You could have have argued the same about China in the 80's or Japan in the 50's
20 Startups enter the Indian Unicorn Club in 2022 : Here’s everything you need to know
BI INDIA BUREAUAUG 27, 2022, 09:00 IST
Canva
- 20 startups join the Indian unicorn club in 2022, taking the total number of Indian unicorns to 106.
- With their combined value estimated at $343 billion, these enterprises have raised $94 billion in total funding.
- Business Insider India provides a snapshot of the 20 new startups that turned unicorns this year.
In 2022, 20 startups achieved unicorn status taking the total number of Indian unicorns to 106. The collective valuation of these startups stands at $341 billion. These firms have been able to raise more than $94 billion in funding from outside.
Unicorn refers to a privately held startup that has a valuation of $1 billion or more. The term was coined by Aileen Lee, a famed venture capitalist, to reflect the fact that these startups are statistically rare.
Here is an overview of the 20 Indian startups that became unicorns in 2022.
Fractal
Fractal
A five-member team consisting of Srikanth Velamakanni, Pranay Agrawal, Nirmal Palaparthi, Pradeep Suryanarayan and Ramakrishna Reddy founded Fractal in 2000. The firm’s main offerings include solutions across artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. Over five rounds of funding Fractal received $685 million which helped the firm cross $1 billion valuation. The latest round of funding helped Fractal enter the unicorn club in 2022, making it the first enterprise to do so this year.
LEAD
LEAD
LEAD became the first edtech startup to achieve unicorn status in 2022. In January, Mumbai-based LEAD raised $100 million in a new round of funding led by GSV Ventures and WestBridge Capital, which helped LEAD achieve a valuation of $1.1 billion in this year. Founded by Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah in 2012, LEAD guides schools into an integrated teaching and learning system that combines pedagogy curriculum and technology.
Darwinbox
Darwinbox
Hyderabad-based Darwinbox raised $72 million in January 2022 in a round of funding led by TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures), making it the third enterprise to become an Indian unicorn in 2022. Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Paleti and Rohit Chennamaneni founded Darwinbox in 2015. This startup provides cloud-based solutions to enterprises for automating the complete employee lifecycle on a single HR platform.
DealShare
DealShare
With a valuation of $1.62 billion, DealShare entered the unicorn club in 2022. This is a Bengaluru-based startup in the social e-commerce sector, which has raised $165 million in funding in an Series E round. Till date, DealShare has raised around $330 million. Following its fundraising mission in July 2021, the valuation of the firm has nearly tripled. DealShare was founded by Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, Sankar Bora and Rajat Shikhar in 2018.
ElasticRun
ElasticRun
ElasticRun is a Pune-based enterprise that entered the unicorn club in February 2022. The Series E round valued ElasticRun at $1.5 billion based on Inc42’s estimates. The tech company was founded by Sandeep Deshmukh, Saurabh Nigam and Shitiz Bansal in 2016. ElasticRun supports Kirana businesses to shape their marketing strategies.
Livspace
The sixth startup to become a unicorn in 2022, LivSpace is a home renovation and interior designing company. During a Series F round led by American investment giant KKR & Co, LivSpace raised $180 million. Across all of its 10 funding rounds so far, LivSpace has raised $450 million in total. Based in Bengaluru, Livspace was started by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma in 2014.
Xpressbees
Xpressbees
Headquartered in Pune, XPressbees is the latest startup to enter India’s unicorn club in 2022. In a Series F funding round that was led by Blackstone Growth, ChrysCapital and TPG Growth, Xpressbees raised $300 million. The total funds raised by the firm rose to around $500 million, and valuined company at $1.2 billion. The delivery service was founded in 2015 after FirstCry, the ecommerce giant spun it off.
Uniphore
Uniphore
Uniphore was the 8th startup in India to attain unicorn status in 2022. Uniphore achieved this stature after it raised $400 million that helped raise its valuation to $2.5 billion. The funding round led by NEA had its existing investors participating. Uniphore was founded in 2008 by Ravi Saraogi and Umesh Sachdev. It provides workflow automation, conversational AI and robotic process automation solutions to enterprise customers across different industry domains.
Hasura
Hasura
Hasura is the 9th Indian startup that achieved the unicorn status in 2022. Developer of the GraphQL, Hasura raised around $100 million in February from investors such as Greenoaks Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Vertex Ventures. The total funding raised by the firm till date is around $136.5 million. The firm provides data flow and data access solutions through its GraphQL APIs to accelerate data and product delivery. Tanmai Gopal and Rajoshi Ghosh founded Hasura in 2018.
