Top 5 Unicorns in India

India ranks 3rd in the race of startup hosting countries in the world, leaving behind countries like Canada, North Korea and the UK. We recently hit the mark of 100 Unicorns, and the numbers are still growing. With the saturation point for startups coming close in countries like the US, investors are looking at India as the new Silicon Valley.

But will all of these unicorns survive in the Indian market? Well, the answer is simple: only the best ones will prevail. Let’s take a look at India’s top 5 unicorns in 2024 and why they are considered the best.

What Is A Unicorn?

Before getting into the top 5 Unicorns in India, let’s first understand what Unicorn is.  A Unicorn is a fictional animal in general terms, but in economics, it is a company or a startup whose valuation reaches $1 billion. This term was coined by  Ailin Lee, who owns an investment firm called Cowboy Firms.
The reason behind calling it a unicorn was that people might believe in a unicorn's existence, but it doesn’t exist in real life. It’s completely fictional, just like having a valuation of $1 billion. When this rare phenomenon became a reality, she said it was like spotting a unicorn.

Features of a Unicorn Startup

Here are some features of a Unicorn startup:

• They disrupt the market with innovation.
• Most of them are tech-driven to make things more efficient.
• They solve problems in the world.

Unicorns in India

Indian Unicorns are making people’s lives easy through their ideas. 60% of the total funding in India went into the Fintech, SaaS and e-commerce sectors. 75% of all the Indian Unicorn companies have been built in the last 11 years. Out of these, 50% were founded after 2017. Recently, Neo Bank Open became our 100th Unicorn startup.

VCs are attracted to India because of the size of the market, young customers, and increased spending power. Now, let’s take a look at the top 5 Indian Unicorn startups.

1. Zepto

Zepto is a relatively new entrant in the Indian market, founded in 2021 by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra. It focuses on quick commerce, aiming to deliver groceries and other essentials to customers within 10 minutes.

Zepto utilise strategically located warehouses stocked with everyday essentials, closer to customer concentrations. It also leverage an indigenous AI solution to optimize picking, packing, and delivery processes for maximum speed.

Industry: Quick Commerce
Valuation: $1.4 billion (₹11,620 crore)
Investors: Rocket Internet, Nexus Venture Partners, and more
Founders: Kaivalya Vohra and Aditya Palicha
Founded in: 2021

Zepto is still in its early stages, but it has gained significant traction due to its focus on convenience and speed. It competes with established players like Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, Bigbasket, and Grofers, all offering faster grocery delivery options.

Know more about the journey of Zepto becoming a unicorn from the article "Decoding Zepto: India's First Unicorn in 2023".

2. OLA Cabs

Ola was launched as a ride-sharing service in India in 2010. The business model was very similar to Uber's, but what made Ola different was Rickshaw's. People would rather take a rickshaw than a cab in India, and Ola made it safer and hassle-free to book an auto ride.

Founded by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati in 2010, Ola joined the $1 billion club in 2020, raising a valuation of  $250 million in 2020 and marking its place in the Unicorn club.Industry: Transportation

Valuation:  $1.9 billion (₹15,800 crore)
Investors: Hero Enterprise, IIFL, Edelweiss, Siddhant Partners and more.
Founders: Bhavish Aggarwal, Ankit Bhati
Founded in: 2010

3. OYO Rooms

Ritesh Agarwal started OYO Rooms in 2013, which is a hospitality chain for leased and franchised hotel rooms. Customers can book hotel rooms for a few hours using the OYO Rooms app or website at affordable costs.

This startup was a revolution in the hotel chain & hospitality industry as it focused on an area which was neglected poorly.

Industry: Hospitality
Valuation:  $1.2 billion (₹8,430 crore)
Investors: SoftBank, Airbnb, Microsoft, and 11 others
Founders: Ritesh Agarwal
Founded in: 2013

4. Flipkart

Flipkart is disrupting the e-commerce industry.  Founded by Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal in 2007, Flipkart introduced itself as a small e-commerce website, and now, it is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. Its current valuation is $37.6 billion. It was declared the second Unicorn of India in 2012-13 after InMobi.

In 2018, Walmart acquired Flipkart for $16 billion, which helped it scale quickly in the market. The major investors in the company today are Walmart, Tencent and Softbank.

Industry: E-commerce
Valuation: $37.6-40 billion (₹ 3.3 lakh crore)
Investors: Walmart, Tencent and Softbank.
Founders: Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal
Founded in: 2007

Also Read: Why are investors abandoning Flipkart?

5. Nykaa

Founded in 2012 by Falguni Nayar, Nykaa started as a cosmetic-based e-commerce platform.  It offers a wide range of cosmetic and skincare products on its website.

In March 2020,  it raised ₹100 crores (US$13 million) from Steadview Capital. It offers around 200,000 products on the website. In addition to its website, it has also opened more than 26 offline stores across India.

Industry: E-commerce
Valuation: $12.86 billion ((₹1.08 lakh crore)
Investors: Fidelity Management and Research Company, Alia Bhatt and 13 other investors
Founders: Falguni Nayar
Founded in: 2012

Purplle, Zepto, MobiKwik, Nykaa, OLA Cabs

The Bottom Line

These are the top 5 Indian Unicorns growing exponentially and helping people with their daily needs. India is a hot spot when it comes to investments in startup companies. The conversion of startups into unicorns showcases the nation’s ability to be a prime business centre in different sectors.

What do you think? Will India become the next Silicon Valley and give the world its next Apple, Microsoft or Uber?