More than 40 new unicorns in India: Know about India’s startup ecosystem
In India, more than 40 new unicorns came in picture in 2021.
In India, more than 40 new unicorns have emerged in 2021. To begin with, as of 24th January 2022, DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) recognizes more than 62,000 startups. Additionally, these startups are across 636 districts of India. The development of startups in stretched across a diversified range of sectors. Today, startups contribute to 56 varied sectors. Starting from IT services to agriculture. Startups are usually known for innovation.
India is witnessing a change in the ecosystem for startups since 2015.
What are unicorns?
In the industry of Venture Capital and Private Equity, a unicorn is a startup that is worth above $1 billion. Currently, India homes 85 unicorns with a valuation of $287.89 billion. In 2019, 9 new unicorns were born in India and in 2020, there were 10 new unicorns born in India. However, in 2021, a bulk of more than 40 unicorns in India emerged in India. An advancement in digital ecosystem may be one of the main reasons behind it. Moreover, COVID-19 pandemic has a role to play in the manifold development of unicorns as well. Noteworthy, Bengaluru is the unicorn capital of India. Then, it is followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai. For information, a firm may take from 6 months to over 35 years to become a unicorn. Unicorns may be distributed across conventional and unconventional sectors.
Now, Conventional sectors: Typically, logistics, fin-tech, e-commerce, IT services are the conventional sectors of unicorns and startups.
Also, Unconventional sectors: Sectors like gaming, cloud kitchens, B2B, cryptocurrency etc., are unconventional in nature as they are still gaining popularity.
Further, Indian unicorns are aiming for IPOs. They are exploring public avenues in market to raise funds to extend the reach of their growth. Unicorns who has already launched their IPO include Paytm, Nykaa, Zomato, PolicyBazaar etc. Those who are exploring the avenue and might file for red herring include, CarDekho, Delhivery etc.
List of the Unicorns in 2021 India:
- Acko -Fintech
- Apna -Enterprise tech
- Bharatpe -Fintech
- BrowserStack -Enterprise tech
- Blackbuck -Logistics
- CarDekho -Consumer services
- Chargebee -Fintech
- CoinDCX -Fintech
- Coinswitch -Fintech
- Cred -Fintech
- Cure.fit -Healthtech
- Digit -Fintech
- Droom -Ecommerce
- Eruditus -Edtech
- FirstCry -Ecommerce
- Five Star -Fintech
- Global Bees -Ecommerce
- Grofers -Consumer services
- Groww -Fintech
- Gupshup -Enterprise tech
- Infra.market -Ecommerce
- Innovaccer -Healthtech
- Licious -Ecommerce
- Mama Earth -Ecommerce
- Meesho -Ecommerce
- Mindtickle -Enterprise tech
- Mensa -Ecommerce
- Moglix -Ecommerce
- MPL -Media and entertainment
- MyGlamm -Ecommerce
- Nobroker.com -Real estate tech
- Ofbusiness -Fintech
- Pharmeasy -Healthtech
- Pristyn Care -Healthtech
- Rebel foods -Consumer services
- ShareChat -Media and entertainment
- Slice -Fintech
- Spinny -Ecommerce
- UpGrad -Edtech
- Upstocks -Fintech
- Urban company -Consumer services
- Vedantu -Edtech
- Zeta -Fintech
- Zetwerk -Manufacturing
Industry wise distribution of $1 billion group:
Sector wise distribution of more than 40 new unicorns:
- Firstly, one of the unicorns belongs to Logistics sector. It is Blackbuck. They handle a chain of complex operations between origin of a product to its delivery. Logistics plays a major role in supply chain.
- Then, one unicorn is from manufacturing sector. It is Zetwerk.
- Moreover, there is one unicorn form the real estate tech sector as well. It is called Nobroker.
- Further, there are two unicorns from media and entertainment sector. These are MPL and ShareChat.
- There are ten unicorns from e-commercial sector. One of these is Mensa. Mensa has a record of becoming a unicorn in the shortest duration in Asia. It became a unicorn in mere six months.
- Then, there are four enterprise tech unicorns. These are: Apna, Browserstack, Mindtickle, and Gupshup.
- There are three unicorns coming from educational tech sector. These are: Eruditis, Vedantu, and UpGrad.
- Further, there are four unicorns valuing above $1 billion in India from the sector of consumer services. These are: Grofers, Rebel, Urban Company, and CarDekho.
- Penultimately, there are four health tech sector based unicorns in India that emerged in 2021. These are: cure.fit, Pharmeasy, Innovaccer, Pristyn Care.
- Last but not the least, there are 14 unicorns from fintech sector.
Also, fintech sector based unicorns top in the list of top 20 unicorns purportedly. Thus, It may be evident as of late, India prefers to make online transactions.
What comes next after Unicorns?
In 2021, India got more than 40 new unicorns. Market expects the birth of more unicorns in 2022. So far, 2022 has witnessed the emergence of 4 new unicorns.
However, what comes after the age of unicorns? After the age of unicorns, comes the age of decacorns. When a startup achieves the target of being a firm with a total valuation of above $1 billion, it becomes a unicorn. Similarly, when a firm progresses further and achieves a valuation of above $10 billion, it becomes a decacorn.
Expectedly, over 40% of the unicorns hail from Bengaluru. Secondly, 31% from Delhi NCR. Thirdly, Over 21% from Mumbai. While, others compose over 7%.
Thus, the world is likely to thrive further and shift from an ecosystem of unicorns to an ecosystem of decacorns.
Currently, as per the statistics, there are 46 firms in the world that have grown to achieve the status of decacorns.
Moreover, from India itself, there are four startups that are tagged as decacorns. These are Flipkart, Paytm, ByJu’s, and Swiggy. Flipkart had become a unicorn in 2012. Paytm became one in 2015. ByJu’s and Swiggy became unicorns in 2018. Although, these four firms retain the tag of decacorn today.
