These Sectors Give 33 Unicorns to India

Startup ecosystem is rising high after 33 startups made it to the unicorn club. Despite the crisis lurking over India, the business sector did not lose its pace and kept striding toward success. With the onset of the present year, startups entered the unicorn club one after the other beginning from Digit Insurance, Innovaccer, and Infra.market. 

All these startups are coming from diverse backgrounds such as insurance, healthtech, cryptocurrency, and social commerce. The diversity in the unicorn club shows how different industries are exhibiting potential of becoming prosperous in the near future. Here are those industries that birthed $1 billion valued startups this year: 

Tech Sector 

With the changing time, technology has become an important component of almost every sector. It has blended with insurance, health and wellness, finance, food and education industries, in turn, giving rise to novel segments such as healthtech, insurtech, foodtech and edtech. 

Here are startups in the tech sector that have become unicorns this year: 

• Digit Insurance, which is an insurtech company, offers several insurance policies to people. It aims to make the insurance process simpler and easier for everyone. It has lately raised funds at a valuation of $3 billion. 

• Innovaccer, which offers SaaS solutions, got into the unicorn club after collecting money in Series D round at a valuation of $1.3 billion. 

• PharmEasy, which is based in Mumbai, offers SaaS solutions for pharmacies. It has lately raised $339 million that can soar its valuation to $1 billion.

• Cred, which is a fintech company, became a unicorn after a $215 fundraising round in April this year. Of late, the company has raised $251 million at a valuation of $4.01 billion. 

• Chargebee, which is an enterprise software firm, collected nearly $150 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion. The funding helped the company turn into a unicorn. 

• Urban Company, which is a hyperlocal service provider, garnered $255 million in Series F funding round, obtaining a valuation of $2.1 billion. 

• Browerstack, which renders SaaS solutions, raised $200 billion in a Series B funding round in June this year. Recently, the company has implemented ESOP buyback worth $50 million. 

• BharatPe, which offers merchant payment and financial services, bagged $370 million as a part of Series E financing round. With this capital, the company secured its position in the unicorn club. 

• Mindtickle, which is a homegrown SaaS startup, collected $100 million in a series E financing round. The fresh capital increased the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion. 

• UpGrad, which is an edtech company, has a valuation of $1.2 billion following a $185 billion financing round. The company specialises in upskilling courses and higher education. 

• Vedantu, which offers online education to students, is valued at $1 billion after raising $100 million from Coatue

• Grofers, which is an online grocery delivery platform, has turned into a unicorn after bagging $120 million from the foodtech company, Zomato

• Eruditus, which offers upskilling courses, entered into the unicorn club after soarin its valuation to $3 billion

• Mobikwik after exercising ESOP in a secondary sale increased its valuation to $1 billion, in tur, becoming a unicorn

E-commerce Sector 

The Indian e-commerce industry is rapidly expanding as the time passes by. It is adding new players every now and then. Besides giant e-commerce firms, small players have also attracted investments becoming unicorns, which are as follows:  

• Meesho, which is a social e-commerce company, has collected $570 million, soaring its valuation to $4.9 billion

• Droom, which is an automobile e-commerce platform, raised $200 million increasing its valuation to $1.2 billion

• CarDekho, which administers an online automotive marketplace, bagged $200 million in addition a $50 million in debt, thus, increasing valuation to $1.2 billion

Logistic Sector 

The Indian logistic sector has played a crucial role in supplying commodities across the nation. During the first pandemic-led lockdown, the sector expanded and gave an upthrust to various small players. Infusions from investors soared startups and helped them become unicorns this year: 

• BlackBuck, which is an online trucking platform, has garnered $67 million as a part of Series E financing round soaring valuation to $1.02 billion

Cryptocurrency Sector

With the global prominence of cryptocurrency, a few startups started shoring up crypto in India. The momentum has given rise to two crypto unicorns in the country: 

• CoinSwitch Kuber become a unicorn after Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz infused money in the financing round  

• CoinDCX raised $90 million in Series C round reaching a valuation of $1.1 billion

Besides these sectors, unicorns have surfaced from social e-commerce sectors, online messaging platform, neo banking sector, and online marketplace.