Cash flows and margins to guide start-ups, says Kumar Mangalam Birla

Competition for investment & FOMO have pushed up valuations, he says

As the valuations of start-ups reach record high, key financial metrics such as healthy cash flows and gross margins will guide future behaviour and trends, chairman of Aditya Birla group, Kumar Mangalam Birla said on Friday.

Birla said the world is awash in capital and there has perhaps rarely been a better time to be an entrepreneur, as everyone from angel investors to public markets line up to back ideas. “The competition for investment opportunities and the fear of missing out (FOMO) have driven up valuations of many fledgling companies to stratospheric levels,” he said.

“Historically, the key question for any new