Introduction:
Discover India's entrepreneurial marvels! Explore the Top 10 Unicorn Startups shaping the nation's future. Innovation, growth, and success unveiled."
Unicorn is a term given only to “startups”, who have been the valuation of over a Billion USD ($1 billion=Rs8337 Crore).
The startups that exceed the valuation of USD 10 billion are grouped under “Decacorn” (a super Unicorn). DropBox, Space X, and We Work are examples of “Decacorn”.
The Startup India initiative was announced by the Honourable Prime Minister of India on 15th August 2015.
The flagship initiative aims to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovations and startups in the country.
The startups in the country will drive sustainable economic growth and generate large-scale employment opportunities in India.
In 2022, there will be almost 900 unicorn startups in the world, which are valued at more than $3.5 trillion combined.
Top 3 countries where the most Unicorns are found in the World.
1. United States 712 Unicorn till 2023-First in the World
2. China 316 Unicorn till 2023-Second in the world
3. India has 111 unicorns till 2023. Third in the World
List of Top 10 best Unicorn startups in India, which expand the economics of India.
India has emerged as the third-largest ecosystem for the most reputed and innovative startups or unicorns across the 806 districts of the country.
India has been recognized as the one country that has been able to solve the problems in the diverse 56 industrial sectors 13% from the IT industries, 9%health care, 5% from agriculture food, 7% from education and 5% from Commercial and professional services.
It has been seen that Indian startups are achieving an immense level of growth between 2015 to 2021 by our young entrepreneurs of India.
Below are some of India’s most favoured unicorns that have acquired an excellent level of audience appreciation and have shown tremendous growth in recent years.
1. Flipkart: -
Flipkart is an e-commerce company. It was founded in October 2007 in Bangalore City India. It is a private Limited company, incorporated in Singapore. It is the best Unicorn startup in India till today.
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal alumni of IIT Delhi are founders of Flipkart. They are former Amazon employees. Initially, this company focused on online book sales with countrywide shipping.
Flipkart in 2017 sold 1.3 Million phones in 20 hours on 21st September 2017. This Company initially focused on online book sales before expanding to other products.
Flipkart is famous for its e-commerce business in electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries and lifestyle products. As of March 2017, Flipkart held a 39.5% market share of India’s e-commerce industry.
Flipkart has a dominant position in the apparel segment. Flipkart also owns Phone Pe, a mobile payments service based on UPI.In August 2018, U.S.-based retail chain Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for US$ 16 billion.
Flipkart now reports to Marc Lore CEO of Walmart US. Currently, Flipkart Group owns a controlling stake 1. Mantra in Fashion Technology 100% in 2014.2.Ekart Logistics in 2015.Flipkart wholesale 100% in 2020.
Clear trip in travelling business 80% stake in 2021.Sastasundar health care stake 75.1% in 2021. Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has claimed to be the biggest e-commerce company in the country stating it is bigger by 40% to 50% in the market.
Flipkart Private Limited reported a Net Worth appx.37.6 USD Billion in 2022.
2. Bharat Pe:-
Resilient Innovations Private Limited (Bharat Pe) is a Private limited company engaged in the business of facilitating a suite of financial services to merchants through its digital platforms.
It is founded on 20th March 2018. It is software as a service model and provides other value-added services to merchants. It is the best unicorn startup in India.
As the President of Bharat Pe, Suhail Sameer closely with Ashneer Grover, co-founder and CEO, of the Bharat Pe board and built one-stop a destination for all financial and payment needs of the merchant community.
Bharat Pe is a unique Indian payment company serving offline retailers and businesses. Bharat pe has simplified accepting payments from 100+ mobile apps on India’s UPI network, by offering businesses a single interoperable QR sticker.
Bharat Pe was launched in Founded of 20th March 2018 as per the directions set by the Reserve Bank of India. Its aim of facilitate India's
Transition to a less-cash society. The system helps in enabling digital payments to reduce the usage of card-swiping machines for payments.
At present, Bharat pe the valuation of Bharat Pe is $USD 3.00 Billion.
3. BYJU’S: -
Byju’s is an Indian multinational educational technology company. Its headquarters is in Bangalore. It was founded by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath in 2011.
Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd is incorporated by Byju Ravindran. BUJU’s app was established by this company. The company was established by Byju Raveendran Divya Gokulnath and a group of students in 2011. It is the best unicorn startup in India.
Byju Raveendran an engineer by profession has been coaching students in mathematics since 2006. In the initial days, the company focused on offering an online video-based learning program for the K-12 segments.
In August 2015, the firm launched Byju’s The Learning App. In 2017 they launched Byju’s Math App for kids and Byju's Parent Connect app. By 2018 it had 15 million users out of which 9, 00,000 were paid users.
By 2019, 60% of BYJU’s students are from non-metro and rural cities.
It started a line learning program from classes 1 to 3. It also trains students in IIT, JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS and International examinations such as GRE and GMAT.
By March 2023, BYJU’s Valuation is $USD 5.1 billion.
4. OLA Cabs: -
Ola Cabs (OLA) is an Indian multinational ride-sharing company. Its headquarters is in Bangalore. It is also operating other businesses like financial services and cloud kitchens.
OLA acquired struggling food tech company Food Fanda India in December 2017. In April 2018 OLA made the second segment with the Rider public transport ticketing app.
In February 2020 OLA launched its taxi-hailing services in LANDON with over 25000 drivers registered. In November 2015, OLA launched its mobile payments and wallet product called OLA Money.OLA Money is owned by OLA Financial Services.
OLA has taken NO1, spot replacing HERO electric. The company has been seeing steady increases in sales each month. The sales of OLA electric sale complete by April 2022, is 26817 units.
OLA Cabs Revenue is Rs2544 Crore. Ola Cabs and OLA Electric Bike. He is the 108th most influential person as per Time Magazine in the US in 2018. It is the best unicorn startup in India.
Mr Bhavesh Agarwal born on 28th August 1985 is an Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of Ola Cabs and Ola Electric.
By March 2023, OLA Cabs Valuation is 12.37$ USD Billion
5. OYO Rooms: -
OYO Rooms, also known as OYO Hotels & Homes is an Indian multinational hospitality chain of leased and franchised hotels, homes and living spaces.OYO Rooms were founded in 2012 by Mr, Ritesh Agarwal of Odisha. It is the best unicorn startup in India.
Ritesh Agarwal was born in Cuttack Odisha. Ritesh comes from a family that used to run a small shop in southern Odisha called Rayagada. He is the founder & CEO of OYO Rooms.
He graduated from St. Jones Senior Secondary School. He moved to Delhi in 2011. His revenue in 2021 is Rs. 4157 CRORE. More than 5130 employees in 2021, are working in these Unicorn startups.
Starting with 1 hotel in 2013 in Gurgaon, today we are in more than 800 cities, with more than 23000 hotels, 850000 rooms and 46000 vacation homes used by OYO all over the world.
The company OYO Rooms was started in 2013. His net worth in 2020 is Approximately $1.1 Billion. (Rs. 8000 Crore). He is listed in Forbes Magazine among the 30 Best unicorn startups in the world.
By March 2023, OYO Rooms Valuation is $2.0 Billion
6. Swiggy: -
Swiggy is an Indian startup company, that is the best platform in online food ordering and delivery platform. It was founded in July 2014. Swiggy is based in Bangalore and operates in 500 Indian cities as of 2021.
Besides food delivery, Swiggy also provides on-demand grocery deliveries under the name of Instamart & same-day package delivery services called “ Swiggy Genie”.
In July 2013, the two founders Mr Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy designed an e-commerce website called Bundi to facilitate courier service and shopping within India. He is the founder of Swiggy. It is the best unicorn startup in India.
Mr Shriharsha Majety is Swiggy’s founder and CEO. Its present revenue is Rs2776 Crore. More than 500 employees are working at Swiggy.
In December 2020 Swiggy announced the expansion of the street food vendor’s programme that will benefit 36000 people in 125 tier 2 tier 3 cities around India.
Swiggy valuation by the end of March 2022 is $10.7 Billion. Swiggy now operates in more than 500 cities all over India.
He has a partnership with 100 thousands of restaurants and an employee base of over 10,000; a 2 lakh-strong independent fleet of Delivery Executives is associated with Swiggy. Its headquarters is in Bangalore.
By March 2023, Swiggy's Valuation is5.5 $ USD Billion.
