India has witnessed several number of unicorn startups this year, thanks to a record-breaking round of funding for Indian entrepreneurs across all industries. Already, 40 Indian startups have joined the unicorn club. Over $38.4 billion has been raised as of December 4th, with many rounds expected to produce Indian unicorns in 2021.
Here are top 5 startups made into the prestigious club
Digit Insurance+-
Digit Insurance, a Bengaluru-based insurtech startup, was the first to join the Indian unicorn club in 2021. In January, the company secured $18 million (INR 135 crore) from previous investors A(! PArtners, Faering Capital, and TVS Capital, valuing the company at $1.9 billion.
This was the company’s second round of external fundraising, with the first taking place in January 2020. In this round, the company raised $84 million (INR 614 crore at today’s exchange rate), with Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma investing roughly $340,000. (INR 2.5 Cr). Till date, the company has raised $200 million in internal and external capital.
Digit Insurance is a tech-driven general insurance firm formed in 2016 by Fairfax Holdings’ Kamesh Goyal and Prem Watsa. Customized insurance are available for health, auto, travel, smartphones, and commercial assets such as stores and holiday homes.
Innovaccer
Innovaccer was a rising star in the Indian startup environment, and it went on to become the first Indian unicorn in the healthtech space. The company which develops solutions for western markets like the US, analyses healthcare data to provide actionable insights to healthcare providers, hospitals, insurance companies and other organisations and businesses.
Several governments and private institutions use the product to keep track of more than 3.8 million patients’ medical records, saving $400 million for healthcare providers. Over the next five years, the company hopes to increase the amount of patient records it has to 100 million or more and reach out to 500,000 caregivers.
In a year when many startups were on the verge of failure, healthtech companies raised unprecedented amounts of money. In 2020, healthtech firms are expected to raise $15.3 billion, up 44 percent over the $10.6 billion raised in 2019. Healthtech startups in India raised $455 million in 77 agreements.
BrowserStack
Saas startup, BrowserStack has raised $200 million in Series B funding. BrowserStack was valued at $4 billion once it was funded. It is the sixth Indian SaaS startup to reach the unicorn club, as well as the country’s most valuable SaaS company, according to the funding round.Bond, a Silicon Valley investor, led the investment round, including participation from Insight Partners and current investor Accel.
The web and mobile app testing platform claims to have four million developers working for 50,000 companies, including tech behemoths like Google, Microsoft, and Twitter. BrowserStack intends to use the funds to treble its team size over the next 18 months and undertake targeted acquisitions to expand its market reach.
BharatPe
BharatPe became the sixth fintech startup in India to join the coveted unicorn club this year by raising $370 million in a Series E equity round led by Tiger Global, valued at $2.85 billion. New investors Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital have joined the company, while existing investors Coatue Management, Insight Partners, Sequoia Growth, and others have increased their stakes in BharatPe.
Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani founded BharatPe in 2018, which provided India’s first UPI interoperable QR code for merchants and has now moved into additional financial services. By taking over PMC Bank, BharatPe, along with financial services player and NBFC Centrum, has also obtained a small finance bank licence from the RBI.
UpGrad
UpGrad became India’s third edtech unicorn in August 2021, after obtaining a total of $185 million from Temasek, IFC (International Finance Corporation, a sister institution of the World Bank Group), and IIFL at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh founded upGrad, which provides higher education courses in partnership with a number of universities. It claims to have over 2 million students enrolled.
Screwvala, who also serves as the company’s chairperson, stated that the edtech startup will provide more information on the merger and acquisition in the following days. The company’s funding round came only days after it acquired KnowledgeHut, a short-term skilling company based in Bengaluru.
Indian startups have had a great year all through with some amazing investment rounds. Generating adequate capital is the most important ingredient behind the success of startups and the greatest way to attract investors is presenting your business idea and products in the right platform.
All India council for robotics and automation is organizing INDIAFIRST Tech startup conclave and awards supported by the Ministry of electronics and information technology that encourages technology startups and AICRA members to collaborate and create fruitful partnerships that greatly benefits both parties. This platform provides with the opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to find and present your innovative ideas behind the startup before big investors. The tech startup conclave is scheduled to be held on 17th and 18th of February. The conclave brings together the best breed of entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists, government department representatives, business model creators, consultants, policymakers, academicians, support groups, business coaches, and business practitioners.
Click here for more details on the tech conclave startup: IndiaFirst Tech Start up | AICRA
