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‘Soon To Be Unicorns’ : India’s Top 40+

Business World

The Indian startup ecosystem already has more than a half- dozen unicorns which have crossed the valuation of a $1Billion. Lets’ take a look at the ones who reached the mark first:
1. Ola- Founded in 2011, HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka (TravTech)
2. Paytm –Founded in 2015, HQ: Noida, Uttar Pradesh (Fintech)
3. Quikr- Founded in 2008, HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra (E-Comm)
4. Zomato- Founded in 2008, HQ: Gugaon, Harayana (FoodTech)
5. Shopclues-Founded in 2011, HQ: Gurgaon, Haryana (E-Comm)
6. Hike Messenger- Founded in 2012, HQ: New Delhi (Mob-Tech)

7. Zoho- Founded in 1996, HQ: Pleasonton, California (Big Data)
8. Flipkart- Founded in 2007, HQ: Bangalore, Karnataka (E-Comm)
9. Snapdeal- Founded in 2010, HQ: New Delhi (E-Comm)

These 40+ players in the startup space have been picked up primarily on parameters like funding/valuation and the company’s disclosed growth/ traction metrics — such as GMV, seller base, business model, clients, downloads, social media followers, suppliers and work ethics etc.

Other parameters that BW Disrupt has considered include maturity of the sector in terms of competitors, leadership, core teams, segmentation of the market, technology moats, government push and digital presence that give a company a sustainable advantage.

The companies which are market leaders, mostly function successfully if they have a first mover advantage or are uniquely positioned with a sound monetization model. They tend to grow with or without raising a great amount of investment from outside or going public (in IPO). Some hand-picked startups in the list are also such that, they have survived a steady growth rate organically all these years and earned sustainable revenues throughout their course of time.
The Delhi-NCR region collectively accounts for 18 soonicorns, while Bangalore hosts 16. Mumbai has eight soon to be unicorns, while Chennai has four. Pune, Jaipur and Kolkata also earn a spot in the soonicorn club. The average age of a soon to be unicorn is seven years and one month. The Soonicorns have raised $71.56M on average.

India’s 40+ soonicorn companies are:

IndiaMART It is B2B online B2B listing platform based out of Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1996 by IndiaMART.com is India’s largest online marketplace connecting buyers with suppliers. They, Brijesh Agrawal, Dinesh Agarwal, co-founders have so far raised up to $35-36M in 3 Rounds from 5 Investors which have Amadeus Capital and Intel Capital…Read More

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