Record unicorns
India has generated a record 44 unicorns in 2021, taking the overall number of unicorns in India to 83. Of this, most belong to the services sector. According to the Economic survey, India has over 61,400 startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with at least 14,000 recognised during the financial year 2022. It also said that 555 districts in India had at least one new startup.
Going by this, almost 75% districts of the country are likely to be having at least one startup each.”During 2021, the government recognised over 14,000 new startups as compared to only 733 new startups during 2016-17. As a result, more than 61,400 startups have been recognised in India as of January 10, 2022,” the survey said.
The survey says that with 44 unicorns India becomes the third largest country in number of unicorns. It overtook the UK to emerge third after the US and China which added 487 and 301 unicorns respectively in 2021. Unicorns are startups that achieve a valuation of $1 billion.
Startup Inc begins year with a bang
According to Economic Times, Indian startups snagged record investments of up to $3.5 billion across 130 deals through January. This marked a decadal high amid a downturn in global markets, signaling sustained investor interest in the country’s booming startup ecosystem.
The brisk pace, which has seen over four deals a day and over $115 million in daily inflows in disclosed deal value comes at a time when the private equity and venture capital industry was bracing for a slower 2022 based on global and domestic cues, the ET reported.
According to the data, the total disclosed deal value in January is six times higher than the same month last year, which saw 75 deals with disclosed value of $600 million while in January 2020, Indian startups sealed 65 deals with disclosed value of $1 billion.
Listed on stock exchange
In December, VCCircle had reported that all unicorns of 2021, put together, had raised over $12.7 billion.
The survey further said that many startups and unicorns, especially new-age technology companies, also got listed on the stock exchanges during the year. In April-November 2021, Rs 89,066 crore were raised via 75 initial public offerings (IPOs), much higher than in any year in the last decade.
“The exuberance associated with the listings manifested in huge oversubscriptions by retail, High net worth Individuals (HNIs) and institutional investors and stellar listing gains have pushed more and more companies to tap the markets. The tremendous response by all categories of investors in IPOs of companies was reflective of not only the confidence in markets, but also that in corporate sector performance and prospects of the economy in the long run,” the Survey said.
Delhi replaces Bengaluru as startup capital
“Over the recent years, Delhi has replaced Bangalore [Bengaluru] as the startup capital of India. Over 5,000 recognised startups were added in Delhi while 4,514 startups were added in Bangalore between April 2019 to December 2021,” the Economic Survey said.
The survey also revealed that Maharashtra has the highest number of recognised startups.
