case for valuation of an entity in Education field with assets more than 400 Cr.

Assignments Completed

  1. Buy back of shares from Parent Company
  2. Draft Report for company with Pan India presence and assets more than 194 Cr.

Webinars Conducted by AAA Group

  1. Best Resolution Options for Homebuyers- CA Anil Goel, CA Ankit Goel, CA Anand Sonbhadra & Mr. Umesh Goyal
  2. Pre-packaged Insolvency Resolution Process for MSME- CA Anil Goel & CA Ankit Goel
  3. Impact of recent changes in regulations on preparing financial statements & ITR for FY 2020-21- CA Ankit Goel, CA Anil Goel & CA Sandeep Vij

Knowledge Sharing by AAA Group Partners

  1. Webinar by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade & Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Accounting and Finance Service Industry- CA. Anil Goel
  2. ASSOCHAM National E-Summit, Udyog Jagat ki Soch and Manthan- Building Modern Indian for V shaped Economy- CA. Anil Goel
  3. Bhartiya Vitta Salahkar Samiti’s on Managing Liquidation – Practical Insights with Case Laws
  4. Interview by Frank Rausan Pereira, Chief Editor at Bharata First on Pre-Packaged Insolvency Resolutions Process- CA. Anil Goel
  5. Interactive Session by ICAI on the latest IBC Ordinance on Pre-Packaged Insolvency Resolution for MSME- CA. Anil Goel
  6. Webinar by CASansaar on Opportunities in Pre-Packaged Insolvency Process – CA Anil Goel & CA. Ankit Goel
  7. Virtual Session by Women Members Empowerment Committee (WMEC) of ICAI on- Management Skills & Professional Opportunities in Diversified field- CA. Anil Goel
  8. Webinar by COSIA on- In depth presentation on: Pre-Packaged Insolvency Resolution Process, The Best Remedy for MSME Financial Stress- CA Anil Goel
  9. Webinar by Chamber of Chartered Professionals on Pre-Packaged Insolvency Resolution Process- Resolution of Financial Stress for MSMEs- CA. Anil Goel & CA Ankit Goel
  10. National E-summit by ASSOCHAM India on Bad Bank Development Finance Institutions- CA Anil Goel
  11. CEP Program by WIRC of ICAI- Interactive Q&A Web Session on Prepack Insolvency for survival of MSME- CA Anil Goel
  12. Webinar by ICMAI Registered Valuers Organization on Global Trends in Valuation: Intangibles & Brand Valuation- CA Ankit Goel
  13. Webinar by All India Institute of Valuers Foundation on Caveats, Disclaimer & Limitations- CA Ankit Goel
  14. Webinar by  Northern India Regional Council Women Committee of ICAI on Pre-Packaged Insolvency Resolution Process for MSMEs- CMA Deepika Bhugra
  15. Article on “Valuers under IBC” published in the monthly Journal of ICAI- Mr. Anil Sharma

Interesting Trivia

  1. SoftBank and Tiger Global are on an investment spree in India in 2021. While Tiger has already invested in over half a dozen startups this year, SoftBank has led a $300 million round in Meesho and is in talks to pump big rounds into Swiggy, Ola Electric, Zeta and Whatfix.
  2. Of all Microsoft’s expensive acquisitions on this list, its biggest one ever was the $26.2 billion deal to buy LinkedIn.
  3. Indian startups had raised $2.73 billion in the first quarter of Financial Year 2021