India’s Unicorn club continues to grow.
Where in 2018 eight Indians startups turned unicorns by reaching the $1 billion valuation mark, 2019 was seen adding a bunch of its own to the list with the latest addition being the logistics start-up Rivigo.
Here’s all the Indian startups that turned unicorns in 2019:
1. Rivigo
Rivigo is the latest startup to join the unicorn club. It raised $4.9 million from South Korea’s KB Platform Fund and after the deal was closed it is now valued at $1.05 billion.
2. Delhivery
The first to become a unicorn this year Delhivery raised $395 million from Softbank after which it was valued at $1.6 billion. Founded by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Suraj Saharan, Kapil Bharti and Bhavesh Mangshali, it created a stronghold in the market by partnering with e-commerce majors like Flipkart and Paytm.
3. Big Basket
The grocery retail start-up became a startup in March after closing its Series F round of funding with an investment of $150 million which is valued at $2.3 billion.
The funding was led by Bigbasket’s earlier investor Alibaba, along with a new investor Mirae Asset.
4. Ola Electric
Ola’s subsidiary Ola Electric also turned a unicorn-like its parent company this year in July after raising $250 million from Softbank.
After raising ₹4 billion from Ola’s existing and early investors Tiger Global and Matrix India in March, it also raised funds from the former Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin in May. Some of its other illustrious investors include Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group, Ratan Tata.
5. Dream 11
India’s first fantasy gaming startup turned unicorn after it announced a secondary investment from Steadview Capital, an Asia-focused alternative asset manager in April.
The 11-year old startup had a dream run in 2019, after signing up with IPL and the BCCI as its official partners. The cricket world cup along with IPL helped it clock in stellar numbers. In an interview with Business Insider, one of its founder Bhavin Sheth said that the startup hopes to hit 100 million users by the end of the year.
6. Icertis
India and US-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS ) platform Icertis became a unicorn in July this year after it raised $115 million in funding from Azim Premji’s Premji Invest and US-based VC firm Greycroft.
The company which offers contract management has 5.7 million contracts across 90 countries. Some of its are Adobe, Airtel, Cognizant, Infosys and Microsoft.
7. Druva
Founded by Jaspreet Singh and Milind Borate in 2008 the Indo-US startup Druva joined the unicorn club in June after it raised $130 million in a round led by Viking Global Investors. It also saw participation from funds like Neuberger Berman and Atreides Management.
Existing investors Riverwood Capital, Tenaya Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners had too participated in the round.
8. Citius Tech
The health tech company was a lesser-known startup which gained the unicorn status. The company provides healthcare solutions, using technologies like business intelligence, mobility and IoT, Big Data, cloud computing, predictive analytics and data science.
The company was acquired by Baring Private Equity Asia in July which gave it a valuation of $1 billion.
