Where pandemic hampered the operations of Indian businesses bringing it closer to the jaws of closure, surprisingly it could not deter some startups across fintech, agritech, healthtech, retail, e-commerce and fintech gain the unicorn status. In 2020, the startup ecosystem got a total of 11 unicorns and 2021, within 6 months, saw 16 startups join the unicorn bandwagon thus taking the count of 50 unicorn startups.
With the rise of multiple unicorns emerging in a short span, India has truly retained the title of third-largest in the world right after the US and China with 124 and 92 unicorn startups respectively. A joint report from Nasscom and Zinnov anticipates that India is on track to be a 50-plus strong unicorn club in 2021 and holds the potential to be a 100 unicorn club by 2025.
Despite challenges in the pandemic that disrupted business continuity, entrepreneurs have quickly responded to varying consumer behaviour and chose to understand the business opportunities laid by the crisis to get the benefit of first-mover advantage.
Why is India able to give birth to Unicorn startups?
The reasons for the growth in India’s unicorn can be attributed to:
- Leveraging new-age technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet Of Things, data analytics, big data, robotics, etc. focussing on customer personalisation and bridging gaps resulting in product acceptance and sales
- Disruptive solutions in the conventional systems
- Product or service innovation
- High-quality talent
- Investors are willing to invest in Indian startups. Since 2015, India has seen an inflow of $250 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI). Out of which, 75% of this FDI, i.e. $184 billion, has come in through venture capital and private equity funding.
- Increasing internet penetration
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With the rise of multiple unicorns emerging in a short span, India has truly retained the title of third-largest in the world right after the US and China with 124 and 92 unicorn startups respectively.
List of the recent Unicorn Startups in 2021
Cred
Sector: Fintech
Founder: Kunal Shah
What it solves: It reduces the hassle of handling multiple credit cards and helps pay credit card payments on a timely basis.
FirstCry
Sector: E-Commerce
Founder: Supam Maheshwari
What it solves: A one-stop shop for babies and kids ranging from clothes to toys.
Meesho
Sector: E-commerce
Founder: Vidit Atrey
What it solves: An social commerce platform to enable shoppers from smaller cities and towns to shop online.
ShareChat
Sector: Social Media
Founder: Bhanu Pratap Singh
What it Solves: Multilingual social media platforms
Urban Company
Sector: Marketplace
Founder: Abhiraj Bhal
What it Solves: Offering services like plumbing, salon, electronics repair, etc. on a single platform
Digit
Sector: Insurance
Founder: Kamesh Goyal
What does it solve: Offers car and health insurance
Pharmeasy
Sector: online pharmacy
Founder: Dr. Dhaval Shah
What does it solve: Customers can conveniently buy medicines online
Chargebee
Sector: SaaS
Founder: Krish Subramanium
What does it solve: A subscription billing and revenue management platform.
GupShup
Sector: Conversational messaging
Founder: Beerud Sheth
What does it solve: It is a messaging services company with primary operations in India, the US and the UK. It has been providing SMS, email, Voice, USSD, and IP messaging and chatbot development services to leading BFSI, Retail, e-commerce companies.
Moglix
Sector: Industrial Marketplace
Founder: Rahul Garg
What does it solve: A B2B E-commerce marketplace for industrial supplies, Safety, Electricals, Lighting, Cleaning & Housekeeping, Office stationery & Supplies and Power Tools.
Other Unicorn Indian Startups
- Five Star Business Finance
- Zeta
- Innovaccer
- Mindtickle
- Infra.market
- Groww
- Glance Inmobi
- Dailyhunt
- Zenoti
- Cars24
- RazorPay
- Unacademy
- Postman
- Nykaa
- Pine Labs
- Lenskart
- Ola Electric
- Citius Tech
- Rivigo
- BigBasket
- Dream 11
- Delhivery
- Billdesk
- Freshworks
- Oyo
- Policybazaar
- Swiggy
- Paytm
- Byjus
- Shopclues
- Hike
- Zomato
- Quickr
- Paytm
- Ola
- Snapdeal
- Flipkart
- Inmobi
- Icertis
- Blackbuck
- BrowserStack
