ETSA 2023 | Indian SaaS companies can tap domestic public markets too: Nexus’s Jishnu Bhattacharjee

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

This is part of a series of interviews with the winners of The Economic Times Startup Awards 2023.

Indian markets may come across as an ideal option for many software players to go public as the bar for listing in the US gets higher and investors here open up to technology-based listings, Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing director of Nexus Venture Partners, said.

Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses

Bhattacharjee is the winner of the Midas Touch award for best investor at The Economic Times Startup Awards 2023.

Typically, Indian software-as-a-service, or SaaS, companies have looked at the US market to list but that may be changing.

“The expectation is that as the IPO market starts opening, probably companies which are in the $300-500 million ARR (annual recurring revenue) will be the first ones to go for a listing. Post that, we will see where the new normal settles,” Bhattacharjee said.

In India, companies with less than $1 billion valuation can tap the public markets, he pointed out.

“The bar is going to be a lot higher for the entry valuation of any public listing in the US– no less than $2-3 billion,” Bhattacharjee said. “It’s debatable how stable these offerings will be, and it depends on factors such as size of the float, etc.”

His remarks come at a time when global macroeconomic headwinds and rising inflationary concerns have caused a rout in public stocks, with several India-led software