C OV ER S TORY

AGE OF THE
UNICORNS

INDIA’S
UNICORN
BOOM
It has been a rich period for India’s start-up
ecosystem, with as many as 48 newborn
businesses riding the new digital wave to
command valuations of $1 billion or more. Can
they live up to their early promise and create
sustainably profitable businesses?

By M.G. ARUN AND SHWWETA PUNJ

Illustration by NILANJAN DAS

A
ncient Indian legends talk of a nimble, fleet-footed mythological
horse-like creature called the ekashringa, or unicorn, taking its name
from the single horn on its forehead. The horn, if you drank from it,
was said to have magical healing properties. Meanwhile, in the jungle
that is today’s business environment, unicorns—defined as technology-
driven, disruptive, privately-owned start-up companies valued at over
$1 billion (Rs 7,430 crore)—have shown a rare immunity against the
waves of the Covid-19 pandemic that have brought most other busi-
nesses down to their knees. In 2021, amidst a debilitating Second Wave,
India acquired 11 new unicorns, taking the total to 48, the third largest
number in the world, after the US and China.
J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1 INDIA TODAY 21
 C OV ER S TORY
REWRITING THE RULES
AGE OF THE Indian unicorns have challenged the status quo in many sectors,
UNICORNS but they have flourished the most in financial technology and
software as a service (SaaS) businesses
NO. OF % OF
UNICORNS TOTAL

Marketplace 2 4%

Leading the pack is Byju’s, a Logistics services 2 4%

Bengaluru-based edtech firm founded
Mobility 2 4%
by Byju Raveendran, 40, and Divya
Gokulnath, 34, in 2011. A completely Content 2 4%
offline model till about six years ago,
Edtech 2 4%
Byju’s is now a fully online education
company with over 100 million users Foodtech 2 4%
in India. In June this year, at the peak INDIAN NBFCs 1 2%
of the pandemic, its valuation jumped
to $16.5 billion (Rs 1.2 lakh crore) after UNICORNS IT services 1 2%
the world’s top investors poured in big (by sector)
Proptech 1 2%
funds, making it India’s most valuable
unicorn. It is, in fact, what in industry Social media 1 2%
parlance is called a decacorn (com- Conversational
manding a $10 billion or Rs 74,280 1 2%
messaging
crore valuation or more) and is the
world’s 11th most valued start-up. Adtech 1 2%
Fintech 10 21%
Raveendran, a former mathemat- Gaming 1 2%
ics teacher, and his wife Gokulnath SaaS 9 19%
have entered the Forbes India Rich E-commerce 7 15%
List 2020 at #46, with a combined
net worth of $3.05 billion or Rs B2B * Excludes former unicorns and
3 6% includes Zerodha
22,660 crore, sharing space with E-commerce
Source: Venture Intelligence
some of India’s better-known indus-
trialists and the heads of venerable

3
business houses. India’s 48 unicorns
now have a total valuation of around tech entrepreneurs to put their faith
$139.7 billion or Rs 10.4 lakh crore, in the power of technology and pursue
according to the data and analysis their digital dreams in the new millen-
provider Venture Intelligence. These # nium. Two major trends then acceler-
unicorns are a ray of sunshine in the ated the pace of their development in
otherwise gloomy pandemic-afflicted India. The first was the 2008 eco-
economy. What explains their rise? India’s rank in number nomic meltdown which led to major
of unicorns, behind US job cuts in big multinational firms,
Power of Big Ideas and China once the most coveted destinations for
Behind every unicorn, there seems to India’s brightest. That resulted in a
be a breakthrough idea. But there is reverse brain drain, with India’s talent
also more than just that. Gritty Indian pool seeking opportunities within the
entrepreneurs have, by dint of their country itself rather than on foreign
innovation and perseverance, spotted shores. The second, and parallel, devel-
a unique business positioning that at- 11 companies attained opment was the humongous expansion
tracted piles of financial backing and unicorn status in the in internet facilities across the country
enabled them to script such unique from 2010 onwards, apart from tech-
and inspiring success stories as that
first four months
nological advancements like cheaper
of Byju’s. These companies have not of 2021. This is smartphones and cloud computing.
risen from the ashes of the pandemic. an achievement, These helped massive economies of
The foundation for their phenomenal considering 12 start- scale and promoted the GBF (Grow
growth was laid by India’s finest info- ups entered the unicorn Big Fast) philosophy needed to make
tech companies, set up in the 1990s, pantheon in all of 2020 digital businesses viable.
which created a conducive ecosystem A shining example is Vijay
and inspired a new, young breed of Shekhar Sharma, 43, founder and

