Trending Indian Unicorns Of 2021

The Indian startup ecosystem has expedited significantly in the last 10 years. It has been successful in creating more than 1 million jobs via 70 unicorns with a valuation of $106 billion. From SaaS to fintech, Edtech to health-tech, or social commerce to crypto platforms, Indian Unicorns have it all.

Here is a recap of the trending Indian Unicorns of 2021.

Over 40% of Indian unicorns have been created in 2021 - The Hindu BusinessLine

CRED

India’s leading fintech platform, CRED, entered the unicorn club in April 2021 with a valuation of $2.2 billion and Series E fundraisings of $215 million. The company enjoys a total funding of $419 million from leading investors like Falcon Edge Capital, Sequoia Capital Management, Gemini Investments, and several others.

CRED caters to 5 million customers and occupies 22% of the credit card payment ecosystem. Besides redeemable rewards and coins, its catalog of products also includes CRED Cash, CRED Store, CRED Travel Store, CRED Store, and CRED RentPay.

Eruditus

Mumbai-based Edtech Startup, Eruditus Executive Education, believes in making education an equitable affair. It achieved the status of the unicorn in August 2021 after the mammoth $650 million in the Series E round. Its investors include Leeds Illuminate, Prosus Venture, Sequoia Capital, and Softbank.

Since its inception in 2012, Eruditus has received total funding of $813.5 million, reaching a valuation of $2.5 billion. The company has already collaborated with more than 50 global universities to impact technical knowledge to all in a matter of clicks.

BrowserStack

The leading name of the SaaS industry, BrowserStack, has gone through only two rounds of funding and collected $250 million to date. It is the country’s ninth SaaS company to reach the edge of the unicorn. The company has been supported by Accel since day one of its establishment.

The cloud web and mobile testing platform is valued at $4 billion and is considered one of the most treasured SaaS firms in India. It has a huge community of more than 4 million developers associated with leading tech giants like Microsoft, Walt Disney, National Geographic, Volvo, etc.

CoinDCX

Globally acknowledged as India’s first cryptocurrency platform CoinDCX is a Mumbai-based startup that aims to build a crypto economy in India. The company has harnessed a total funding of $109 million, the majority gained from the Series C round of $90 million. Some of its prominent investors are Coinbase, B Capital Group, Mehta Ventures, Polychain Capital, and Black.one.

Although today the cryptocurrency trading platform is the first unicorn in its niche, it nearly broke down during its starting days. Back in 2018, crypto wasn’t a norm, and the RBI, along with the government, was on the verge of banning digital currency. All thanks to blooming technology and the growing interest of youngsters in pandemic times that this format of currency gained momentum.

Besides investing, CoinDCX also has a learning forum for blockchain and cryptocurrency education. It recently launched its sister platform, namely CoinDCX Go App.

Groww

One of the most popular fintech companies in India, Groww is an investment platform for mutual funds, ETFs, digital gold, and international IPOs. Before becoming a unicorn, it received Series E funding of $251 million from the prestigious Y-Combinator, Lone Pine Capital, Steadfast Capital Management, Alkeon Capital, ICONIQ GROWTH, and many others.

The company was valued at $1 billion in May 2021and has raised over $14 million by April 2021 . It has a customer base of 1.5 crores with more than 2 lakh SIP registered every month.

Groww has been successful in complying with the Government of India’s aim of “Digital India.”

Meesho

Meesho is a social commerce platform, one of the most famous startups in Indian households. It entered into the unicorn club after its Series F round of funding, where it gathered $570 million. Its investors include Fidelity Management and Research Company, B Capital Group, Facebook(now Metaverse), Footpath Ventures, Trifecta Capitals, and many other leading names from the industry.

With a valuation of $3.5 billion, Meesho envisions generating 20 million micro-entrepreneurs in the coming future. It has been successful in building a resilient web of 20,000 manufacturers, 2.6 million resellers, and a network spread across 500 towns.

Coin Switch Kuber

The cryptocurrency exchange platform, Coin Switch Kuber, was established in 2017 by a team from leading tech giants Amazon, Zynga, and Microsoft. It began its innings as a unicorn in 2021 after a $260 million funding Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Coinbase, Paradigm, and Tiger Global Management.

The platform eases the exchange of digital currency with its user-friendly interface. It has been labeled as one of the most trusted platforms for digital currency purchases. The company is unique due to its exclusive features like Zero trading, deposit, and withdrawal fee for the first 100 days of trading.

The platform has a collection of more than 100 cryptocurrencies available at the most reasonable INR rates. It was hailed as the 30th Indian Unicorn startup.

Grofers

Gurgaon-based online grocery company, Grofers was valued at $1 billion immediately after its 10th round of funding, where it collected $120 million from Zomato and Tiger Global Management.

Overall, the company has received total funding of $592 million from investors like BCCL, Softbank, Sequoia Capital India, and Tiger Global Management.

