http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Sequoia-Capital-India

1. TECH START-UPS IN INDIA
ATTRACT BIG NAMED
INVESTORS, AND CASH
Shailendra Singh Sequoia Capital

2. Shailendra Singh Sequoia Capital
• Intense interest from prominent investors helps they are driving eye-popping
valuations among Indian tech start-ups.
It is a radical turnaround from just a couple years back, when fewer smartphones, a
smaller quantity of Online users, general government inertia and a lack of funding
hampered many entrepreneurs and start-ups.
Well-known investors like Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of SoftBank; Jack Ma,
the chief chairman of Alibaba; and Mr. Murdoch, the press tycoon, have all made
investments in India’s e-commerce companies. They're going head-to-head along
with other experienced tech investors like Sequoia Capital.
India’s market potential is enticing. Only 300 million Indians, or less than 25 percent
of the country, are Internet users, and while that is already the second-largest
Internet market on the planet, after China, 5 million users are added every month,
based on Rajan Anandan, Google India’s md. The number of Internet users in India
is anticipated to achieve 500 million in 3 years, he explained

3. Shailendra Singh Sequoia Capital
• As investors rush in, the stampede has brought its own group of challenges. Despite the
optimism, none of India’s e-commerce players are profitable yet. For the time being, it is a
game of capturing share of the market, and also the expenses are high as rivals try to
distinguish themselves in front-page newspaper ads and prime-time TV commercials.
There is also the matter from the aggressive valuations that start-up founders are
demanding. News reports this year suggested that the deal between Alibaba and Snapdeal
fell through since the two could not agree on a valuation.
With such inflated prices, investors ought to be wary. Any downturn could take with it vast
sums of dollars of their money.
“Follow-on financing offers land before entrepreneurs have closed the previous round. It is a
little chaotic,” said managing director Shailendra Singh Sequoia Capital India, which has
investments in the cab-summoning app Ola and also the restaurant and food platform
Zomato. Investors get sticker shock as entrepreneurs demand outrageous multiples and stiff
premiums. Mr. Singh said some demands were “uncomfortably high.”
•