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In the venture capital industry, the term unicorn refers to any startup that reaches the valuation of $1 billion.
Recently, SaaS platform LeadSquared becomes unicorn raised USD $153m in the Series C funding.
We often talk about unicorns like Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat & Pinterest but little do we discuss what does unicorn exactly mean. Ever wondered why some startups given this title? What are the criteria to get this title? Or have you just wondered, how to be a unicorn?
If yes, this guide is for you.
Read further to know all things unicorn!
What is a unicorn Startup? – Meaning
In the venture capital industry, the term unicorn refers to any startup that reaches the valuation of $1 billion.
The term was first coined by Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy ventures when she referred to the 39 startups that had a valuation of over $1 billion as unicorns. The term initially was used to lay emphasis on the rarity of such startups. The definition of a unicorn startup has remained unchanged since then. However, the number of unicorns have gone up.
Features of a unicorn startup
To be a unicorn is no cakewalk and each unicorn today has its own story with a list of features that worked in its favour. We have listed down a few pointers that are commonly seen across all the unicorns:
- Disruptive innovation: Mostly, all the unicorns have brought a disruption in the field they belong to. Uber, for example, changed the way people commuted. Airbnb changed the way people planned their stay while travelling and Snapchat disrupted the usage of the social media network etc.
- The ‘firsts’: It is seen that unicorns are mostly the starters in their industry. They change the way people do things and gradually create a necessity for themselves. They are also seen to keep innovation up and running to stay ahead of competitors which might later boom.
- High on tech: Another common trend across unicorns is that their business model runs on tech. Uber got their model accepted by crafting a friendly app. Airbnb made the world seem smaller by making the best of the world wide web.
A recent report suggests that 87% of the unicorns products are software, 7% are hardware and the rest 6% are other products & services.
- Consumer-focused: 62% of the unicorns are B2C companies. Their goal is to simplify and make things easy for consumers and be a part of their day to day life. Keeping things affordable is another key highlight of these startups. Spotify, for example, made listening to music easier to the world.
- Privately owned: Most of the unicorns are privately owned which gets their valuation bigger when an established company invests in it.
According to CB Insights, there are 361 private companies around the world valued at over $1 billion. India has 16 of these companies, taking 4 percent of the overall share. Also, India is just a shade below the UK, which has 19 unicorns with 5 percent overall share.
Can only a startup be a unicorn?
The answer is yes. Unicorn is a term given only to ‘startups’ who have a valuation of over a billion. The startups that exceed the valuation of $10 billion are grouped under the term called decacorn (a super unicorn). Dropbox, SpaceX and WeWork are some of the examples of decacorn.
For the startups based out of Canada, there is an exclusive term for what we call a unicorn. It is ‘narwhal’. This means that any Canadian startup company with a valuation of over $1 billion is called a narwhal. Hootsuite and Wattpad are two examples of Narwhal companies.
Also read: How to register a start-up in India
List of unicorn startups in India
Flipkart: Founded in 2007 and listed under one of the largest e-commerce brands across India, Flipkart is a success story of two friends, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. Amongst all the other e-commerce startups in India, Flipkart stands way ahead with the current valuation of more than $15.5 billion.
PayTM: Founded by Vijay Shekhar in 2010, PayTM is owned by One97 Communications, founded in 2010, when mobile had just entered the life of common man in India. Gradually One97 Communications moved from mobile top-up service to bus and train ticket booking, bill payment enabler to a full-fledged payment service provider for businesses and was named PayTM. With the current day valuation of around $2 billion, PayTM has certainly come a long way.
Razorpay: A Bangalore based fintech startup, founded by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, has recently secured $100 million in Series D funding led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, along with Sequoia & our existing investors Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, Y-Combinator and Matrix Partners and entered the unicorn club. They started the company with a simple vision of helping every business accept digital payments and over the years, they have made huge strides towards making it a reality.
Meesho: Founded by Sanjeev and Aatrey Barnwal in 2015, Meesho provides a reselling platform for small and medium businesses that allow them to start their online venture through social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The Bangalore-based company has supposedly registered 100K registered suppliers to over 26K postal codes across 4000+ cities, generating over INR 500 Cr (US $68 million at current conversion rate) in income for individual entrepreneurs.
PharmEasy: PharmEasy was founded by Dhaval Shah and Dharmil Sheth in 2015, and it provides a whole suite of services such as sample collections for diagnostic tests, teleconsultation, medicine deliveries, etc. It also provides a solution for pharmacies to use procurement combined with delivery and logistics support. So far, PharmEasy has connections with over 60K brick-and-mortar pharmacies and 4K doctors in 16K postal codes across India.
CRED: Founded by Kunal Shah in 2018, the Bangalore-based fintech startup entered the unicorn club at a whopping valuation of $2.2 Bn. CRED is a members-only club that rewards individuals for their timely credit card bill payments by providing them enticing offers and access to high-quality experiences. It is a platform that allows credit card users to manage multiple cards along with an analysis of their credit score as well.
Urban Company: Founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan – Urban Company is an all-in-one platform that helps users hire premium service professionals, from masseurs and beauticians to sofa cleaners, carpenters, and technicians. Urban Company has built a network of 40,000+ trained service professionals and has served over 5 million customers across major metropolitan cities around the world.
Zeta: Founded by Ramki Gaddipati and Bhavin Turakhia in 2015, Zeta entered the unicorn club in 2021, after raising $250 Mn in its Series C funding round. Zeta offers a neo-banking platform for the issuance of credit, debit, and prepaid products that allow companies to launch engaging retail and corporate products. Furthermore, Zeta offers digitized solutions to enterprises in the need of automation.
BharatPe: The company was founded in 2018 by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani. BharatPe launched India’s first UPI QR code for merchants, and it has now expanded into other financial services. Currently serving over 50 lakh merchants across 35 cities in India, BharatPe is a leader in UPI offline transactions.
Mindtickle: Mindtickle provides a data-driven solution for sales readiness and enablement that accelerates revenue growth and brand loyalty. With Mindtickle, revenue and sales leaders can continually assess, diagnose and develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to effectively engage buyers, accelerate sales, and drive growth.
The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India has impacted the way start-ups operate today. Through GST, many indirect taxes have been scrubbed off and are clubbed together under one umbrella. Hence, there are some GST rules for startups that have to be followed to bring compliance relief and other advantages for such companies.
Also Read: Announcing Razorpay’s $100 Million Series D Funding
Unicorn’s companies in 2022
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In conclusion
The word ‘unicorn’ has come a long way from just being a mythological creature to a regular feature in business and finance discussions. Today, unicorn companies have attained recognition and made a place for themselves in the market. That said, it is not necessary that every unicorn will end up being a successful startup. The point is, any startup mustn’t stop hustling after touching a milestone.
Hope this article helps you connect the dots to execute all that you have been planning!
FAQ’s of Unicorn company
How many unicorns are there in India 2022?
India has created 18 unicorns in the first quater of 2022.
Which is India’s first unicorn startup?
InMobi is the India’s first unicorn startup.
Is Zerodha a unicorn?
Yes, Zerodha entered the unicorn club in the year 2020.
