A list of India’s unicorns and their early investors (Updated)

This is the latest version of the article that was previously published on June 9, 2022.

Every entrepreneur wants their business to succeed. And getting to unicorn status – a valuation of US$1 billion – is a notable milestone in that journey.

India, home to more than a billion people, has already produced a number of unicorns over the years, thanks to a surge in funding from venture capitalists, corporations, and other investors looking to claim a stake in the country’s fast-growing tech startup ecosystem.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

The success of companies such as Flipkart, Byju’s, Paytm, Zomato, Oyo, Ola, Udaan, and many others has ushered a wave of interest in Indian startups. Some of these startups have either already gone public or are on the path to a listing.

Because of the rise in funding, India now has 88 unicorns – which includes a few decacorns or startups valued at U$10 billion and above – according to Tech in Asia’s analysis.

The number of new unicorns born annually in India has grown steadily over the past few years. In fact, 2021 had seen 41 startups from the country reach the coveted unicorn status – a record for the South Asian nation. The meteoric rise of startups like Apna is also a reflection of this rapid growth. The jobs and professional network platform startup rocketed into the billion-dollar club within two years of its inception, becoming the fastest Indian startup to do so.

So far, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global have backed the most number of unicorns in India. Accel Partners, Elevation Capital (SAIF Partners), and Matrix Partners round out the list of the top five VCs backing unicorns in the country.

*Contents of this story are subject to changes as we gather and verify more information about startups and their early investors. We will also periodically update the story as and when startups hit unicorn status.