22 INDIA TODAY J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1
CEO of Paytm, India’s largest online be it medicines, clothes, gadgets, food promoted by IIT Delhi batchmates
payment company, who straddles or furniture, not to mention a whole Vidit Aatrey, 31, and Sanjeev Barnwal,
the digital payments space in India range of B2B (business-to-business) 32, which enables small businesses
like a colossus. Sharma was still an activity that has moved online. and individuals to run online stores
engineering student when he started through social media channels such as
a relatively successful website in 1997. Share and Thrive Economy WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
He sold it for Rs 43 lakh two years All these developments have seen the Founded in 2015, the Bengaluru-based
later. He then set up One97 Com- establishment of innovative business start-up considers itself a pioneer in
munications, which offered mobile models called “network orchestrations” its space, providing support in order
content, including news, cricket scores that create value through sharing and management, logistics, online pay-
and ring tones. He struggled to get thriving. Leading the charge are hun- ments and marketing. It boasts of a 13
the venture on its feet and took up odd dreds of young, first-generation en- million-strong network, most of whom
jobs to make ends meet, but they also trepreneurs, armed with degrees from are women, and became a unicorn this
helped him understand how com- prestigious engineering institutes and April. It is currently valued at $2.1 bil-
panies were run. In 2010, he set up B-schools but equally with raw ambi- lion (Rs 15,600 crore).
Paytm as a unit of One97 to cash in on tion, grit and eureka moments. One India added more than 1,600
the mobile digital payment space, and such is online marketplace Meesho, tech start-ups in 2020, making it the
has never looked back since. Paytm’s world’s third largest tech start-up
GBF moment came when the Modi hub, according to IT industry body
government demonetised high-value Nasscom in its Strategic Review 2021.
currency in November 2016, accelerat-
ing the adoption of digital spending in
POWERED This is the biggest addition in three
years, says Nasscom, taking total tech
India. One97 Communications, which BY IDEAS start-ups in India to 12,500. “India has
Sharma started with a loan of Rs 8 Countries with the most been waiting for this opportunity for
lakh, now has a valuation of $16 billion number of unicorns over a decade,” says Prashant Choksey,
(Rs 1.18 lakh crore)—neck and neck an investor and co-sfounder of Mum-
with Bjyu’s—with big-time investors 1. US bai Angels, an ‘angel’ or early-stage

288
like Intel Capital, Sapphire ventures investment network. “We are now at
and the Alibaba Group backing it. The an inflection point. The pandemic
company crossed a billion transac- has played a big role in this.” As more
tions in 2021 across several payment 2. CHINA and more people shifted online to buy
modes—wallets, plastic cards, internet
banking and UPI (unified payments 133 goods or attend classes or invest in
the stock markets, a host of start-ups
interface). Paytm competes with global saw their fortunes rise. For instance,
3. INDIA
giants—Google, Facebook, Amazon Razorpay, a payments gateway for
and the Flipkart-backed PhonePe—in
the digital payments space. It is plan-
48* small businesses founded in 2014 by
IIT Roorkee alumni Harshil Mathur,
ning an IPO (initial public offering) 4. UK 31, and Shashank Kumar, 30, is valued

27
this year that could take its valuation to at $3 billion (Rs 22,280 crore) today.
around $25 billion (Rs 1.8 lakh crore). Swiggy, the food delivery platform

T
founded in 2014 by BITS Pilani alumni
here are other major global 5. GERMANY Sriharsha Majety, 35, and Nandan
trends powering the unicorn
surge in India. The sharing
economy, with its philosophy
15 Reddy, 33, and IIT Kharagpur gradu-
ate Rahul Jaimini, 34, has a current
valuation of $5.5 billion or Rs 40,850
of collaborative consumption and on- 6. SOUTH crore (see accompanying profiles).
demand services, saw the phenomenal KOREA
growth of companies such as Uber and
Airbnb that inspired young Indian
11 Quiet but Quantum Leap
Aiding the growth of these start-ups
entrepreneurs to set up Ola and Oyo, are higher internet penetration and im-
6. ISRAEL

11
offering similar services. It also saw the proving connectivity and bandwidth.
emergence of e-commerce companies, A report by the IAMAI (Internet and
including big boys like Amazon and Mobile Association of India) in early
India’s Flipkart. With the pandemic 8. BRAZIL June noted that 43 per cent of India’s

10
shaking up traditional ‘contact’ busi- population, or roughly 622 million
nesses, these new-age enterprises rode people, are active internet users. The
the digital wave where customers want rural internet surge is unmistakable.
everything delivered at their doorstep, In 2020, while internet users grew 4
Source: Statista.com , figures as of April 2021
*As of June 2021

J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1 INDIA TODAY 23
 C OV ER S TORY
AGE OF THE comes their way, helping these entre-
UNICORNS preneurs build the arsenals that will

THE GOLD make them leaders in their businesses.

Funding, in fact, has reached strato-

per cent year-on-year in urban India,

RUSH spheric levels. A study by YourStory
Research, a firm that tracks the start-

1,600
the growth in rural users was 13 per up scene in India, shows that start-up
cent. Mobile phones continue to be the funding in (January-May 2021) alone
devices of choice for accessing the in- touched a record high of $8.76 billion
ternet in urban and rural areas. India is Tech start-ups India added or Rs 65,070 crore, 80 per cent higher
likely to have 820 million smartphone in pandemic year 2020 than the funds received in the first half
users in the next two years, according of last year. In just four days between
to a joint report by the ICEA (Indian April 5 and 9, half a dozen Indian start-
Cellular and Electronics Association)
and consulting firm KPMG last year. #3 ups raised $1.55 billion, or Rs 11,510
crore, to enter the ‘unicorn’ club.

