India will have 122 new unicorns in 2 to 4 years: Hurun India forecast

India will have 122 new unicorns in the next two to four years and these unicorns currently have a cumulative value of $49 billion, as per Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 released by Hurun Research Institute here on Wednesday.

Bengaluru, the start-up capital of the country, alone would add 46 new unicorns, to its existing tally of 33, in the next two to four years. Delhi NCR would add 25 new unicorns, Mumbai 16, Chennai 5, Pune 3 unicorns while the rest are expected to come from 20 other cities, according to the unicorn index.

Venture Capital firm Sequoia Capital invested in 39 of these future unicorns followed by Tiger Global which holds stake in 27 of them.

Having invested in 39 unicorns across the country, venture capital firm Sequoia became the most active investor in the country’s start-up ecosystem followed by Tiger Global which holds stake in 27 future unicorns.

The prospective unicorns identified by Unicorn Index 2022 include firms, mostly founded in 2015, and focused on consumer facing businesses (63%) and doing business-to-business ventures (37%) in the financial services, logistics, healthcare, and education spaces.

The index has classified companies as would-be unicorns (those founded after 2000 and valued at least $1 billion), Gazelles (those most likely to become unicorns in the next two years), and Cheetahs (start-ups that could turn unicorn in the next four years).

The Gazelle pack is expected to be led by Shiprocket, a five-year-old LogisticsTech startup, followed by Zepto, Turtlemint, Ather Energy and Vivriti Capital while furniture start-up Pepperfry will cheer the Cheetah followed by Bengaluru-based Juspay and then Ratan Tata-backed FinTech Mswipe Technologies, as per the index.

Speaking at a media conference Rajesh Saluja, CEO & MD, ASK Wealth Advisors, that supported the research on start-up wealth said, “India has emerged as the third largest ecosystem for start-ups after US and China, and saw a record 44 start-ups turning into Unicorns in 2021. New ideas and innovations which have the potential to benefit millions of consumers are being incubated by the start-up ecosystem.” 

The pandemic, probably, has accelerated the disruption of traditional businesses and fostered the emergence of start-ups, observed the index.

Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India said, “We discovered that the country’s start-up ecosystem is expanding at an unprecedented rate. In just one year, the number of unicorns has increased by 65%, the number of gazelles has increased by 59% to 51, and the number of Cheetahs has increased by 31% to 71.’‘

However, the index indicated that certain global economic concerns could affect the valuations and capital-raising abilities of start-ups in the country.

“There has been some impact on valuations, however, product, market fit will continue to be the driving factor,’‘ added Mr. Saluja.