Unicorns have created $106-bn value for startup ecosystem in 10 yrs: Report

A decade since India saw the creation of its first unicorn, the 44 startups that have reached this milestone have created $106 billion in value for the Indian ecosystem. Having created over 1.4 million jobs annually, Indian startups have taken eight years on an average to hit the unicorn milestone, according to a report by early-stage VC fund Orios Venture Partners.

The trend that is noticeable here is that time has been reducing, as founders with prior founding or startup experience are coming into play. Startups like Naukri.com and MakeMyTrip, which had been founded before 2005, have taken over 14 years to achieve that status, while Zomato, Flipkart and Policy Bazaar (2007-2009) have taken almost 8.7 years. Nykaa and OYO (2012-13) have taken even less time at 5.8 years, while Udaan and Ola Electric (2016-17) have taken only three years to achieve that status.

“Most of these startups are backed by technology and that is the key differentiating factor between unicorns of the 21st century vs those of the prior era. We are proud to be associated with three unicorns Ola, Druva and Pharmeasy since their early days and look forward to being part of another three-five unicorns over the next few years,” said Rehan Yar Khan, managing partner, Orios Venture Partners.

While fintech has seen the highest number of unicorns, retail and Saas are a close second. Other segments include logistics, data analytics, travel, food and gaming. About 86 per cent of unicorn founders are engineers with the highest number of them belonging to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), according to the report.