R
India’s global rank in the Eleven companies attained uni-
eliance Jio’s entry into 4G number of tech start-ups corn status in the first four months of
mobile telephony in 2016, 2021, according to Tracxn, a company
using long-term evolution that compiles start-up data. The
or LTE technology, a form
of high-speed wireless communica-
tion, marked a big departure in mobile
48
No. of unicorns in India
start-up ecosystem counts this as
an achievement, considering that 12
start-ups entered the unicorn pan-
connectivity and pricing, forcing (As on June 28, 2021) theon in all of last year. “This is not an
competitors such as Bharti Airtel and overnight boom,” says Sasha Mirchan-
Vodafone-Idea to spruce up their offer- dani, founder & MD of Kae Capital,
ings as well. “In India, consumers use
data like they use water,” says Rajeev
Suri, managing partner at Orios
708
Total number of
an investor in the start-up space. “This
is the result of years of hard work.”
Of India’s 48 unicorns, the most are
Venture Partners. “Penetration of data unicorns worldwide in financial technology, or fintech,
is everywhere, the payment ecosystem (As of April 2021) followed by retail and software (see
is thriving, and most payments have Rewriting the Rules). Even the time

6-8 YEARS
gone digital.” Indian mobile data users taken by a tech start-up to become a
consumed a monthly average of 8.3 unicorn has shrunk from 15 years in
gigabits in 2018, compared with 5.5 GB 2005 to 2.4 years in 2016 and 2017.
in China and 8-8.5 GB in South Korea. Avg. time taken in India and What has also helped is cheap
An analysis by global consulting the US to birth a unicorn; global capital as the US Fed continues
firm McKinsey found that of the 17 China takes 4-6 years to maintain interest rates near zero.
mature and emerging economies, In- “There is huge liquidity in the market,”

140 BN
dia is digitising faster than any other says Choksey. In addition to foreign
country, barring Indonesia. A biomet- $ firms such as the US-based Tiger
ric digital identity, bringing business- Global, Singapore’s sovereign fund
es on to a common digital platform Current valuation of Temasek and Japan’s SoftBank, several
through the Goods and Services Tax, TikTok parent ByteDance, private equity investors, such as Accel,
competitive offerings by telecom the world’s most highly Sequoia Capital, Steadview Capital and
companies that have fuelled data valued start-up Helion Ventures, are funding Indian
consumption have helped. The bank start-up entrepreneurs (see Most Ac-
accounts of Jan Dhan account-holders tive Unicorn Investors). Of late, Tiger
have been authenticated, thanks to Global has been the most aggressive in
Aadhaar. “There is now the data of India, signing 70 investment deals with
the silent 100 million,” Suri adds. Dev payments have become widespread, Indian unicorns so far, and backing
Khare, a partner with Lightspeed and users in Tier II and III cities have 25. These include investments in social
Venture Partners, which has invested adopted the internet very fast.” network ShareChat, business messag-
in several B2B start-ups, sees India ing platform Gupshup and investment
among the largest and fastest growing A Flood of Funds app Groww. Tiger Global’s appetite
digital economies. “India is a far larger Eagle-eyed investors, most of them for India is clear from the fact that it
market than some of the Southeast prime overseas private equity funds, backed Flipkart and Ola in their early
Asian countries,” he says. “Digital are snapping up every opportunity that stages, in 2009 and 2012, respectively.

24 INDIA TODAY J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1
 MOST ACTIVE UNICORN INVESTORS
A key factor in the scale of growth of tech start-ups has been the aggressive funding by a host of investors
driven by cheap capital as the US Fed continues to maintain interest rates near zero. US firm Tiger Global has
been among the most aggressive, signing 70 investment deals with Indian unicorns so far and backing 25

BY NO. OF DEALS BY NO. OF UNICORNS BACKED BY VALUE

AMOUNT INVESTED ($ MILLION)*

Tiger Global 70 Tiger Global 25 SoftBank Corp 9,632

Sequoia Capital India 53 Sequoia Capital India 18 Tiger Global 2,512
Accel India 44 SoftBank Corp 16 Alibaba 2,493
Elevation Capital 39 Steadview Capital 15 Prosus Ventures 1,990
Nexus Venture Partners 34 Accel India 11 Tencent 1,613
SoftBank Corp 33 DST Global 10 Steadview Capital 1,100
Steadview Capital 31 Elevation Capital 9 DST Global 1,008
Matrix Partners India 28 Falcon Edge Capital 9 Sequoia Capital India 920
DST Global 26 Nexus Venture Partners 8 Temasek 910
Lightspeed Ventures 21 Tencent 8 Baring Asia 880
Source: Venture Intelligence *Includes approximation in values of co-investments

