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The start-up ecosystem has been booming in India for the past many years and in these years, some of the start-ups got the tag of ‘Unicorn’. In this year, 2021, a total of 40 start-ups made it to the list of Unicorns till December 4th *. 

What is a Unicorn?

Unicorn is a term that was introduced by Aileen Lee, a venture capitalist, to describe start-ups whose valuation goes above $1 billion. These start-ups are privately owned firms that are not listed on any stock exchange, that is they are not public enterprises. The start-ups must have a tech-first approach as well to be counted in the list of Unicorns. 

How is it different from Start-up? 

While Unicorns are start-ups only but differ from any other start-ups based on mainly three things – 

First mover advantage:

Mostly, it has been seen that Unicorns are the starters in a particular industry. For instance, Airbnb has completely changed the way of accommodation during travelling. With this Unicorn company, you can book stays for a short duration to even months at very affordable rates. 

Disrupt the traditional method:

Similarly, Unicorns are those start-ups that disrupt the normal approach. For instance, Uber came into India and completely disrupted the way people commute. 

Technological advancement:

Finally, Unicorns are high on technology. They have a tech-first approach to provide services and deal with the customers. Again you can see Airbnb as an example where you can find accommodations across the globe just by using the Airbnb app on your smartphone. 

A spurt of Unicorns in India in 2021

In 2021, till December 4th, 40 start-ups got listed as Unicorns. Some of them are:

• Digit Insurance which has a valuation of $3.5 billion * and it got listed on the 15 th of January 2021.

• Then CRED is having a valuation of $4.01 billion * and it got listed as a Unicorn as of the 6th of April, 2021.

Groww, Share Chat, Mobile Premier League, Zetwerk, Acko General Insurance, NoBroker, Apna, Slice are some of the start-ups which made the list of Unicorns this year. 

As per a recent report *, India is the 3rd top country in the world having the most number of Unicorn start-ups. It has 54 Unicorns at present. At present, BYJU’s is the Unicorn start-up having the highest valuation at present which is $21 billion *. It became a Unicorn in 2017.

Industries with the most number of Unicorns

According to some recent reports *, the most number of Unicorns in India belongs to the IT and software industry. Fintech, Edtech are the industries where the most number of Unicorns are getting listed.

A close review also suggests that more than 65% of these start-up Unicorns only in 2021 are B2C companies *. Their main motto is to simplify the lives of their users. For instance, Uber made it smooth for the passengers to commute anywhere at any time. 

In 2021, people witnessed a huge growth in the start-up ecosystem, which is depicted by the number of start-ups turning into Unicorns this year. With their tech-first approach and disruptive innovation, these companies are here to stay and change the game.