The leaders from 54 of the 111 unicorns in India, startups valued at over $1 billion, gathered to meet with the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal. The discussion centered around the growth trajectory of India’s startup ecosystem, the significance of domestic capital in supporting and expanding startups, and India’s standing in the global startup landscape.
Among the notable attendees were Vijay Shekhar Sharma, (Founder of Paytm), Rikant Pitti, (Co-Founder of EaseMyTrip), Sandeep Aggarwal (Founder of Droom), Deepinder Goyal (Founder of Zomato), Aman Gupta (Co-Founder of BoAt), and representatives from Flipkart, Phonepe, Swiggy, OYO, and Zerodha.
The four-hour meeting aimed to establish a ‘Startup Club of India’ to collectively address concerns with the government and enhance the startup ecosystem in the country.
“An idea was floated by the Minister to make a club of unicorns or association of startups, which was a good idea and we will try to make a club of unicorns or association of startups. With the association of startups, we can also come up with many solutions, like connecting with bankers and investors to get access to capital,” said Vijay Sekhar Sharma in a statement.
“We discussed domestic capital versus international capital and how to deepen the startup ecosystem in the country. We discussed the challenges we are facing. All the founders of Unicorns have made suggestions to the minister. I belong to the travel industry and recently we started a campaign ‘nation first, business later’, we discussed that as well,” EaseMyTrip’s Pitti.
Sanjiv, Joint Secretary, DPIIT, said, “The purpose of this meeting was to improve the startup ecosystem of the country. Unicorn founders are great mentors. We got suggestions from them. With their mentorship, we want to build the number-one startup ecosystem in the world.”
These startups are not just creating innovative solutions and technologies; they are also playing a pivotal role in generating substantial employment opportunities and contributing significantly to the nation’s economic growth. The unicorns are becoming increasingly integral to India’s growth narrative, extending the country’s startup success story on a global scale and drawing attention from investors worldwide to invest in Indian startups.