Experts say India is an attractive Dream11, which has a user base of 100 Too Good to Be True?
destination for such funds as most million, is riding the popularity of mo- Many observers are puzzled that top
other key markets in Asia, particularly bile gaming in India, thanks to cheaper investors continue to pump big money
China, are getting saturated. China smartphones, lower data tariffs and into start-ups even when they have
already had 251 unicorns in April, better internet speeds. According to been making sustained losses. Even
with total valuation surpassing $1 a report by the mobile advertising Flipkart, India’s marquee start-up,
trillion (Rs 74.2 lakh crore), according technology company InMobi, India is which is 14 years old and now owned
to Greatwall Strategy Consultants. now home to one out of 10 gamers in by US retail giant Walmart, continues
Shailendra Singh, MD, Sequoia India, the world. This March, Dream Sports to make losses. Its losses for 2019-20
a larger investor in Indian start-ups, in raised $400 million (Rs 2,970 crore) were Rs 3,150 crore on revenues of Rs
a recent LinkedIn post wrote, ‘We are in a new funding round led by TCV, 34,610 crore. Swiggy, which reported
excited about the depth of opportuni- D1 Capital Partners and Falcon Edge Rs 2,776 crore in revenues for 2019-20,
ties in this region, which is undergoing Capital, taking its valuation close to $5 posted a net loss of Rs 3,768 crore in
a massive technology-led transforma- billion (Rs 37,140 crore), as reported in the fiscal, according to recent media
tion. The start-up ecosystem in both media. Dream11 also spent big to net reports quoting regulatory filings. Its
India and Southeast Asia has come eyeballs, being the lead sponsor for the investors, however, are gung-ho about
a very long way in the last few years; Indian Premier League last year, with a its performance so far. “We have been
the market gets deeper and the crop Rs 222 crore bid. partners with Harsha and the Swiggy
of founders, and their achievements, team from the seed stage when they
become more impressive each year.’ were doing only 60 orders in Kora-
While the pandemic created space mangala in Bangalore. It has been a
for edtech, healthcare, fintech, logistics “This is not an phenomenal journey over the years,”
and drone technologies, segments overnight boom. says Anand Daniel, a partner at Accel,
such as gaming and B2B e-commerce This is the result one of Swiggy’s investors. Mohalla
gained traction too, say experts. Sports
tech firm Dream Sports Inc is one such
of years of hard Tech, the parent firm of social media
apps ShareChat and Moj, had a total
example. Founded by Bhavit Sheth, work in the start-up income of Rs 38.12 crore in 2019-20,
35, and Harsh Anandkumar Jain, 35, ecosystem” up from Rs 25.63 crore in the previous
in 2008, it boasts of brands such as SASHA MIRCHANDANI fiscal. However, its losses for the year
Dream11, FanCode, DreamX, Dream- Founder & MD, Kae Capital ballooned to Rs 676 crore, a 22 per cent
SetGo and DreamPay. One of its units, rise over the previous fiscal.

J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1 INDIA TODAY 25
 C OV ER S TORY
AGE OF THE
UNICORNS The most feasible way for such in- ity matrix. They believe the financially
vestors to exit firms is through an IPO. prudent will have their day.
The option to exit a firm by finding a There have also been several ex-
secondary investor and selling shares amples of companies that are hustling
Despite the pandemic helping it to them gets risky over the years. This and building on ideas—Captain G.R.
gain over two million new users, Byju’s is because new investors may not want Gopinath created the concept of a
has not met its target of $150 million to get into start-ups with already high low-cost airline, but IndiGo Airlines
(Rs 1,115 crore) net profit in FY21, as valuations. Some top start-ups eyeing walked away with it. FreshMenu
reported in media. Blame it on its high IPOs this year include food aggrega- thought of the idea of a cloud kitchen,
investments in marketing as it chases tor Zomato, lifestyle portal Nykaa, but Swiggy perfected it. “The classic
more users, high overhead costs and logistics firm Delhivery and insurance example of ‘the tortoise vs. the hare’
the high price points of its annual sub- policy platform Policybazaar. “That pattern was of Coupons.com vs Grou-
scriptions. But then the edtech sector is will be the best thing to happen to pon (e-commerce marketplaces),” says
expected to grow to $30 billion (Rs 2.2 our ecosystem, because new jobs will Sharad Sharma, co-founder of iSPIRT
lakh crore) in the next 10 years, says a be created, the best people will start Foundation, a tech think-tank. “While
report by RBSA Advisors. “The matrix companies, and wealth will be created Groupon got tonnes of media cover-
is different for different sectors,” says by more entrepreneurs in the country,” age, the real star was Coupons.com.”
Raveendran. “There are business mod- says Gaurav Munjal, 30, co-founder of Eventually, Coupons.com went public,
els where you need to get a lot of users, even as Groupon went bust. “There
and then look at monetisation.” A large are many ‘Groupons’ in our system,
number of tech companies today took “It’s one thing floating on easy money. Many will
10-15 years to turn profits. “We have to look at the disappear when a correction happens,”
been able to find the balance between he adds. Those pouring in the money,
fast and sustainable growth. There
valuation of such as Suri of Orios, are less scepti-
are sectors where you initially focus on unicorns today, cal. “The bubble dynamics in other
hyper growth and then monetisation.” quite another asset classes are much higher. Without

