India has a history of leaving its mark through innovative new startup concepts and rapidly expanding unicorns. Many startups have generated a multibillion dollar sector and drawn significant international investment. Additionally, several successful Indian startups have gone global.
Indian Government’s Startup India Initiative
The Indian government has launched an initiative called Startup India. During a speech on August 15, 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the initial announcement of the campaign.
This initiative’s action plan focuses on three areas:
Facilitation and Simplification.
Funding assistance and rewards.
Partnerships and incubation between industry and academia.
The elimination of the state government’s restrictive regulations in this sector, such as License Raj, Land Permits, Foreign Investment Proposals, and Environmental Clearances, is another area connected to this project. The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade organised it (DPI&IT).
A startup is defined as a business with its headquarters in India, that was founded less than ten years ago, and that makes less than Rs 100 crores ($14 million) in yearly revenue. The government has already started two programmes under this initiative: the MUDRA Bank programme (Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana), which aims to offer microcredit to business owners from low socioeconomic backgrounds at low interest rates, and the I-MADE programme, which will assist Indian entrepreneurs in starting 10 lakh (1 million) mobile app start-ups. For this scheme, an initial capital budget of Rs 20,000 crores (about Rs 230 billion or US$3.2 billion in 2019) has been set aside.
Top 10 Startups in India
1. Cred
●Head Office: Bengaluru
●Founded Year: 2018
●Founders: Kunal Shah
●Total Funding: $801.5M
Cred, one of the best businesses in India, was created in 2018 in the city of Bangalore by Kunal Shah. For paying credit card bills, one is rewarded with “cred coins” on this site. These coins can then be redeemed for other deals and discounts.
One of the newest firms in India to acquire such a high valuation is Cred, which is estimated to be worth roughly $2.2 billion. It employs between 250 and 500 people and has more than 6 million customers. The firm has enormous ambitions for the future, one of which is to open an online store.
2. Skit.ai
●Head Office: Bengaluru
●Founded Year: 2016
●Founders: Akshay Deshraj, Manoj Sarda, and Sourabh Gupta
●Total Funding: $28.1M
Akshay Deshraj, Manoj Sarda, and Sourabh Gupta founded Skit.ai, formerly known as Vernacular.ai, in 2016. It is a Bangalore-based startup with 50–100 employees.
It offers AI software as a service and strives to be the best AI platform, particularly in the area of voice automation. Voice assistants and speech recognition are useful in many businesses, including the banking, food, and hospitality sectors. Additionally, it provides digital voice agents that can manage proactive, sympathetic, and customised discussions in real time.
With over 10 million hours of training data, Skit.ai’s voice assistant software can now reply in 16 distinct languages. Axis Bank, Hathway, Porter, and Barbeque Nation are a few of the startup’s largest customers.
3. PharmEasy
●Head Office: Mumbai
●Founded Year: 2015
●Founders: Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah, and Mikhil Innani
●Total Funding: $1.6B
The Mumbai-based firm PharmEasy was established in 2015 by Dharmil Sheth, Dhaval Shah, and Mikhil Innani, with a focus on the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and diagnostics sectors.
It is an online medical store with OTC goods, medical equipment, and even diagnostic tests, as well as anything one might find in a real medical or pharmacy store! PharmEasy facilitates in the distribution of medications, connects patients with nearby testing facilities, and attends to other medical requirements.
The business has received more than $350 million in funding since its merger with Medlife. PharmEasy was able to get an advantage over rival large e-pharmacy firms like Flipkart and Amazon Pharmacy thanks to the merger. The firm intends to grow by connecting with additional pharmacies and providing coverage for more geographical areas.
