India sees emergence of the 100th unicorn

Union minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution and textiles, Piyush Goyal highlighted the achievement in a tweet. 

The term ‘Unicorn’ refers to the rarest of the rare startups who become Unicorns attaining a valuation of more than $1 billion. The Indian startup ecosystem, the third-largest in the world in number of unicorns, as of 5th May 2022, is home to 100 unicorns with a total valuation of $332.7 billion. 

The year 2021 saw a big surge in the number of unicorns, with a total of 44 startups entering the unicorn club through the year with a total valuation of $93 billion. 

In the first four months of 2022, India has given birth to 14 unicorns with a total valuation of $18.9 billion.

The entrepreneurial spirit exists throughout the length and breadth of the country and is evident by the spread of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recognised startups across 647 Indian districts encompassing all 36 states and union territories. 

Since the launch of the Startup India initiative on 16 January 2016, more than 69,000 startups have been recognized in the country till 2 May 2022. Innovation in India is not just limited to certain sectors; we have recognised startups solving problems in 56 diverse sectors with 13 per cent from IT services, 9 per cent in healthcare and life sciences, 7 per cent education, 5 per cent in professional and commercial services, 5 per cent in agriculture, and 5 per cent in food and beverages.

While every startup has its unique journey to becoming a unicorn, the minimum and maximum time taken by a startup to become a unicorn in India are 6 months and 26 years, respectively. Till FY 2016-17, approximately one unicorn was being added every year. Over the past four years (since FY 2017-18), this number has been increasing exponentially, with a whopping 66 per cent year-on-year growth in the number of additional unicorns being added every year.

“As we hit the milestone of a century in Indian unicorns, the homegrown startup ecosystem continues to work effectively towards the mission of self-reliance and self-sustainability as they have been in the past. The vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat is rooted deeply in the Startup Ecosystem and shall continue to prevail in the coming years,” says a commerce ministry release.