E
to foresee their business growth, you cannot have a
xperts call the model ‘Blitzs-
caling’, in which a start-up
expected value high valuation. These companies are
disrupting traditional businesses.”
expands at a breathtaking tomorrow” While investor optimism is fine,
pace through a large injec- — PRASHANT CHOKSEY start-ups need to focus on value gen-
Co-founder, Mumbai Angels
tion of funds and price cutting to gain eration and viable business models.
a dominant market share that dwarfs Zerodha and Zoho, an online office
the competition. Some experts warn suite, are classic examples of firms
of a bubble, but Choksey says market that continue to be bootstrapped
leadership is key. For that, a unique the edtech firm Unacademy. “They will (ones that raise their resources inter-
distinction is important, and innova- use that money to invest in more start- nally rather than external funds) and
tive ideas, along with sufficient capital, ups, leading to a culture of innovation.” are making headlines for their profits,
help create that. “It is a last-man- Some feel that the Indian public mar- while others have focused on scale
standing game,” he says. The idea is to ket may not support the huge valua- and fund-raising. In 2016, the Centre
create a “watering hole” where custom- tions of some of these tech start-ups, as launched Start-Up India to encourage
ers have no choice but to keep return- shareholders will be more concerned start-ups and build a better ecosystem
ing to the company for their products about revenues and profits. for them. However, start-up founders
or services. He cites the examples of say the scheme did not make much
Amazon and Netflix which incurred The Roadmap Ahead headway despite its intent as much
losses for several years before their Soaring valuations have also fuelled more ease of doing business is needed
models began to make money. concerns about the sustainability and on the ground.
Digital ventures also do not have valuations of these business models. India is at a unique tipping point in
the limitations of scalability traditional The cash burn is massive and domes- its start-up history. The efforts over the
businesses face, making them attrac- tic investors and advisors caution years have bred a formidable stable of
tive to investors. All you need is market that the Indian start-up universe is start-ups that have upended tradi-
leadership. Once that is established, inflated. An advisor to several start- tional business norms. Their future
and the company has a handle on the ups explains how two types of entre- trajectory, though, will be determined
expenses (‘burn rate’), new investors preneurs have emerged—those who by ideas, execution, ease of doing busi-
can be bought in, even if the companies focus on the real business matrix, and ness and sound business principles,
are making substantial losses. others who focus on the funding/ van- away from all the noise and pomp. n

26 INDIA TODAY J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1
AGE OF THE INDIAN UNICORNS
UNICORNS COMPANY, SECTOR/ SUB SECTOR FOUNDERS ENTRY LOCATION

BYJU’S Byju Raveendran, Divya

2018 Bengaluru
Edtech/ E-learning Gokulnath

PAYTM
Vijay Shekhar Sharma 2015 Noida

THE
Fintech/ Payments-wallet

OYO ROOMS

PREMIER
Ritesh Agarwal 2018 Gurgaon
Proptech/ Hotels Aggregator

OLA

LEAGUE
Bhavish Aggarwal, Ankit Bhati 2015 Bengaluru
Mobility/ Ride Aggregator

ZOMATO
Foodtech/ Food Delivery Deepinder Goyal 2015 Gurgaon
Services

A
ccording to data
and analysis DREAM11 Bhavit Sheth, Harsh
2019 Mumbai
provider Venture Gaming/ Fantasy Gaming Anandkumar Jain
Intelligence, India
currently has 48 SWIGGY Nandan Reddy, Sriharsha
Foodtech/ Food Delivery 2018 Bengaluru
unicorns with a Services
Majety, Rahul Jaimini
total valuation of around $139.7
billion (or Rs 10.3 lakh crore). BROWSERSTACK Mumbai/
Apart from foreign firms, such as SaaS/ Programming Nakul Aggarwal, Ritesh Arora 2021
Dublin
the US-based Tiger Global, Sin- Tools-Testing
gapore’s sovereign fund Temasek
and Japan’s SoftBank, several FRESHWORKS Shan Krishnasamy, Girish Chennai/
2018
private equity investors, like Ac- SaaS/ CRM Mathrubootham San Mateo
cel, Sequoia Capital, Steadview
Capital and Helion Ventures, UDAAN Sujeet Kumar, Amod Malviya,
among others, are funding Indian 2018 Bengaluru
B2B E-commerce/ General Vaibhav Gupta
start-up entrepreneurs. Here is a
list of India’s billionaire cubs.
PINE LABS
Lokvir Kapoor 2020 Noida
Fintech/ Payments

RAZORPAY Harshil Mathur, Shashank

2020 Bengaluru
THE AVERAGE VALUE OF Fintech/ Payments-B2B Kumar
A UNICORN BY COUNTRY
DELHIVERY
Logistics services/ Sahil Barua 2019 Gurugram
INDIA E-commerce

