Leaving the pandemic lull and the uncertainties of 2020 & 21 behind, Indian startup ecosystem has entered a consolidation stage with the first half of 2022 witnessing 175 acquisitions up from 98 during the same period last year.

2022 has been a rather interesting year for Indian startups with contrasting emotions. On one hand, we saw the emergence of underdogs as unicorns, on the other, some of last year’s superstars struggled to keep their valuation intact.

Amidst all this, the year witnessed/is witnessing (technically, more apt) record mergers and acquisitions (M&As), some of them big-ticket deals. According to the Inc42 report, while 210 acquisitions were made in 2021, 175 M&As were registered in H1’22 alone.

The rush could be attributed to the funding crunch globally. While for the smaller players it has been the struggle to raise cash, bigger ones are taking the M&A route to fuel their future growth ambitions.

If we look at the years before, the pandemic year registered the lowest number ever in last seven years with just 82 acquisitions and the year before i.e 2019 witnessed 113 M&As.

Apparently, the M&A deal count has been growing at a CAGR OF 10% (2015- 21). In 2015, the count stood at 117, followed by 149 in 2016, 128 in 2017 and 124 in 2018 respectively.

In terms of financials, Flipkart’s acquisition by Walmart in 2018 continues to be the biggest one in the history at $16,000 Mn thanks to investors like SoftBank, Tiger Global Management, Accel, and DST Global.

In the e-commerce segment, the other notable acquisitions include Carwale’s acquisition by CarTrade.com and Jabong by Myntra in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Fintech too has seen quite a few big M&As in last few years. While Snapdeal snapped FreeCharge for $400 Mn, PayU paid $130 Mn for Citrus in 2016. PhonePe had two big acquisitions namely WealthDesk and OpenQ at $75 Mn each in 2022.

In the consumer services segment, Zomato’s deal to acquire Blinkit at $568 Mn continues to be the third largest M&A ever. Similarly the only standout deal in the logistics sector has been Pickrr’s by Shiprocket in 2022.