Exclusive: Upstox turns unicorn with fresh round from Tiger Global

November has already seen five startups turn unicorns, with two joining the coveted club just this week. Now, a sixth company has turned unicorn this month: Upstox.

The online investment platform has raised $25 million from existing investor Tiger Global. The fresh funding appears to be a part of a larger round for the company.

Upstox has approved the allotment of 18761 Series C preference shares at an issue price of Rs 98,608 to raise Rs 185 crore or $25 million from Tiger Global, regulatory filings show.

According to Fintrackr’s estimates, Upstox has raised the fresh funds at a valuation of $3.4 billion or Rs 25,458 crore (post-money). The price per share has grown 28X as compared to Series B share price of Rs 3,514 per share. 

With this, Upstox’s valuation has surpassed its close rival Groww which was recently valued at $3 billion following a $251 million financing round in October. It is also the 40th startup to be valued over $1 billion in 2021.

Tiger Global is an existing investor in Upstox and had invested $25 million in the company’s second institutional round in September 2019.

Upstox allows retail investors to trade in the equity market through the platform and it also allows mutual fund investments, and futures and options trading. 

While Upstox is yet to file its annual financial statements for FY21, the company improved its annual income by 99.6% to around Rs 154.7 crore in FY20. Upstox had recorded a post-tax profit of Rs 13.06 crore in FY19 but with an increase in costs, it slipped into losses of nearly Rs 38 crore during FY20. 

The company collected 80.7% of its income through brokerage and allied services fees charged from users on its platform during FY21.

Upstox directly competes with Zerodha, Groww and IndMoney. Apart from Zerodha, Tiger is an investor in all three stockbroking companies. Ashish Kashyap-led IndMoney is also in talks to raise a fresh round. According to Entrackr’s sources, INDmoney is likely to raise $100 million from new and existing investors.

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