Family Office to Billionaire Murthy Warns on Startup Valuations

The family office of tech billionaire Narayana Murthy is growing cautious on startups in India, pointing to steep discounts driven by funds that need to exit their investments.

Middling startups struggling with growth that don’t have a clear path to profitability or aren’t making much progress are being sold at discounts of 30-40%, Deepak Padaki, president of Catamaran Ventures LLP said in an interview.

Deepak Padaki

Source: Catamaran Ventures

“Funds that invested in these companies want to sell their investments because they are reaching the end of their fund terms,” he said. “There may be opportunities for private equity or secondary funds but ...