Fastest Startups to Become Unicorns in India
Learn about the fastest growing unicorns of India. Get detailed info about all these startups.
India is quickly establishing itself as a magnet for investments in businesses with the potential to create unicorns. According to a recent analysis by PwC India, India added 10 unicorns in the third quarter of 2021. According to the report, India is second only to the United States, which added 68 in the third quarter. While the distance between India and the US remains vast, it is hard to overlook the fact that India continued to stay ahead of China and others in the third quarter. During the quarter, China and Hong Kong each added 7 unicorns, while the United Kingdom and Canada each gained four.
In this post, you will learn about some of the startups that became unicorns in the fastest span of time.
Mensa Brands
The Indian D2C sector has seen a surge in growth in recent years, owing to increased Internet coverage and a shift in client purchasing patterns brought on by the pandemic.
According to Inc42 Plus, Indian D2C businesses raised $783.7 million in 66 investment agreements in the first seven months of 2021, a 251 percent increase over the same period in 2020. According to the analysis, this market is expected to reach $100 billion by 2025.
Aggregators of these D2C brands, which frequently follow the 'Thrasio' model by buying these brands and assisting them with finance and reach, have risen dramatically as well.
Mensa Businesses, founded in May 2021 by Ananth Narayanan and already partnering with 12 brands, is the fastest unicorn the business system has ever seen. At a billion-dollar valuation, it raised $135 million in a Series B investment headed by Alpha Wave Ventures and Falcon Edge Capital. It got $50 million in Series A funding in May 2021.
Glance
Glance, an AI-driven customised content provider, joined the illustrious unicorn club just 18 months after it launched.
Glance, managed by Naveen Tiwari, received a $145 million investment from Google and previous partner Mithril Capital. Glance stated at the time that it had 115 million daily active users (DAUs) who spent 25 minutes each day on the platform.
Paytm Mall
Paytm, which manages the retail platform Paytm Mall and was recently listed, was the 3rd-fastest startup to earn unicorn status in 2018. Alibaba, Paytm's largest stakeholder, and Masayoshi Son's SoftBank spearheaded a $445 million investment round for the business. It took Paytm Mall 19 months to join the unicorn club.
Udaan
Udaan, a B2B e-commerce platform that has been attracting debt money like crazy, reached a billion-dollar value in 2018 after getting $225 million from DST Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Vaibhav Gupta, Sujeet Kumar, and Amod Malviya, three former Flipkart workers, founded Udaan, which has 30 lakh shops and 25K sellers on board and runs in 900 locations. It took Udaan 22 months to transform into a unicorn.
After receiving $280 million from Moonstone Capital, Octahedron Capital, and Lightspeed Ventures, among others, the startup's valuation has nearly tripled to $3.1 billion. Udaan is also planning to go public in the next two years.
Ola Electric
Ola Electric, the brain of Bhavish Aggarwal, the guy behind India's first online cab aggregator Ola Cabs, which competes with Uber, joined the unicorn club within 25 months of receiving $250 million in Series B funding from SoftBank in 2019.
The business has introduced its two e-scooters, the S1 and S1 Pro, and claims to have sold 1,100 crores worth of e - scooters in the first two days of sales. The deliveries are still pending.
CRED
CRED, helmed by serial entrepreneur and angel investor Kunal Shah, was one of six fintech businesses to join the unicorn club in the third week of April after raising $215 million in a Series D investment. Since its beginning, CRED has taken almost 35 months to reach the billion-dollar valuation level.
However, CRED entered the unicorn club with a valuation of $2.2 billion. After collecting $251 million from Tiger Global and Falcon Edge in October, the business nearly doubled its valuation to $4.01 billion.
MPL
Mobile Premier League (MPL), an electronic gaming firm based in India, joined the unicorn club in September after earning $150 million in its Series E financing. The Bengaluru-based business took 39 months from the beginning to attain a valuation of $2.3 billion. Legatum Capital, Gaingels LLC, Accrete Capital, and other investors took part in the round.
MPL's merchandising platform MPL Sports, which was founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubh Malhotra, has also overtaken Nike as the Indian cricket team's gear sponsor.
BharatPe
BharatPe, a merchant transactions and financial services provider based in New Delhi, joined the unicorn club in August after collecting $370 million in a Series E equity transaction headed by Tiger Global.
New investors Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital have joined the company, while existing investors Insight Partners, Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Growth, and Amplo have increased their stakes in BharatPe.
BharatPe, managed by Ashneer Grover, took 40 months to become a unicorn since its launch in 2018.
CoinDCX
Exchange of cryptocurrencies CoinDCX is the first cryptocurrency exchanges platform in India to join the unicorn club after raising $90 million in a Series C project funded by B Capital Group, which includes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, and also Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Block.one, and Jump Capital.
After 42 months of existence, the financing helped CoinDCX's valuation climb to $1.1 billion. CoinDCX was created in 2018 by Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, and it competes with platforms like WazirX, Coinswitch Kuber, Zebpay and more.
Conclusion
Unlike in the United States or China, Indian entrepreneurs are ecstatic when their colleagues reach a billion-dollar valuation. One simple reason for this celebration could be that India's ecosystem developed significantly later than that of the United States or China. As per a CB Insights analysis, the United States and China, for example, have 423 and 165 unicorns, respectively. India, on the other hand, is starting to catch up to these developed nations.