7. Big Basket: -
Big Basket is an Indian online grocer headquartered in Bangalore, India. Now it is currently owned by Tata Digital.
In mid-2016, Big Basket was operating in eight large Indian cities and had grown to become India’s biggest e-grocer.
The company’s unique selling point was the delivery of fresh produce, based on the purchase of fruit and vegetables from local marketplaces each morning, storage in a refrigerator warehouse and a fleet of temperature-controlled trucks to deliver fresh to the doorstep.
China’s Alibaba Group led a $300 Million funding round in early 2018 to become the main shareholder in the company.
Tata Group became the owner of Big Basket in MAY 2021 when its Digital subsidiary acquired a 64% majority stake in the company.
Big Basket Company's in 2023 valuation is USD 3.2 billion.
8. Car 24: -
CAR 24 is an Indian multinational online used car marketplace headquartered in Gurgaon. The company is considered among the four major organized players in the used car segment in India.
CAR 24 was founded in 2015 by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agarwal, Gajendra Jangid and Ruchit Agarwal as a platform to buy and sell used cars in 2021.
Apart from selling used cars, the company’s services include paperwork such as transferring the car to the name of the new owner which enables end-to-end transactions and offers an online auction platform to businesses looking to sell their pre-owned cars.
Presently CAR 24 company operates 202 branches across 73 cities in India as of 2019. Apart from its branches, the company has a tie-up with more than 10,000 channel partners across 230 cities in India. The company touched 1,50,000 annual car sales in 2019.
In 2020, the company launched CAR 24 MOTO.CAR 24 Moto is a service that allows customers to sell used two-wheelers such as motorbikes, mopeds and scooters on its platform.
CAR 24 is now a unicorn used car company. The current valuation in 2023 is $3.3 Billion.
9. Zomato: -
Zomato is an Indian startup company that is a multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery Company around the world. This company was founded by Mr Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in July 2008. It is the best unicorn startup in India.
Zomato provides information in its app, menus and user reviews of restaurants as well as food delivery options from Partner restaurants in select cities.
In 2011, it expanded across India to Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pane, Ahmadabad and Hyderabad. In 2012 it expanded its operation in UAE, Sri Lanka, Qatar, UK, Philippines, &South Africa, Newland and Indonesia.
In 2015, Zomato acquired the American online table reservation platform Nex Table, which was subsequently renamed Zomato Book. In January 2016 it launched the Zomato Book table reservation facility on its application in India.
In February 2017, the firm announced plans to launch Zomato In Fracture Services a cloud kitchen in fracture services to help partner restaurants to expand their presence without incurring fixed costs.
In February 2018, Zomato became a Unicorn startup in India with a total valuation of $ 1.1 billion US dollars.
The total valuation of Zomato in December 2023 is USD 12.15 billion.
10. Dream 11: -
Dream11 is an Indian fantasy sports platform that allows users to play football, cricket, hockey kabaddi, handball basketball valley ball futsal, American football and baseball.
Dream 11 was co-founded by Harsh Jain ( Son of Indian businessman Anad Jain) and Bhavit Sheth in 2008.
In 2012, they introduced freemium fantasy sports in India for cricket fans. In 2014 the company reported 1 million registered users, which grew to 2 million in 2016 and 45 million in 2018.
Dream 11 became the official Fantasy Partner for the Caribbean Premier League, Indian Super League and US Professional League National Basketball Association (NBA).
Dream 11 provides a fantasy gaming platform for multiple sports such as fantasy cricket, football, basketball, kabaddi, hockey, volleyball, handball and baseball.
It is an online game where users create a virtual team of real-life players and earn points based on the performance of these players in real matches.
In November 2021, Dream 11 was valued at $ 8Bill USD.
Conclusion: -
According to the Economic Survey of India 2022-23, India boasts approximately 1,00,000 startups certified by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade(DPIIT). Nearly 14000 only be registered in 2022.
Over the last six years, the startup scene has exploded from 733 in 2016-17 to over 14000 in 2022.
Startups in India play a major role in giving jobs in India. When more jobs are created more incomes for people are created, which means a much-improved economy will be created.
Projections indicate that by 2025, India may have 100,000+ startups, employ 3.25 million and produce more than 200+ unicorns with a total market value of $800 to $ 1000 billion.
