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Mensa Brands Achieves Unicorn Status in Record Time in India, Maintaining Profitability

### Indian Startup News Roundup: Paytm IPO, Policybazaar Listing, Droom IPO, Chalo Acquisition, and Funding News

This week in Indian startup news, a series of major events have shaken up the Indian startup ecosystem. Paytm, India’s biggest ever IPO, faced a disappointing debut on the stock markets, with their stock price falling over 25% on the first day. On the other hand, Policybazaar’s successful listing on the markets made their investors 17.35% richer. Droom, an online marketplace for selling automobiles, has also filed for an IPO.

In other news, Chalo, an app digitizing bus operations, is reportedly in talks to acquire Vogo, a scooter rental startup. Additionally, Mensa Brands has raised $135 million, making them India’s fastest unicorn, and a number of other companies such as Velocity, Wingreens Farms, and GoKwik have also raised significant funding.

#### Paytm’s IPO Flop and Policybazaar’s Success
The highly-anticipated listing of Paytm on the stock markets resulted in a major setback for the company as their stock fell more than 25% on the first day, while Policybazaar’s successful listing made their investors 17.35% richer. The contrasting fate of these two major Indian startups has created ripples in the market and raised concerns about the viability of mega IPOs in the Indian context. [source](https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/opinion/paytms-dud-ipo-will-policybazaars-success-bring-back-the-cheer-7590261.html)

#### Droom’s IPO and Chalo’s Acquisition Talks
Droom, an online marketplace for selling automobiles, has decided to file for an IPO and aims to raise Rs 3000 crore. However, given the current market sentiment, things don’t look promising for Droom. Meanwhile, Chalo, an app that digitizes bus operations, is reportedly in talks to acquire scooter rental startup Vogo. [source](https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/droom-files-for-ipo-to-raise-rs-3-000-crore-report-11636566362245.html)

#### Mensa Brands, Velocity, Wingreens Farms, and GoKwik’s Funding Rounds
Mensa Brands, a Thrasio-style house of brands, has raised $135 million, making them India’s fastest unicorn. Velocity, a revenue-based financing platform, has raised $20 million to offer alternative financing models to e-commerce companies. Additionally, healthy snacks brand Wingreens Farms has raised $17 million, and e-commerce enablement platform GoKwik has raised $15 million. [source](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/funding-funding-windfall-for-indias-startups-during-lockdown/articleshow/87875390.cms)

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  1. Listen to this video as a Podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5rGPalovc6AKsfbOyjh32p
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    News Resources

    Paytm: India’s biggest ever IPO flops on listing day: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/ipo/paytm-operator-one97-communications-sees-a-tepid-debut-stock-opens-at-rs-1950-7733641.html

    Policybazaar’s successful listing on the stock markets: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/policybazaar-shares-surge-17-35-over-ipo-price-on-listing-market-cap-at-rs-51692-48-crore/articleshow/87708928.cms
    https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/policybazaar-ipo-minted-70-millionaires-over-350-crorepatis-yahish-dahiya-121111501392_1.html
    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/policybazaar-the-most-valuable-insurance-bazaar-in-the-world/articleshow/87729650.cms
    https://www.cnbctv18.com/business/entrepreneurship-business/policybazaarcom-enters-insurance-broking-with-15-offline-stores-9781421.htm

    Droom files for an IPO: https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/droom-files-for-3000-crore-ipo-the-online-car-dealer-wants-400-crore-for-acquisitions/articleshow/87664165.cms
    https://www.sebi.gov.in/filings/public-issues/nov-2021/droom-technology-limited_53946.html

    Chalo in talks to acquire Vogo: https://entrackr.com/2021/11/exclusive-chalo-in-talks-to-acquire-ola-backed-vogo/
    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/vogo-lands-11-5-million-from-existing-investors/articleshow/81084215.cms
    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/vogo-claims-profit-in-hyderabad-bengaluru-in-three-months-time/articleshow/85941430.cms

    Mensa Brands raises $135 million – becomes India’s fastest unicorn: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/mensa-brands-turns-unicorn-within-six-months-of-launch/articleshow/87733523.cms
    https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/16/india-mensa-a-house-of-d2c-brands-becomes-unicorn-in-just-six-months/

    Velocity raises $20 million: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/velocity-in-bags-20-million-in-funding-led-by-peter-thiels-valar-ventures/articleshow/87747949.cms
    https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/16/velocity-a-revenue-based-financing-platform-raises-20-million-led-by-peter-thiel-valar-ventures/

    Wingreens Farms raises $17 million: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/wingreens-raises-rs-124-crore-from-investcorp-omidyar-7720331.html
    https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/wingreens-farms-raises-17-mn-in-funding-led-by-investcorp-11636975865632.html

    GoKwik raises $15 million: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/gokwik-raises-15-milion-series-a-from-sequoia-matrix/articleshow/87753516.cms

  2. Paytm is currently facing a very stiff competition from Phonepe, googlepay, amazonpay…
    All it`s compepetitors are giving huge benefits and perks to customers whereas paytm is just focused on increasing their reach over a large population…recently they launched a speaker device in stores for convonient payments by blind people too..which is a very great step but it is too early for paytm to launch this kind of platform….
    And I think this aspect of unchecked competition by paytm made it weak…

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