In the first two months of 2022, India has already added ten new start up firms to the coveted $1 billion valuation club – the unicorn club.
A unicorn is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion in the business world. Aileen Lee, a venture capitalist, coined the word in 2013, using the legendary animal to signify the statistical rarity of such successful companies. Here are 10 Indian startups made Unicorn so far in 2022.
Hasura
Hasura, a software company that speeds up web app development, announced on February 22 that it had raised $100 million from Greenoaks Capital at a valuation of a billion dollars, demonstrating investor interest in pure software startups that burn less money and have a large market amid growing digitisation.
Hasura, founded by Tanmai Gopal and Rajoshi Ghosh in 2017, reduces the time and skill necessary to create GraphQL APIs for data access. GraphQL is a query language that was created by Facebook and is open-source.
It makes APIs — software that allows apps to communicate with one another — more flexible and reduces app development time by automating repetitive activities and improving performance. Nexus Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners (US), two of the company’s current investors, also contributed. Hasura will become India’s eighth unicorn in 2022, a phrase for private technology enterprises worth more than a billion dollars.
Uniphore Software System
Uniphore, a conversational AI platform, has joined the unicorn club, with a valuation of $2.5 billion following a new $400 million Series E financing. NEA, a worldwide venture capital firm, led the round, which increases Uniphore’s total funding to more than half a billion dollars ($610 million). This fundraising round included March Capital and other existing investors, as well as new organisations.
Uniphore stated in a statement that the new round of funding will be used to expand its business operations globally, notably in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, as well as to extend its technology and market leadership with improvements in speech AI, computer vision, and tonal emotion.
Companies have recognised the value of excellent customer interactions on their brand image and customer loyalty, and the market for automating corporate dialogues has exploded in recent years. As a result, many companies are turning to artificial intelligence and automation to provide seamless and frictionless consumer experiences, and Uniphore has been at the forefront of industry innovation.
XpressBees Logistics
Xpressbees, an e-commerce logistics firm, has become a unicorn, a company valued at $1 billion or more, thanks to a $300 million Series F fundraising round led by Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth, and ChrysCapital.
According to a source familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Xpressbees was valued at $1.2 billion in the most recent round of funding. Existing investors Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners also participated in the round, according to the company.
Livspace
Livspace, a home interior and renovation platform, has become a unicorn after obtaining USD 180 million in a capital round led by investment firm KKR, valuing the company at over USD 1 billion, according to the company.
The Series F fundraising round included existing investors such as Ingka Group Investments (part of the world’s largest IKEA retailer), Jungle Ventures, Venturi Partners, and Peugeot Investments. The funds will be used to increase the company’s market reach both within India and beyond.
ElasticRun
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Goldman Sachs Asset Management led a $330 million investment round for ElasticRun. Chimera and Innoven from Abu Dhabi, as well as Prosus Ventures, all participated in the round, according to the startup.
ElasticRun plans to use the new funds to expand its rural reach into more than 30 states and to expand its national services, such as credit facilities for retailers. ElasticRun, a Kirana commerce firm, has raised $300 million in a new round of funding backed by SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. With the new round, India became fifth unicorn of 2022.
New York-based Goldman Sachs, Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures), Innoven Capital, and Abu Dhabi’s Chimera Investment, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s Royal Group, all participated in the new round of fundraising.
Polygon
Many casual crypto enthusiasts and nocoiners were quick to dismiss the ecosystem’s potential in 2018, not long after the Bitcoin meltdown. Many people saw the meltdown as an opportunity to liquidate their holdings and exit the crypto market.
At the time, Ethereum was three years old and still had scalability issues, as well as slow transactions and limited transaction throughput. While several blockchains sought to address scalability difficulties and promised high throughput at the time, they also had to sacrifice decentralisation, which is one of the most fundamental features of blockchain technology.
Polygon turned unicorn early February.
Dealshare
Dealshare, a social commerce grocery firm, has secured $165 million (Rs 1,239 crore) from Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global, making it the year’s sixth Indian unicorn. The firm is worth more than $1.6 billion. New investors include Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital, and Unilever Ventures.
Darwinbox
Darwinbox, a human resource technology business, has acquired $72 million in Series D funding led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), putting it in the coveted unicorn club of companies valued at $1 billion or more.
Existing investors Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, SCB 10X, JGDEV, Endiya Partners, and 3One4Capital all participated in the round. The funding brings the startup’s total funding to over $110 million, putting it among Asia’s most well-capitalized HR software companies, according to a press release.
LEAD School
Lead School, an edtech company, has secured $100 million from investors led by GSV Ventures and WestBridge Capital, bringing its valuation to $1.1 billion in less than a year.
In April of last year, the Mumbai-based company received $30 million to provide tech-enabled solutions to schools with a focus on digital learning through an online or hybrid model (of physical and digital) of classrooms.After direct-to-consumer brand Mamaearth and artificial intelligence firm Fractal, Lead School is now the third business to join India’s unicorn club in 2022. It is also the sixth edtech company in India to achieve unicorn status.
Fractal
TPG Capital, a global private investment firm, has invested $360 million in Fractal, a Mumbai and New York-based Artificial Intelligence startup.
The deal involves a mix of primary and secondary share purchases from Apax Partners-advised funds. According to a top official, the British private equity firm would remain a majority shareholder in the company. While the deal’s parameters haven’t been revealed, industry insiders claim that the investment has put Fractal’s valuation at above $1 billion, making it a unicorn.
The deal is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2022. According to Srikanth Velamakanni, co-founder and group chief executive officer at Fractal, the company is on pace to go public in the next several .