$3.2
billion PAYTM MALL
Vijay Shekhar Sharma 2018 Noida
E-commerce/ General

US

$3.5 ICERTIS
SaaS/ Contract Management
Samir Bodas 2019
Pune/
Bellevue
billion

LENSKART
CHINA Peyush Bansal 2019 Bengaluru
E-commerce/ Eyewear
$3.8
billion POLICYBAZAAR Alok Bansal, Yashish Dahiya,
2018 Gurugram
Fintech/ Insurtech Avaneesh Nirjar

Source: Venture Intelligence

40 INDIA TODAY J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1
VALUATION ($ bn) BUSINESS DESCRIPTION SELECT INVESTORS

Aarin Capital, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed

An education technology company that develops personalised
16.5 learning programmes
Ventures, Tencent, General Atlantic, Tiger
Global

A payment gateway that provides payment services for cus- Saama Capital, Elevation Capital, Alibaba,
16 tomers and merchants Berkshire Hathway

An online aggregator of hotels. Also operates a branded

Lightspeed Ventures, Sequoia Capital,
8.4 network of hotels designed to offer standardised stay experi-
SoftBank
ences

Operates a mobile technology platform that integrates city Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Steadview,
6.7 transportation for customers and driver partners in India SoftBank, Tencent

Offers online ordering, food delivery, table reservations and

5.4 premium restaurant subscription services
Info Edge, Sequoia Capital, Vy Capital, Alibaba

Kalaari Capital, Tencent, Multiples PE,

5 An online gaming platform for fantasy cricket and football
Steadview, Falcon Edge Capital

An on-demand food delivery platform that brings food from Accel, Elevation Capital, Norwest, Naspers,
4.6 neighbourhood restaurants directly to customers’ doors Tencent

4 A software testing platform Accel, Bond Capital, Insight Venture Partners

Provides businesses with SaaS customer engagement solu-

3.5 tions
Accel, Tiger Global, Google, Sequoia Capital

A B2B trade platform that brings manufacturers, traders,

3.1 retailers and wholesalers onto a single platform
Lightspeed Ventures, DST Global, Tencent

An Indian merchant platform company that provides financing Sequoia Capital India, New Atlantic Ventures,
3 and last-mile retail transaction technology Altimeter Capital, Temasek, Mastercard

An integrated payment gateway solution provider for mer- Matrix Partners India, Tiger Global, Sequoia
3 chants Capital India, DST Global

Nexus Ventures, Multiples PE, Tiger Global,

3 An e-commerce logistics service company
Carlyle, SoftBank, Fosun Group

An online and mobile marketplace and a subsidiary of One97

3 Communications’ Paytm brand
Elevation Capital, Alibaba, SoftBank, eBay

2.8 An AI-powered contract management platform Eight Roads, B Capital, PremjiInvest

SoftBank, Kedaara Capital, TPG, Chiratae

2.5 An India-based online shopping portal for eyewear
Ventures, TR Capital

Operates an online life insurance and general insurance com- Info Edge, Intel, Inventus Capital, Tiger Global,
2.4 parison portal that analyses financial products SoftBank, Tencent

J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1 INDIA TODAY 41
AGE OF THE INDIAN UNICORNS (CONTD)
UNICORNS COMPANY, SECTOR/ SUB SECTOR FOUNDERS ENTRY LOCATION

CRED
Fintech/ Payments—Credit Card Kunal Shah 2021 Mumbai
Rewards

FIRSTCRY
E-Commerce/ Baby Care Supam Maheshwari 2021 Pune
Products
On June 25, online pharma
start-up PharmEasy MEESHO
Vidit Aatrey, Sanjeev Barnwal 2021 Bengaluru
became the first Indian E-commerce/ Social Commerce

unicorn to buy out a

URBAN COMPANY
listed company when Marketplace/ Handyman
Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan,
2021 Delhi
Raghav Chandra
it bought a 66% stake Services
in diagnostics chain
SHARECHAT Farid Ahsan, Ankush Sachdeva,
Thyrocare for Rs 4,550 cr Social Media Bhanu Pratap Singh
2021 Bengaluru

POSTMAN Bengaluru/
Ankit Sobti, Abhinav Asthana,
SaaS/ API Development & 2020 San
Abhijit Kane
Start-up funding Testing Francisco
between just Jan. and Hari Menon, V.S. Sudhakar,
BIGBASKET
May 2021 touched a E-commerce/ Groceries
Vipul Parekh, Abhinay 2019 Bengaluru
record high of $8.76 bn Choudhari, V.S. Ramesh

(Rs 63,498 cr), almost

DRUVA SOFTWARE Jaspreet Singh, Milind Borate, Pune/
80% higher than the SaaS/ Data Management Ramani Kothandaraman
2019
Sunnyvale
funds received in the
first half of 2020 DIGIT
Vijay Kumar 2021 Bengaluru
Fintech/ Insurtech