4. Digit Insurance
●Head Office: Bengaluru
●Founded Year: 2016
●Founders: Kamesh Goyal, Philip Varghese, Sriram Shankar, and Vijay Kumar
●Total Funding: $585.6M
Digit Insurance, which specialises in general insurance, was established in 2016 by Kamesh Goyal, Philip Varghese, Sriram Shankar, and Vijay Kumar. The startup primarily focuses on the financial and insurance sectors. The Bangalore-based company aims to streamline insurance offerings for all customers while also rethinking the process and redesigning the products. One of their key objectives is to create clear and straightforward insurance solutions that matter to individuals.
Many important accolades have been given to Digit Insurance, including Hottest Startup in India in 2019 and Asia’s Best General Insurance Business of the Year in 2019. Even though the insurance business as a whole was having trouble, the startup was nevertheless able to expand by 30% in 2020. As it was able to offer illness insurance, its popularity skyrocketed.
5. Meesho
●Head Office: Bengaluru
●Founded Year: 2015
●Founders: Sanjeev Barnwal and Vidit Aatrey
●Total Funding: $1.1B
Today, you may start a business from the convenience of your own home. Meesho, one of the largest and most reliable reseller platforms, makes this procedure considerably simpler and more economical. Sanjeev Barnwal and Vidit Aatrey founded the Bangalore-based firm Meesho in 2015, focusing on the social media and e-commerce sectors.
Meesho, which has a rough estimate of 1000–5000 personnel, is expanding to become a significant eCommerce platform and was valued at more than $2.1 billion.
Meesho works to link buyers and vendors in an online marketplace. By assisting the sellers in areas like logistics, orders, and payments, the business also makes the process simpler for the vendors.
6. Groww
●Head Office: Bengaluru
●Founded Year: 2017
●Founders: Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, Lalit Keshre, and Neeraj Singh
●Total Funding: $251
The startup Groww was established in 2017 in Bangalore by Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, Lalit Keshre, and Neeraj Singh. Groww was created by the company’s founders with the intention of being accessible online and on mobile devices. After learning how challenging it was for the average Indian citizen to invest, the startup’s founders had an idea.
People of various ages now have the possibility to invest their money thanks to Groww. According to the founders, more than 60% of consumers are from smaller cities where they have never made an investment before.
The firm joined the unicorn club in 2021 after raising over $83 million. Groww is one of the top companies in India to work for since the business is eager to put its profits towards developing new goods and hiring fresh personnel.
7. Nykaa
●Head Office: Mumbai
●Founded Year: 2012
●Founders: Falguni Nayar
●Total Funding: $215.4M
Nykaa is a Mumbai-based firm that was established in 2012 by Falguni Nayar. It is an online retailer of wellness and beauty products that offers reasonably priced, high-quality products to its clients.
The business is today worth over $2.1 billion, and Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif are among its notable investors. According to the company’s current course, it expects to raise more than $3.5 billion over the next few years. It fulfils approximately 1.5 million orders each month from its more than 55 retail locations.
With over 5 million active users each month, Nykaa offers 500 unique brands across all of its online and physical storefronts. With Nykaa Fashion, where it offers its clients clothing and accessories, it has also extended its business.
8. Udaan
●Head Office: Bengaluru
●Founded Year: 2016
●Founders: Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar, and Vaibhav Gupta
●Total Funding: $1.6B
Udaan is yet another Bangalore-based startup with a focus on eCommerce, retail, business development, and, most importantly, the B2B industries. It was founded in 2016 by Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar, and Vaibhav Gupta. It is a platform that links companies to facilitate collaboration and networking between producers, traders, retailers, and wholesalers.
Numerous well-known brands, such as Boat Lifestyle and ITC, have joined Udaan. Almost 3 million consumers from 900 various cities in India are now using the startup. In the shortest amount of time, Ut became a unicorn in 2018. It is now worth over $3.1 billion and has just recently raised over $280 million with the aid of its investors.