Initially started as a grocery delivery platform, Grofers has now upgraded to a supermarket with the availability of all kinds of products, ranging from cosmetics to daily essentials.

Mohalla Tech

The parent company of social media platforms, namely ShareChatand Moj, Mohalla Tech is another name in the trending list of Indian Unicorns of 2021.

ShareChat has been successful in gaining total funding of $905.2 million, including the last Series F round of $145 million from Temasek Holdings, Moore Strategic Ventures, and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund.

Moj is a short-video-making social media platform that has been receiving enormous attention from the younger generation. It is being used by more than 300 million people, with an average app screen time of 34 minutes, tallying to 4.5 million views each day.

upGrad

upGrad is an Edtech platform for higher studies, including Data science certificate courses, AI and ML programs, MBAs, and many other similar courses. It became a unicorn at the starting of August 2021 with a fundraise of $185 million.

The company is valued at $1.2 billion with the last funding of $35 million from IFC Asset Management Company and IIFL. It has associations with first-class global universities such as Duke Corporate University, IIT Madras, Swiss School of Business Management, and many others.

Car Dekho

Indian startups have been successful in maintaining their diversity with digitizing another industry, i.e., automotive space. It entered the race of Unicorn in October 2021, ensuing the 9th round of funding of $250 million from LeapFrog Investments, Canyon Partners, Sunley House Capital, and many others.

The company is valued at $1.2 billion with a total funding of $517.5 million, including investment from the iconic Ratan Tata.

Lately, Car Dekho has been a one-stop destination for car enthusiasts. Its youtube channel has been subscribed by more than 2 million people, making it the largest audio-video platform of an automobile company.

Pharmeasy

Pharmeasy is the leading e-commerce platform in the healthcare sector. It was launched in 2015 to provide medical care to all.

The platform received $350 million funding following its entry into Unicorn space. It is sponsored by well-known investors like Nandan Nielkan, Temasek Holdings, Eight Roads Ventures, etc.

The health-tech platform is on a mission to build last-mile connectivity between pharmacies and patients. It also has a provision to find the nearest diagnostic centers and teleconsultation appointments.

Urban company

Previously known as Urban Company is not just India’s but also UAE’s largest home service company. It has been victorious in conducting Series F of funding with a total collection of $67 million, reaching a total of $440.9.

In the last round of funding, the Urban company was backed by Prosus Ventures, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global Management, Dragoneer Investment Group, Vy Capital, and Wellington Management.

Its service includes professional help from beauticians, plumbers, electricians, cleaners, and similar others. The platform has been successful in empowering technical workers with more than 20 training centers across the country.

Dream11

Another laurel to the list of Indian Unicorns, Dream 11 is the first fantasy sports platform that has achieved a valuation of more than $1 billion. It is being endorsed by the prestigious Steadview Capital along with Tencent in its previous funding sessions.

The company was in the limelight during the Indian Premier League matches. It is currently used by more than 100 million people who enjoy almost all forms of sports, including football, cricket, etc.

Cure.fit

Cure.fit is a health-tech startup that provides fitness and well-being services such as yoga, exercises, and meditation. The platform entered the Unicorn club in November 2021 in collaboration with Zomato, who invested $50 million to the company and sold its sister platform Fitso at $50 million to cure.fit.

The company is now valued at $1.5 billion with a total funding of $454.5 million from Accel, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and several others.

It is now expanding its spectrum from lifestyle care to teleconsultations, diagnostics, food, and nutrition services.

Upstox

Based in Mumbai, Upstox is the largest evolving brokerage firm. It became a unicorn recently in November 2021, following its second round of funding, where it lifted $25 million from Tiger Global Management.

The fintech company is now valued at $3 billion. It is on a mission to ease the process of investment for traders and investors, thus boosting the financial economy of India.

Digit Insurance

Digit Insurance is a financial service company providing insurance for almost everything, ranging from cars to humans. The company is backed by celebrity couple Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, along with IIFL, TVS Capital Funds, Fairfax Financial Holdings.

It was the first Indian startup to transform into a Unicorn in 2021 with the funding of $200 million, reaching a valuation of $3.5 billion in July 2021 in just 4 years.

BharatPe

One of the most widely used payment apps in India, BharatPe became a unicorn in August 2021. It has a valuation of $2.85 billion, fundings of $659.4 million with a contribution of $13.39 million from the previous round.

The sponsors of the fintech platform include BEENEXT, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Insight Partners. BharatPe is credited for the invention of India’s first UPI interoperable QR code along with the nation’s only ZERO MDR card acceptance terminals, known as BharatSwipe.

Table of Contents

Conclusion

With over 60 Unicorns in the club, Indian startups are accelerating at a pace that has never been seen before. It’s thrilling to acknowledge the fact that Indian startups are entering this race in a lesser time as compared to the traditional limit of 4 years. It would be appropriate to say that it’s raining Unicorns in our nation.