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In recent years, India has become the hub for a massive number of startups and businesses.
Moreover, India is now the world's third largest startup ecosystem due to its rapidly growing startup culture.
In addition to Fintech, E-commerce, Supply Chain & Logistics, and Internet Software & Services, Unicorns serve in multiple industries.
In the last few years, some new categories have been added, such as Gaming, Content, Data management & analytics, and Hospitality
Would you like to know which sector produced the most unicorns? I'm sure you've guessed (it's in the title)
Yes, of course! It's none other than India's eCommerce sector!
In total, there are 105 unicorns born in India, of which 23 are made in the eCommerce Sector alone.
Currently, India has 23 unicorns in the eCommerce sector.
In spite of this, you may not be able to read about them all,
That's why we've compiled the TOP 9!
Firstly, let's talk about today's topic, which is
The 9 most valuable Indian unicorns in the eCommerce sector
Let's start with the oldest & most popular unicorn.
Flipkart was founded by two IITians and former Amazon employees, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, in 2007 with its headquarters in Bengaluru.
In 2012, Flipkart became the second company in India to achieve the milestone of becoming a unicorn after InMobi. Additionally, it was the first company of its kind in India to do so.
Originally, Flipkart was just a book-selling website based in a two-bedroom apartment in Koramangala, Bengaluru.
In spite of the limited resources, Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal expanded Flipkart to a wide range of products & categories and made it one of the top players in the Indian eCommerce market.
Over 150 Million products are listed on the online selling platform today, across 80 different categories. According to its current valuation, the company is worth $37.6 billion.
We are coming up with our next unicorn,
OfBusiness is a business-to-business eCommerce and fintech startup that provides raw material procurement and financing solutions to SMEs. In 2016, OfBusiness was founded by Asish Mohapatra (CEO), Bhuvan Gupta (CTO), Ruchi Kalra (CFO), Dhaval Radia, Nitin Jain, and Vasant Sridhar.
It took seven rounds of funding for the company to become a unicorn. Yes! In 2021, OfBusiness became a unicorn after a funding round led by SoftBank of $160 million, which was the seventh round. As a result, the company grew to a valuation of $1.5 billion, and another unicorn was born in India.
With headquarters in Bangalore, India, Meesho was founded in December 2015 by IIT Delhi graduates Vidit Atre and Sanjeev Barnwal.
As well as being an eCommerce marketplace, Meesho helps millions of people start their own businesses online and make money through their network and sales skills. It enables people and small businesses to operate their online shops on social networking platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Platforms keep a commission of 10-15% while sellers gain the remaining profits based on margins on each sale.
Today, Meesho has become a huge opportunity for people who want to start their own online shops with no capital investment. According to Meesho, there were 2.5x more entrepreneurs or resellers on the platform in 2021 than in 2017. Approximately 15 million resellers or entrepreneurs were running businesses on Meesho in 2021, and the number may be higher now.
As for Meesho becoming a unicorn, it was the eighth, and Softbank Vision Fund 2 led a fresh funding round valued the company at $2.1 billion. In that funding round, Facebook was also an investor, who made investments earlier as well. Meesho is the first Indian start-up in which Facebook has invested equity.
Yes! I believe that you have recognized the eyewear brand by Peyush Bansal and partners correctly.
With headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Lenskart is an e-commerce platform for eyewear founded in 2010 by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi.
The company entered the Unicorn Club after it raised $231 million from SoftBank Vision Fund II (SVF II) in its Series-G funding round. As a result of that round, Lenskart reached a valuation of $1.5 billion and entered the list of Indian unicorns.
We now have another popular name on our list, and it is none other than Cars24!
Cars24 is an eCommerce platform for used cars which was founded in 2015 by Ruchit Agarwal, Vikram Chopra, Gajendra Jangid, and Mehul Agrawal. It offers people a convenient online platform that deals in the buying and selling of used cars. One of the biggest reasons they have been so successful is because of their simple purchasing and selling processes.
If you want to sell your vehicle on Cars24, it can be done in a single visit. You just need to book an appointment at one of its branches, then visit the branch, and that's it, you can sell your car now.
In November 2020, Cars24 got an investment of $200 Million in its Series-E Funding round by Exor Seeds, Moore Strategic Ventures, Yuri Milner, DST Global, and Unbound. It helped the company reach a $1 Billion + valuation and gifted India with one more Unicorn.
Udaan is a B2B eCommerce platform founded in 2016 by former Flipkart executives Sujeet Kumar, Vaibhav Gupta, and Amod Malviya. Using the platform, small and medium businesses, manufacturers, wholesalers, traders, and retailers can market & sell their products on one platform with a low-cost model and high payment security & transparency.
And you'll be amazed to know that Udaan achieved the label of Unicorn within just 2 years after launch when it got an investment of $225 Million in its Series-C Funding round. By doing so, it gained Unicorn status and became the fastest Indian tech startup.
Moglix is a large Asia-based B2B eCommerce company that deals in the procurement of industrial products such as MRO, Safety, Electricals, Lighting, Cleaning & Housekeeping, Office Stationery, Power Tools, and many other things.
The company became a Unicorn after raising 120 million dollars in its series-e funding round from Falcon Edge Capital, Harvard Management Company, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, and Venture Highway.!
It turned the valuation of the company by multiple times and made it cross the 1 Billion+ mark. Hence, Moglix entered the Indian Unicorn list.
Infra.Market is a B2B eCommerce marketplace that deals with construction materials & lifestyle products. Not only in India, but throughout Asia, it is one of the fastest-growing construction companies.
The company was founded in 2016 by Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda. With just four-five years from launch, the company received an investment of 100 million dollars in its Series-C Funding round from Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Evolvence India Fund, Sistema Asia Fund, and Foundamental Gmbh, which made it a unicorn in 2021. They received the funding at a valuation of more than $1 Billion which made it enter the group of Unicorn companies in India.
The last name on our list is of an eCommerce company that has seen massive success and also a big downfall. And not only that, but the same company is also making a big comeback.
The name Snapdeal is familiar to all of us.
Snapdeal was founded in 2010 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and is one of the earliest unicorn brands in India. Snapdeal became Unicorn in the year 2014, just after four years of launch. Within six years of its launch, it had become the country's second largest eCommerce company.
After a few years of rise, the company suffered a big downfall in terms of funds and revenues. In the year 2017, the company ran out of funds and was facing a hard time. It was difficult to survive for even a month. But the founders were not ready to leave the battle in between. And the company is now on the way to a big comeback in the Indian eCommerce Market.
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