As the incorporation and use of technology is increasing rapidly in the country, the number of unicorn startups is also showing a rapid increase. According to a report by Venture Intelligence and Tracxn, India added under 20 unicorns last year. In fact, just close to 40 start-ups entered the league of unicorns during 2011-2020. But in 2021, 42 startups have become unicorns so far. Unicorns are said to be such startup companies, whose valuation is one billion dollars (about 7,200 crores) or more. Year Ender 2021: From IAF Chopper Crash to Devastating COVID-19 Second Wave, Tragedies That Shook India This Year

The startups that have become unicorns so far this year include gaming platform Mobile Premier League, grocery platform Grofers, cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX and fintech platform BharatPe. According to the report, from 2011 to 2014, only one startup was able to achieve unicorn status every year. At the same time, this figure increased to four in 2015, eight in 2018, nine in 2019, 10 in 2020, but this year there has seen a tremendous jump. So far this year, 42 startups have achieved unicorn status. This shows that India has rapidly emerged as a preferred destination for startups.

In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy, 11 startups from India attained unicorn status. PhonePe reached a $5.5 billion valuation as an independent entity after its spin-off from Flipkart joining others like fintech majors Paytm and Zerodha, mobility player Ola in the unicorn club.

We are in the last month of 2021 and the Indian startup ecosystem has already added 42 new entrants to the coveted $1 billion valuation club.

With its current valuation of $1.9 billion, Digit Insurance was the first Indian startup in 2021 to enter the much-coveted indian unicorn club. Although the fundraising amount was not disclosed, a few media reports suggested the funding took place in two tranches of $84 million and $18.5 million. A91 Partners, Faering Capital, and TVS Capital Funds participated in this round of funding.

The social commerce platform Meesho stands at a total valuation of $2.1 billion with its fund-raise of $300 million in a new round, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

The round also saw participation from existing investors Prosus Ventures, Facebook, Shunwei Capital, Venture Highway, and Knollwood Investment. With this funding, the startup plans to build a single digital ecosystem for 100 million small businesses. 

Fintech startup CRED, founded by Kunal Shah, has turned into a unicorn with a total valuation of $2.2 billion.

With its Series D funding, the fintech startup has closed to tripled its valuation. The Series D round was led by a new investor — Falcon Edge Capital — along with existing investor Coatue Management. It also said Insight Partners joins its cap table.

At a reported valuation of $1.5 billion, digital healthcare platform PharmEasy connects over 60,000 brick and mortar pharmacies and 4,000 doctors in 16,000 zip codes across India. It digitises the entire supply chain to provide easy access for pharmacies to procure the products.

PharmEasy also provide SaaS solutions for pharmacies to use in procurement combined with delivery and logistics support, and credit solutions to buy over 200,000 medicines from over 3,000 pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Mensa Brands, which attained the status of a unicorn within six months of its inception is one of the fastest to do so in Asia.

The D2C (direct-to-consumer) house of brands startup stands at a valuation of over a billion dollars after it raised $135 million in its series B funding round. Year Ender 2021: From WandaVision, Squid Game to Hawkeye; Five Breakout Shows Of This Year That You Should Definitely Watch!

CoinDCX, the crypto exchange stands at total valuation of $1.1 billion after closing a $90 million Series C funding round which makes it the first Indian cryptocurrency exchange to reach unicorn status. The round also saw participation from existing investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Block.one, Jump Capital, among others, alongside other veteran investors.

Others which entered the coveted unicorn club in 2021 are Prystine Care, Innovaccer, Five Star Finance, Infra.Market, Groww, Gupshup, Mohalla Tech, Chargebee (SaaS), Urban Company, Moglix , Zeta, BrowserStack, BlackBuck, Droom, Ofbusiness, BharatPe, MindTickle , upGrad, Eruditus, Zetwerk, Grofers, Mobile Premier League, Apna, Vedantu, Licious , CoinSwitch Kuber, Rebel Foods, CarDekho , MobiKwik, ACKO Insurance, The Good Glamm Group, Cure.fit, Mensa Brands, NoBroker, Spinny, Upstox, Slice.

Overall, 2021 turned out to be a pioneering year in terms of Indian unicorns. Indians will hope 2022 would be the year when phenomenon of startups getting into the unicorn club reaches new heights with a whole lot of companies lined up for the same.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 18, 2021 01:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).