9. Dream11
●Head Office: Mumbai
●Founded Year: 2008
●Founders: Bhavit Sheth and Harsh Jain
●Total Funding: $1.6B
Dream11 is a Mumbai-based fantasy sports website that was established in 2008. Users of Dream11 can participate in fantasy sports like football, hockey, and cricket, to name a few. It was the first unicorn fantasy sports platform in India, founded by Bhavit Sheth and Harsh Jain, and has raised over $400 million.
The firm is worth more than $5 billion and has experienced a phenomenal growth of more than 230 percent in recent years.
Dream11 has more than 100 million users as a result of the youth of the nation’s widespread interest in sports. The organisation needed more than three years to reach the one million user threshold.
10. Swiggy
●Head Office: Bengaluru
●Founded Year: 2014
●Founders: Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini, and Sriharsha Majety
●Total Funding: $2.9B
Founded in 2014 by Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini, and Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy is a platform for meal delivery. Swiggy was founded in Bangalore and is presently active in over 27 cities, serving more than 40.000 eateries in total.
The company has recently raised over $800 million in capital and has a market value of over $5 billion. Swiggy makes sure to give one of the best customer service experiences while concentrating on the restaurant and delivery sectors.
It is without a doubt one of the top startups in India because it managed to expand while other businesses like Foodpanda were having trouble, challenging the well-established Zomato at the time.
In 2023, the top 3 most profitable Indian startups to watch
1. Zoho Corp.
●Head Office: Chennai
●Founded Year: 1996
●Founders: Sridhar Vembu, Tony Thomas
●Total Funding: $0
An international technology company established in India called Zoho Corporation creates web-based business tools. The company’s online office suite, Zoho Office Suite, is its most well-known product. Tony Thomas and Sridhar Vembu launched the business, which has seven locations, in 1996. Its corporate offices are located outside of Austin in Del Valle, Texas, while its worldwide headquarters are in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Radha Vembu, Shridhar Vembu’s sister, is the company’s largest shareholder.
Total Profit in FY22: Rs 1962 Crore
2. Zerodha
●Head Office: Bengaluru
●Founded Year: 2010
●Founders: Nithin Kamath, Nikhil Kamath
●Total Funding: $0
In order to make stock investment simple and painless, India’s largest stockbroking platform was introduced in 2010.
Without ever soliciting outside funding or advertising their goods, Zerodha has successfully changed the whole stock trading sector on their own. For each intraday trade, Zerodha now costs its clients merely Rs 20 (or 0.03% in commission, whichever is smaller).
Zerodha ranked second among the most profitable startups in India, according to reports.
Total Profit in FY22: Rs 1841 Crore
3. Mu Sigma
●Head Office: Bangalore
●Founded Year: 2004
●Founders: Dhiraj Rajaram
●Total Funding: $211.4 Million
Indian decision sciences firm Mu Sigma specialises in offering data analytics services. The statistical terms “Mu ()” and “Sigma (),” which stand for the mean and standard deviation of a probability distribution, respectively, are the source of the company’s name. Mu Sigma has a main office in Chicago, Illinois, and a global delivery hub there as well.
Dhiraj Rajaram, a former strategy consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Booz Allen Hamilton, created Mu Sigma in 2004. In 2008, FTVentures invested $30 million in Mu Sigma as part of its first institutional investment round (now FTV Capital). Sequoia Capital gave the business an additional $25 million in April 2011. The business disclosed a $108 million fundraising round from Sequoia and growth investor General Atlantic in December 2011.
Mu Sigma passed the $1 billion (Rs. 5,400 crores) milestone in February 2013 thanks to a $45 million investment from MasterCard.
Pat Ryan, the founder of Aon Corp, sued the company in the beginning of 2016, claiming that Mu Sigma had minimised its growth prospects in order to repurchase Ryan’s stock in the business.
Rajaram took over as CEO in October 2016 when Ambiga Subramanian, who had been the CEO at the time, and Rajaram divorced.
Reports place Mu Sigma third among the most profitable startups in India.
Total Profit in FY22: Rs 463 Crore
