It’s raining unicorns in India

The year 2021 has so far seen the birth of 18 unicorns. Payment startup BharatPe is the latest entrant into the coveted club. BharatPe has raised $370 million, in a series E funding round that values the company at $2.85 billion. In the latest round of funding led by Tiger Global Management, Dragoneer Investment Group and Steadfast Capital took part.

3 unicorns in July

In July, three start-ups became unicorns, online automobile platform Droom became a unicorn after it successfully closed the first leg of its funding wherein it raised $200 million, catapulting its valuation to $1.2 billion. Trucking platform Blackbuck and OffBusiness which is in the SME loans are the other two.

Digit-1st unicorn of 2021

Bengaluru-based insurance start-up Digit Insurance was the first to attain the status of a unicorn in 2021. Digit is valued at 3.5 billion dollars.

E-commerce, fintech and payment startups account for most of the 18 unicorns of this year. There are two in the NBFC space — Five Star Business Finance and Offbusiness TiE-Delhi and research firm Zinnov in 2020 had forecast that India would have 100 unicorns by 2025.

Of the 19 unicorns of this year, Pharmeasy has the highest valuation at $4 billion. InfoMarket, Meesho, Cred, Sharechat, Urban Company and BharatPe have valuations exceeding $2 billion. BharatPe is the 5th fintech startup to enter this elite club of unicorns this year. Digit Insurance, Cred, Groww and Zeta are the other four.

Soonicorns

Management consulting firm Praxis Global Alliance earlier this year had unveiled the second edition of India’s Soonicorns list. Soonicorns are the next billion-dollar startups.

According to a report by the Business Standard, the list includes 35 startups that have the potential to achieve a $1 billion-plus valuation (Unicorn) in near future, .  Eruditus, Vedantu, Grofers, Rebel Foods and Mobile Premier League (MPL) feature in the list, while BharatPe which was also in the list, how now achieved this status.