CredAvenue
CredAvenue
The Chennai-based startup is the 10th Indian startup to join the unicorn club in 2022. Inc42’s estimate reveals that CredAvenue’s valuation rose to $1.2 billion after the fintech startup raised $135 million in a Series B funding round led by Insight Partners. CredAvenue was founded by Gaurav Kumar in 2017. This is a debt platform connecting corporate clients with investors and lenders.
Amagi
Amagi
Amagi, a private startup based in Bengaluru is valued at $1 billion. Amagi was founded in 2008 by Baskar Subramanian, Srinivasan K.A and Srividhya Srinivasan. The firm took 14 years to become a unicorn. The key investors in Amagi are Accel, Norwest Venture Partners and PremjiInvest. The firm has raised $240.2 million in total funding. Amagi is a cloud-based solutions provider for broadcasting and television.
Oxyzo
Oxyzo
Oxyzo raised $200 million from Alpha Wave, Tiger Global, Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and Creation Investments in what was described as its first round of institutional funding. The founders of OfBusiness Asish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra started Oxyzo in 2016. This is a lending platform offering financing solutions to SMEs in the contracting and manufacturing sectors. This firm is said to be growing 100% year on year serving more than 2,500 SMEs in India.
Games24x7
Games24x7
Games24x7 entered the Indian unicorn club in 2022 as the 13th startup to do so in this year. The firm achieved this status following a funding round led by Malabar India Fund that fetched $75 million for the firm. Inc42 calculations show that the firm’s valuation rose to $2.1 billion in 2022 from $692 million in June 2021. Bhavin Pandya and Trivikraman Thampy founded Games24x7 in 2006. The gaming company houses some popular brands like RummyCircle.
Open
Open
Open became India’s 100th unicorn after it raised $50 million in funding from IIFL and crossed the $1 billion mark this year. Open was founded by Anish Achuthan, Ajeesh Achuthan, Mabel Chacko and Deena Jacob in 2017. This Bengaluru-based firm provides banking services, payments management and expense management solutions to enterprise customers. Over the past 12 months, the firm has increased its customer base to 2.3 million, hoping to serve 5 million customers globally within a year forward.
PhysicsWallah
PhysicsWallah
PhysicsWallah is an edtech startup. It became the 101st enterprise in India to enter the Indian unicorn club. In a Series A funding round led by Westbridge and GSV Ventures, the firm raised $100 million, which made the firm the country’s seventh edtech firm to enter the unicorn club. With this round of funding, the firm’s value rose to $1.1 billion. In 2020, PhysicsWallah was founded by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari. The firm offers competitive exam preparation services to students taking IIT, JEE and NEET examinations.
Purplle
Purplle
Purplle became an Indian unicorn in June 2022 following a Series E funding round. Paramak Ventures, PremjiInvest, Blume Ventures, and Kedaara invested $33 million in this round, taking its valuation to $1.1 billion. This is an online marketplace dealing with beauty products and equipment. Purplle was started in 2012 by Manish Taneja and Rahul Dash.
LeadSquared
LeadSquared
In a Series C funding round led by WestBridge, LeadSquared raised $153 million in investments which made the firm achieve unicorn status this year. This Bengaluru-based firm was started by Nilesh Singh, Sudhakar Gorti and Prashant Singh in 2011 and Sukhbir Kalsi joined the team as its founding member. LeadSquared provides the full suite of sales, marketing and automations solutions along with sales and merchant management solutions.
OneCard
onecard
OneCard is a Pune-based firm that became the country’s 104th unicorn following a Series D funding round, which helped raise around $100 million at a valuation of $1.25 billion. OneCard was founded by Anurag Sinha, Rupesh Kumar, and Vibhav Hathi in 2018. The firm provides Visa credit cards by partnering with banks like IDFC Bank, South Indian Bank, Federal Bank, Bank of Baroda Financial and SMB Bank.
5ire
5wire
5ire was founded in 2021 and attained unicorn status within a year of its inception. Dubai-based 5ire is valued at $1.5 billion and has raised $221 million in funding. 5ire was founded by Prateek Dwivedi, Pratik Gauri, Vilma and Mattila. It is funded by the Global Emerging Markets Group, Launchpool and Sanctum Global Ventures. 5ire is a gateway to the Blockchain ecosystem.
Shiprocket
shiprocket
Shiprocket, is a third-party logistics services provider which entered the unicorn club with its $1.2 billion valuation as per Inc42 calculations. In the Series E round of funding led by Lightrock India, Temasek, Bertelsmann, Moore Strategic Ventures, PayPal, March Capital, and Huddle, Shiprocket raised $33.5 million which helped achieve this status. Saahil Goel, Vishesh Khurana, Gautam Kapoor, and Akshay Gulati founded the firm in 2017.
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