Private Capital
India added 33 unicorns in 2021 — highest ever
14 Oct 2021
Five start-ups joined the unicorn club in two weeks, taking the total count to 33 this year, the highest in at least a decade. An analysis of data sourced from market research firms Venture Intelligence and Tracxn also showed India added under 20 unicorns last year. In fact, just close to 40 start-ups entered the league of unicorns during 2011-2020.
A bunch of start-ups, including Spinny, Mamaearth and Ecom Express, are in the queue to soon turn unicorns, data showed.
The pandemic accelerated consumer adoption of digital services, helping start-ups and new-age ventures that typically build tech-focused businesses, delivering an array of offerings to customers. Many Indians who had traditionally been subscribers of brick-and-mortar businesses moved online and explored a host of services ranging from food delivery and ed-tech to e-grocery, adding to start-ups’ user base and expediting their business expansion plans. Not surprisingly, investors sitting on adequate capital rushed to back start-ups. Interestingly enough, many start-ups of late have attained $1-billion valuation with much smaller fundraises, a trend that was not very rampant in the past. For instance, meat and seafood brand Licious that turned unicorn early last week hit a valuation of $1 billion on a $52-million fresh funding round led by IIFL AMC’s Late Stage Tech Fund.