In Pictures: India is creating new tech billionaires with each IPO these days

India had a record $6.3 billion of funding and deals for tech startups in the second-quarter, giving full flight entrepreneurial ambitions and drawing in venture-capital interest. “Indian entrepreneurs have been quietly building startups,” said Hans Tung, the Silicon Valley-based managing partner of GGV Capital. “For a decade now, the country’s internet infrastructure has vastly improved in that time and there’s a very good appetite for tech stocks globally.”

A 66 per cent stock jump on first trading day turned Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal into star for India's fledgling startup scene, pushing his fortune close to the $1 billion mark. • The food-delivery app Zomato became India’s first unicorn to make its stock market debut in July, raising $1.3 billion. Its shares have soared more than 75 per cent, giving the money-losing business a valuation of $14 billion.

Goyal is worth $650 million based on his current 4.7 per cent stake in Zomato, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He also owns more than 368 million options that vest over the next six years, which if exercised would almost double his stake in the company, which now has a market capitalization of $13.3 billion.

While that's far behind the fortunes of Mukesh Ambani - worth about $80 billion - and dozens of other Indian industrial tycoons, the group of ultra-rich startup entrepreneurs in the country are catching up in race to be the next billionaires.

Those topping the $1 billion include Byju Raveendran of online education provider Byju's, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of digital payments pioneer Paytm, and Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, co-founders of online retailer Flipkart.

Following Zomato’s successful IPO, India beauty-focussed portal Nykaa is currently seeking $4b valuation for IPO. The country's top e-commerce company for beauty products was founded by Falguni Nayar.

Nykaa, founded in 2012 by former investment banker Nayar, has grown into India's top destination for anything related to beauty, and has its own chain of outlets. It had $250 million in revenues last year. The company was last valued at $1.2 billion, according to CB Insights.

As of today, 16 Indian startups have turned unicorn this year, as some high-profile investors including Tiger Global and Falcon Edge double down on the world’s second largest internet market.

Online insurance marketplace Policybazaar also filed for an IPO earlier in August. The insurance price comparison site expects to raise as much as Rs60.18 billion, and will join a growing list of startups preparing to tap capital markets as India's digital economy booms. The owner of Policybazaar has submitted initial documents with the market regulator for what would be the third-largest Indian IPO of 2021.

Fin-tech firm Paytm will file a draft prospectus in October for a domestic IPO that seeks to raise $2.3 billion. Managing Director and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Alibaba group firms will dilute some of their stake in the proposed offer-for-sale.

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart hit the market earlier this year to raise about $1 billion at up to $30 billion valuation in a pre-IPO financing round. The e-tailer, which sold a majority stake to Walmart for $16 billion in 2018, initiated fundraise possibilities with some investors and has since grown more serious and hired bankers.

Another most anticipated IPO of 2021 was from Kalyan Jewellers. The Kerala-headquartered firm is one of India's largest gold and jewellery companies. It has 107 showrooms across 21 states in India and 30 showrooms located in the Middle East.

With $3.6 billion worth of IPOs in India in the first-half of 2021, there are about 100 unicorns in India with a combined market value of $240 billion. With COVID-19 infections under control, India’s booming IPO scene has much more to offer…