SaaS Startup Chargebee Becomes Unicorn, Triples Valuation In $125 Mn Series G

Chennai-based subscription management platform Chargebee has become the latest unicorn in the Indian startup ecosystem, with its Series G Round. The company is now valued at $1.4 billion, which triples its valuation in less than 6 months after its previous fundraise. 

The startup has announced a fresh round of $125 Mn in series G funding, co-led by new investor Sapphire Ventures and existing investors Tiger Global and Insight Venture Partners, along with participation from another existing investor, Steadview Capital.

With this round, Chargebee has netted a total funding of $230 Mn. It raised $55 Mn in its Series F funding round led by Insight Partners in October last year when Tiger Global and Steadview Capital participated. In August 2019, the company had raised $14 Mn in a Series D round led by Steadview Capital, Insight Venture Partners and Accel Partners. 

Chargebee’s customer portfolio includes the likes of access management company Okta, Freshworks, Calendly, Study.com, among others. As a revenue enabler for subscription businesses, Chargebee’s growth has further been spurred by its ease of use: onboarding can be completed in less than ten days – even for large global enterprises.

The global pandemic has accelerated the already growing shift to SaaS and subscription-based business models from cars to coffee providers. Demand for moving into a recurring revenue stream is expected to grow at 17.5% over the next five years on a compounded annual basis, according to a statement by the company.

The subscription billing and revenue management platform recently added enterprise-class capabilities like usage-based billing and a dedicated data center for Europe while getting consistently ranked #1 by customers among all finance products in review sites such as G2.

“Businesses today need to quickly respond to evolving customer needs, compliance requirements, and market pressures in real-time. More than ever before, businesses need their subscription revenue platform to be the reliable system of record that enables them to rapidly scale their revenue processes,” said Krish Subramanian, cofounder and CEO at Chargebee. “Chargebee is committed to spearheading this movement towards a subscription-first world by  helping our customers realize rapid value, and being an integral partner in their long-term growth journey.”

Chargebee In The Unicorn Club

With the addition of Chargebee, just four months into 2021, the Indian startup ecosystem has seen 10 startups entering the unicorn club. The list of newbie unicorns also includes fintech startups Digit Insurance, CRED, and Groww, vernacular social media platform Sharechat, messaging tech startup Gupshup, social commerce startup Meesho, healthtech company Innovaccer, online pharmacy Pharmeasy and B2B marketplace Infra.Market. 

In 2018, Inc42 predicted that India will have 100 unicorns by 2025, but looking at the current landscape with 52 startups in the list already, it’s very likely that India may cross this number (100 unicorns) by 2023.