🇮🇳 Roundup: SoftBank-backed Snapdeal eyes IPO in early 2022, and more

Startups in the country collectively raised at least US$2.1 million today in disclosed funding from international and local investors.

Here’s a snapshot of fundraisings:

Here’s some important tech news in India today:

Snapdeal next to join the IPO frenzy

Snapdeal, a SoftBank-backed ecommerce platform, will reportedly go public in early 2022 and plans to file its IPO prospectus in the next few weeks.

The company, which competes with the likes of Flipkart and Amazon, is looking to raise at least US$200 million at a valuation of US$1.5 billion.

In 2017, Snapdeal was in talks to sell its business to Flipkart. The deal, however, never went through as the company opted to take the “independent path.” Since then, the company has tweaked its business model and is still operational.

Zoho sets sights on edtech space

SaaS (software-as-a-service) firm Zoho has entered the e-learning space with the launch of TrainerCentral.

Trainer central will provide users with access to on-demand courses and live sessions with experts, among other things. The platform is currently available in English, Hindi, and Tamil languages. The company said it will add more local languages to its platform soon.

The new business division comes close on the heels of Zoho’s US$5 million investment in Voxelgrids, an Indian startup that builds magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners.

Simplilearn completes its first-ever ESOP buyback

The edtech firm had offered active employees the option to liquidate up to 25% of their vested employee stock ownership plans worth a cumulative US$6.5 million as part of a buyback. The company said that 65% of its active employees with ESOPs have liquidated their options.

The company added that over 60% of its business comes from markets outside India. It is also hiring people for leadership roles in India and the US.