UNACADEMY Roman Saini, Gaurav Munjal,

2020 Bengaluru
Edtech/ E-learning Hemesh Singh

THE NEW CHALLENGERS PHARMEASY

Dhaval Shah, Dharmil Sheth 2021 Mumbai
The relatively young, unlisted Byju’s E-commerce/ E-pharmacies
is valued at $16.5 billion (Rs 1.2 lakh
crore), while Paytm is valued at $16
NYKAA
billion (Rs 1.18 lakh crore). How this Falguni Nayar 2020 Mumbai
E-commerce/ Personal Care
compares with some of India’s listed
companies that top the charts in
terms of their market capitalisation BILLDESK
Ajay Kaushal 2018 Mumbai
Fintech/ Payments-B2B
Market capitalisation
(in Rs lakh crore) ZENOTI Hyderabad/
Sudheer Koneru 2020
SaaS/ Salon & Spa Management Bellevue
RELIANCE INDUSTRIES 13.23
TCS 12.35 MU SIGMA
Dhiraj Rajaraman 2013 Bengaluru
HDFC BANK 8.29 SaaS/ Analytics

INFOSYS 6.66 GUPSHUP

Conversational Messaging/ API Beerud Sheth, Rakesh Mathur 2021 Mumbai
HUL 5.86 & Bots
(*As on June 29, 2021)
Source: BSE Bengaluru/
ZETA Bhavin Turakhia, Ramki
2021 San Fran-
Fintech/ API - Financial Services Gaddipati
cisco
Source: Venture Intelligence
42 INDIA TODAY J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1
VALUATION ($ bn) BUSINESS DESCRIPTION SELECT INVESTORS

A members-only credit card management and bill payments

Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, DST
2.2 platform that rewards users every time they pay their credit
Global, Falcon Edge Capital
card bills

Engaged in the business of operating an e-commerce portal Chiratae Ventures, Elevation Capital, Vertex,
2.1 for baby care and kids products SoftBank

Operates as an online reselling platform that enables anyone Sequoia Capital India, Elevation Capital,
2.1 to start a business without investment SoftBank, Naspers

Tiger Global, Steadview Capital, Accel India,

2.1 Provides a marketplace for freelance labour
Elevation Capital, Vy Capital, Prosus Ventures

India Quotient, Elevation Capital, Lightspeed

2.1 A social networking and regional content platform
Ventures, Tiger Global, Twitter

Nexus Ventures, Charles River Ventures,

2 A collaboration platform for API development and testing
Insight Venture Partners

An online food and grocery store that delivers personal and Ascent Capital, Helion Ventures, Bessemer, IFC,
2 household needs right to the customer’s doorstep Alibaba

Provides data protection and governance solutions for public

2 and private clouds in an enterprise
WestBridge, Nexus Ventures, Sequoia Capital

Go Digit General Insurance Limited provides general insurance Fairfax Holdings, A91 Partners, Faering Capital,
1.9 products through its digital platform TVS Capital

Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners,

An online learning platform that provides educational content
1.9 such as video lectures and examinations
Sequoia Capital India, Elevation Capital,
General Atlantic, SoftBank

A health tech start-up offering services such as teleconsulta- Orios VP, Eight Roads Ventures, Temasek,
1.8 tion, medicine deliveries and diagnostic test sample collection Naspers

An online marketplace for different beauty and wellness Techpro Ventures, TVS Capital, Sharrp
1.8 products Ventures, TPG Growth

1.6 An Indian online payment gateway company SIDBI VC, TA Associates, General Atlantic

A provider of cloud-based software for the spa and salon Accel India, Norwest, Tiger Global, Steadview
1.5 industries Capital, Advent International

A big data analytics and decision sciences company providing

1.5 data analytics services
Accel, Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic

An enterprise messaging platform which enables users to

Tiger Global, Charles River Ventures, Helion
1.4 communicate and share their short messages privately and
Ventures
publicly

A modern banking tech company providing modern core and

1.4 processing for FIs and embeddable banking for fintechs and SoftBank
distributors

J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1 INDIA TODAY 43
AGE OF THE INDIAN UNICORNS (CONTD)
UNICORNS COMPANY, SECTOR/ SUB SECTOR FOUNDERS ENTRY LOCATION

