Zomato to Nykaa: India's unicorns face the m-cap test as IPOs loom

Investors have been tripping over one another to fund a host of Indian startups. Will the stock markets show the same enthusiasm when some of them launch IPOs this year?

In 2011, a nervous Naveen Tewari, founder of inMobi, flew to Japan for a meeting with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, hoping to convince him to invest in his mobile advertising startup. Contrary to his apprehensions, the meeting went swimmingly, so much so that 15 minutes into the presentation, Son agreed to write a cheque for $200 million. But he gave Tiwari one piece of advice. According to a source, Son said, “Go and conquer the US and China markets.”

Tewari did just that. Today, as much as 80 per cent of his revenues comes from the two countries. Son’s cheque