2022 follows 2021. Twenty-one Indian startups were worth 1 billion dollars in 2022. India’s IT firms include 107 “unicorns” In India, 107 344 billion dollars “unicorns” have presented 94 billion dollars.
First-quarter Indian startup transactions totaled 11.7B dollars. Funding and transactions increased 186% and 64% over the previous quarter. Five unicorns were spotted in January and four in February and March. April was unicorn-free, but May and June were.
Unicorns ruled 2021. Forty-two startups and 2 public corporations exceeded 1 billion dollars. Inc42 estimates India will have 250+ unicorns by 2025; 100 firms are soonicorns.
India’s unicorns by 2022
1. Fractal
Fractal became the first unicorn in 2022. TPG Capital Asia and Apax Partners handled 360M dollars. In 5 rounds, Fractal raised 685 million dollars. Apax Partners’ previous 200-million-dollar investment prompted this one. In 2016, Khazanah invested 100 million dollars in Fractal.
2000 founders Srikanth Velamakanni, Nirmal Palaparthi, Pranay Agrawal, Ramakrishna Reddy, and Pradeep Suryanarayan. A 21-year-old AI and analytics firm serving Fortune 500 corporations. Fractal Analytics takes longer to become a unicorn than the average Indian startup.
2. LEAD
LEAD was India’s sole edtech unicorn. GSV Ventures and WestBridge Capital contributed 100 million dollars in January, increasing the total to 1.1 billion dollars. The previous financing occurred in April 2021. LEAD University raised 166 million dollars through 5 rounds. After e-commerce (10.7 Bn dollars) and fintech (8.2 Bn dollars), edtech startups in India received 4.7 Bn dollars in 2021.
Mehta and Deorah founded LEAD in 2012. This firm helps with pedagogy, curriculum, and technological integration. India’s sixth edtech unicorn is Unacademy. LEAD’s 5,000 Indian schools educate 2 million youngsters.
3. Darwinbox
Darwinbox became the third Indian Startup of 2022 with a TCV-sponsored January financing round. Salesforce Ventures, Lightspeed India, Sequoia India, 3one4Capital, Endiya Partners, SCB 10X and JGDEV invested.
Salesforce Ventures led a 15 million dollar round in January 2016. 4M dollars in 2017 and 15M in 2019 from Sequoia Capital. It raised 107 dollars in seven rounds. Darwinbox was established in 2015 by Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni, and Chaitanya Peddi. It handles HR from job advertisement to exit interviews, core transactions, onboarding, travel, payroll, and HR analytics.
4. DealShare
In 2022, Dealshare was worth 1.62 billion dollars, making it a unicorn. Bengaluru social commerce startup raises 165M dollars. DF International Partners, Tiger Global, Kora Investment, Alpha Wave Incubation, and 29 Capital Partners participated. DealShare raised 330 million dollars. The company’s worth has quadrupled since July 2021. Sales rose 10 times in FY22 to 750M dollars ARR.
Rao, Medda, Bora, and Shikhar founded DealShare in September 2018. First-time internet users are primarily from the middle class. The firm also offers food and cleaning goods online. Buying lesser-known brands and selling through community sales lowers mass-market staple prices.
5. ElasticRun
The first unicorn was ElasticRun of Pune. Kirana received 300M dollars from SoftBank. Goldman Sachs, Innoven Capital, Prosus Ventures, and Chimera Investment (Abu Dhabi) also invested.
Inc42 estimates ElasticRun’s Series E valuation at 1.5 billion dollars. This fresh capital comes 15 months after Avataar Venture Partners led Series D. Prosus Ventures and Kalaari Capital invested. The company’s valuation rose to 400M dollars after this financing. Recently, the company’s worth doubled.
6. Livspace
Livspace is 2018’s sixth “unicorn.” KKR, Ikea, Venturi Partners, Jungle Ventures, and Peugeot Investments invested in Series F. 10 fundraising rounds brought Livspace 450M dollars. It is the company’s second significant investment in 15 months. Venturi Partners and Kharis Capital led a 90 million dollars Series D investment in 2020. Saint-Gobain bought a share last year. Bengaluru-based Ramakant Sharma and Anuj Srivastava created the firm. Livspace sells home-design products. Online, the firm sells interior design software.
7. Xpressbees
Pune-based “unicorn” of 2022. Blackstone, TPG, and ChrysCapital invested in Series F. Norwest Venture Partners, and Investcorp participated. Xpressbees raised 500 Mn dollars and is worth 1.2 bn dollars. Delhivery, BlackBuck and Rivigo are successful Indian logistics startups.
Investcorp, Gaja Capital and Norwest Venture Partners provided 110 million dollars in Series E capital over two years ago. The company’s valuation rose to 400M dollars after this financing. Recent investment tripled Xpressbees’ worth. Xpressbees was launched in 2015 by FirstCry to provide same-day delivery. 1.5 million items are sent daily to 3,000 locations and 20,000 zip codes.
8. Uniphore
Uniphore, India’s seventh unicorn, raised 400 million dollars at a 2.5 billion value in 2022. NEA investors led this fundraising round. Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi created this chatbot in 2008. Unified conversational AI, automated processes, and RPA improve customer service across all sectors. Uniphore purchased emotional AI leader Emotion Research Lab and no-code/low-code pioneer Jacada in 2021. It’s officially a unicorn after raising 610M dollars.
9. Hasura
Hasura is the ninth and last Indian unicorn. Hasura, the inventor of the GraphQL language, raised 100M dollars in February 2022. Rajoshi Ghosh and Tanmai Gopal founded the firm in 2018. 136.5 million dollars were allocated. Their software has 25,000 stars on GitHub and 400 million downloads since 2018.
10. CredAvenue
CredAvenue is India’s eleventh 1 billion dollar company. Insight Partners led the company’s Series B funding. Dragoneer Investment Group and B Capital bought. Sequoia, Lightspeed, TVS Capital and Lightrock invested.
CredAvenue is now worth 1.2 billion dollars, according to Inc42. In September 2017, the firm raised 90 million dollars, the second-most in India. Lightrock, Kunal Shah’s Cred, Stride Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures also invested. CredAvenue raised 410M dollars.
Conclusion
Indian enterprises succeed in several fields. This list of startup unicorns might be endless. India knows Flipkart, Big Basket, Ola Cabs, InMobi, FirstCry, and CureFit. These companies created a new economic force, boosting India’s influence.