FIVE STAR BUSINESS

FINANCE V.K. Ranganathan 2021 Chennai
NBFC

FORMER UNICORNS
CHARGEBEE Krish Subramanian, Rajaraman
SaaS/ Subscription Billing Santhanam, Saravanan K.P., 2021 Chennai
FLIPKART Solution Thiyagarajan T.
E-commerce/ General
HIKE
Founders: Sachin INNOVACCER
Social Media/ Mes-
Abhinav Shashank, Kanav
Bansal, Binny Bansal SaaS/ Data Analytics— 2021 Noida
saging
Hasija, Sandeep Gupta
Healthcare
Entry: 2012
Founders:
Location: Bengaluru
Kavin Bharti
Valuation: $24.9 bn Mittal CITIUS TECH Mumbai/
Rizwan Koita, Jagdish Moorjani 2019
Select investors: Entry: 2016
IT Services/ Healthcare Princeton
Accel, Tiger Global, Location: Delhi
Naspers, SoftBank,
Tencent Valuation: RIVIGO
Sold to Walmart
$1.4 bn Logistics Services/ Full Stack Gazal Kalra, Deepak Garg 2019 Gurugram
Logistics
in 2018 Select inves-
tors: Tiger
Global, Tencent,
SNAPDEAL OLA ELECTRIC
Foxconn Bhavish Aggarwal 2019 Bengaluru
E-Commerce/ General Mobility/ Electric Vehicles
Ceased
Founders: Kunal operations in
Bahl, Rohit Bansal Jan. 2021, as per
INFRA.MARKET
Entry: 2014 media reports Aaditya Sharda, Souvik
B2B E-Commerce/ Construction 2021 Thane
Location: Delhi Sengupta
Materials
Valuation: $2.4 bn
Select investors: MOGLIX
Kalaari Capital, Nexus B2B E-Commerce/ Industrial Rahul Garg 2021 Noida
Ventures, Bessemer, SHOPCLUES Equipment
SoftBank, Alibaba E-commerce/
Valuation fell as its General
board rejected a Founders: GROWW Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, Lalit
2021 Bengaluru
Flipkart offer in 2017; Sanjay Sethi, Fintech/ Brokerage Keshre, Neeraj Singh
firm said to be script- Sandeep Ag-
ing a turnaround garwal, Radhika
Aggarwal DAILYHUNT
Umesh Kulkarni, Virendra Gupta 2020 Bengaluru
Entry: 2016 Content/ News
QUIKR
Location:
Marketplace/ Classifieds
Gurugram
Founders: Pranay
Chulet, Jiby Thomas Valuation: GLANCE INMOBI
Naveen Tewari 2020 Bengaluru
Entry: 2015
$1.1 bn Content/ Lockscreen
Select
Location: Bengaluru
investors:
Valuation: Nexus Ventures, ZERODHA
$1.5 bn Nikhil Kamath, Nithin Kamath 2020 Bengaluru
Helion Ventures, Fintech/ Brokerage
Select investors: Beenos, Tiger
Matrix Partners, Global, Others
Omidyar Network, Sold to CARS24
Norwest, Kinnevik Singapore- Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal 2020 Gurugram
Marketplace/ Used Cars
Fell off the list in based Qoo10
2017 after re-valuation in Nov. 2019
by one of the investors
INMOBI
Note: Valuation figures of former Naveen Tewari 2011 Bengaluru
Adtech/ Mobile Ads
unicorns are the highest they achieved
before losing their unicorn status
Source: Venture Intelligence

44 INDIA TODAY J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1
VALUATION ($ bn) BUSINESS DESCRIPTION SELECT INVESTORS

An NBFC that provides business, housing loans, and commer- Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India,
1.4 cial vehicles finance Norwest, Morgan Stanley, TPG Capital

Operates a subscription management and recurring billing

Tiger Global, Steadview Capital, Sapphire
1.4 platform that delivers a ready plug-and-play billing solution on
Ventures, Accel India, Insight Venture Partners
the cloud

A healthcare data activation platform company that delivers WestBridge, Lightspeed Ventures, M12
1.3 healthcare through pioneering analytics and transparent data (Microsoft), Tiger Global

A major provider of technology services and solutions to

1.1 healthcare technology companies, providers, payers and life General Atlantic, Baring Asia
sciences organisations

1.1 A technology-enabled logistics company Elevation Capital, Warburg Pincus

A developer of an electric mobility platform intended to make

1.1 electric mobility convenient, dependable and affordable
SoftBank, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners

Develops an online procurement marketplace intended to Accel India, Nexus Venture Partners, Tiger
1 serve the real estate and construction materials industry Global, Evolvence India

An online marketplace for business supplies and industrial Accel India, Jungle Ventures, Tiger Global,
1 equipment Sequoia Capital India, IFC

An investment platform that offers a new way of investing Sequoia Capital India, Y Combinator, Tiger
1 money with stockbroking and direct mutual funds Global, Ribbit Capital

An Indian content and news aggregator application that

Matrix Partners India, Omidyar Network,
1 provides local language content in 14 Indian languages from
Sequoia Capital India, Falcon Edge Capital
multiple content providers

An artificial intelligence-based software company that deliv-

1 ers personalised content to the lock screens of smartphones
Mithril Capital, Google

1 Operates a discount brokerage Bootstrapped*

Offers a tech-enabled marketplace for buying and selling pre- Asia Venture Group, Apoletto, Unbound, DST
1 owned cars Global, Sequoia Capital India

Develops an advertisement serving algorithm that helps in

1 optimising the ranking of the advertisements served on mobile KPCB, Sherpalo Ventures, SoftBank
phones

*Bootstrapped: All funding has been done from internal resources

J U LY 1 2 , 2 02 1 INDIA TODAY 45