Sequoia to hold mega investor meet for portfolio companies on road to IPO
Two-day conference in Mumbai will have over 20 portfolio firms meeting over 25 leading public market investors in the first-ever such interface; Meesho, OYO, and CRED are among those who will participate.
- Mar 12, 2023,
- Updated Mar 12, 2023 4:17 PM IST
Even as India’s start-up ecosystem feels the jitters following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US, leading venture capital firm Sequoia will hold its first-ever investor conference, bringing together over 20 of its scaled and listed portfolio companies with over 25 of the country’s leading public market investors. This interface is being seen as critical, given that many of these leading firms have already scaled up, and are planning public market offerings in the future.
The investor conference will be held in Mumbai on March 13 and 14.
Labelled Sequoia Horizon, the conference will also have over 10 leading equity research firms meeting the founders of these companies.
The Sequoia firms are a mixed bunch and include firms that have scaled up significantly, and also some which are listed. These include companies in the financial services space, such as Pine Labs, CRED, and Finova Capital. Then there are several in the technology space such as Capillary, Ixigo, Meesho, Moglix, OYO, and Zetwerk, and also in the consumer space such as HealthKart, Wildcraft, and Prataap Snacks. Sequoia sources told Business Today that the event will also include listed companies that are part of the firm’s portfolio, such as Indigo Paints and Truecaller.
"As an increasing number of start-ups find themselves in a position to consider an IPO, there is a significant transition required from being a well-performing private company to learning the architecture of a successful public company,” Sequoia sources said.
“In our young ecosystem, we are taking the lead in accelerating this learning curve for leadership teams of private companies, as well as, for public market funds who need to know more about the founder-led class of innovative companies before encountering them in the short-fuse decision making cycle of an IPO,” they added.
Some of India’s storied start-ups, which have scaled and later hit the markets, have had forgettable debuts and subsequent runs at the public markets, owing to either a mismatch of private and public market valuations, a lack of adequate interest in their business models, or even concerns around the path to profitability.
It is felt that interfaces between founders who are used to private markets, and public market investors and research firms will provide a better understanding of each set for both sides. The start-ups which are planning IPOs will understand what the market expects from such firms, and the investor set can get their doubts on business models clarified with the founders. The firms will also be able to understand the governance expectations of public markets better through such an interface.
The investor set, the sources said, includes India-focused teams at sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and local mutual funds such as DSP Mutual Fund, Franklin Templeton, HDFC Mutual Fund, IIFL AMC, Kotak Investment Advisors, Mirae Mutual Fund, SBI Mutual Fund, among several others. The invited research analysts are from 11 equity research firms such as Bank of America, Citi, Nuvama (formerly Edelweiss), and J.P. Morgan, among several others.
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Even as India’s start-up ecosystem feels the jitters following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US, leading venture capital firm Sequoia will hold its first-ever investor conference, bringing together over 20 of its scaled and listed portfolio companies with over 25 of the country’s leading public market investors. This interface is being seen as critical, given that many of these leading firms have already scaled up, and are planning public market offerings in the future.
The investor conference will be held in Mumbai on March 13 and 14.
Labelled Sequoia Horizon, the conference will also have over 10 leading equity research firms meeting the founders of these companies.
The Sequoia firms are a mixed bunch and include firms that have scaled up significantly, and also some which are listed. These include companies in the financial services space, such as Pine Labs, CRED, and Finova Capital. Then there are several in the technology space such as Capillary, Ixigo, Meesho, Moglix, OYO, and Zetwerk, and also in the consumer space such as HealthKart, Wildcraft, and Prataap Snacks. Sequoia sources told Business Today that the event will also include listed companies that are part of the firm’s portfolio, such as Indigo Paints and Truecaller.
"As an increasing number of start-ups find themselves in a position to consider an IPO, there is a significant transition required from being a well-performing private company to learning the architecture of a successful public company,” Sequoia sources said.
“In our young ecosystem, we are taking the lead in accelerating this learning curve for leadership teams of private companies, as well as, for public market funds who need to know more about the founder-led class of innovative companies before encountering them in the short-fuse decision making cycle of an IPO,” they added.
Some of India’s storied start-ups, which have scaled and later hit the markets, have had forgettable debuts and subsequent runs at the public markets, owing to either a mismatch of private and public market valuations, a lack of adequate interest in their business models, or even concerns around the path to profitability.
It is felt that interfaces between founders who are used to private markets, and public market investors and research firms will provide a better understanding of each set for both sides. The start-ups which are planning IPOs will understand what the market expects from such firms, and the investor set can get their doubts on business models clarified with the founders. The firms will also be able to understand the governance expectations of public markets better through such an interface.
The investor set, the sources said, includes India-focused teams at sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and local mutual funds such as DSP Mutual Fund, Franklin Templeton, HDFC Mutual Fund, IIFL AMC, Kotak Investment Advisors, Mirae Mutual Fund, SBI Mutual Fund, among several others. The invited research analysts are from 11 equity research firms such as Bank of America, Citi, Nuvama (formerly Edelweiss), and J.P. Morgan, among several others.
Also Read
Start-ups in ‘fraud’ bucket will face difficulty in raising money, says Sequoia MD
Sequoia-backed cloud kitchen unicorn Rebel Foods fires close to 2% of its workforce