India’s biggest funding stories of 2016

2016 wasn’t the year of fat paychecks, unless you are Amazon, that is. It wasn’t even the year of a funding race. If anything, 2016 saw India’s tech and startup community move from flashing around headline-grabbing numbers to a more mature state of play. Unlike in 2015, when Flipkart topped funding with US$700 million, this year the highest draw was for US$250 million – and not from one of the poster children of the startup ecosystem.

According to Tracxn, a total of 924 Indian startups were funded in 2016, raising US$3.89 billion in all. Last year, a total of 904 companies raised US$7.54 billion.

Read on to check the top 10 out:

1. Ibibo

Indian online travel website Ibibo Group started the year with a US$250 million check from South African global internet and media company Naspers. Ibibo is a joint venture between Naspers and Chinese internet giant Tencent.

This happened in February, before India’s oldest travel website operator MakeMyTrip bought Ibibo out to create what is being called the biggest player in the online travel and bookings industry in the country.

Ibibo was launched by Ashish Kashyap in January 2007 as a social networking site. It then changed to focus on travel, and in 2009, it launched travel booking site Goibibo. In 2013, it acquired online bus and hotel ticketing site RedBus.

2. Snapdeal

Snapdeal raised US$200 million in February, led by Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, giving it a valuation of US$6.5 billion.

“We continue to make targeted investments in building internal and external capabilities,” Anup Vikal, chief financial officer of Snapdeal, said then.

Since then, Snapdeal underwent an image makeover and is investing heavily in backend operations, but is yet to catch up to rivals Flipkart and Amazon when it comes to market share.

3. Hike

Hike Messenger, India’s answer to WhatsApp, rocked the local industry with its US$175 million fundraise from Chinese internet giant Tencent and manufacturing firm Foxconn in August.

Keeping aside the check amount, the deal was important on the count that Tencent, the company behind WeChat, was bringing its expertise and innovations to Hike.

4. BigBasket

5. CarTrade

6. ShopClues

7. BookMyShow

8. Byju’s

9. Rivigo

10. Mobikwik