Top 10 Innovative Startups That Enormously Extended Their Business In India
Startups are the new calling in today's business world as an effective amalgamation of ideas and growth aspirations. Indeed, a unique concept to grow higher benchmarks the startups of the modern era. Led by innovation and creativity across industries and verticals, Indian startups are here to make a lasting impression. Following is the list of top ten startups in the Indian ecosystem that have transformed the well-established business ideology;
CRED
CRED is a members-only credit card bill payment platform that rewards bill payment, better known for its creative and experimental advertisements featuring cricketers and others. Established in 2018 by Kunal Shah, CRED offers easy and user-friendly unlimited offers to its members and employees. Currently, the company is valued at $2.2 billion.
Unacademy
Today is an era of advanced and e-learning where many new startups are coming with unique offerings. Unacademy is an increasingly popular ed-tech startup founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Raman Saini, Hemesh Singh in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The purpose was to provide suitable studying materials for courses like UPSC, SSC, IIT JEE, CAT, and many more. Mainly recognized by a nickname, “Netflix of Education,” Unacademy today enjoys a valuation of $3.44 billion. The startup is adding more and newer courses to its platform to attract millions of students every year and is supported well by a network of more than 50,000 registered teachers.
upGrad
Another edtech platform, upGrad, is creating a buzz in the list of Indian startups. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company offers advanced upskilling facilities and courses to students and enthusiasts. The purpose is to promote and explore higher education as the company has collaborated with many eminent universities and industry partners. Launched in 2015, the company was led by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, Ravijot Chugh. The company has a valuation of $1.2 billion in August 2021.
Udaan
Udaan Founded in 2016 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, Udaan is an internet portal that enables B2B trading for small and medium businesses. As a network-centric platform, the company currently has a sprawling network of more than 3 million retailers and 30,000 sellers in almost 900 cities of India. It is also believed that Udaan has occupied nearly 80 percent of India’s B2B eCommerce market today. With a valuation of $3 billion, the company was started by Amod Malviya, Vaibhav Gupta, Sujeet Kumar.
Meesho
Meesho vouches for the dreams and aspirations of small and medium businesses by facilitating them with a dependable backup communication channel. Based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, Meesho was started in 2015 by IITians Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Branwal. It is a social eCommerce company that enables entrepreneurs to create their online businesses via social networking platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. Meesho has a valuation of $2.1 billion in April 2021.
Razorpay
Incepted in 2014 by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar in Bengaluru, Karnataka, RazorPay is a payment gateway that facilitates easy online transactions. Especially during the pandemic lockdown, the company recorded processed payments worth $40 billion with month-on-month revenue growth of 40-45 percent. It is counted amongst the most popular payment processing platforms with a current valuation of $3 billion and soon to hit the mark of $4billion anytime.
Licious
Licious made a brand new entry to market fresh meat deliveries to the customers by taking advantage of the D2C strategy. Abhay Anjura and Vivek Gupta founded this Bangalore-based startup, and within no time, they extended their services which led them to be one of the top unicorns from India. It has owned millions of customers by providing fresh, quality meat products and responsive services to date. They plan to uplift their production on overseas markets to reach the D2C target to $100 by 2025.
Skyroot Aerospace
Skyroot Aerospace is a startup headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana, offering reliable space access through advanced construction technologies. Founded by passionate and capable engineers from ISRO’s rocket designing arm, Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, the company is venturing into testing a cryogenic engine that will run on cleaner-burning liquid natural gas. The company has raised a whopping $11 million in Series A funding rounds in May 2021.
AgniKul Cosmos
Agnikul Cosmos, a defense and space startup headquartered in Chennai, Tamilnadu, and started by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM, Satyanaryan Chakravarthy, and Janardhana Raju in 2017. The company is engaged in building launch vehicles to lift small satellites into low earth orbits. In total funding of 4 rounds, the company has raised $14.58 million. The company is gaining popularity for its innovation, cutting-edge technology, and cost-effective ways in the field of defense and space sector.
Urban Company
Started in 2014 by Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra, and Abhiraj Singh Bhalin Gurugram, Haryana, Urban Company is the answer for all your little assistance. Whether you’re looking for cleaning services or want a grooming session at home or any such services, Urban Company is a few clicks away for your needs. Especially during the Corona Pandemic, in-home services are the new way of hope for all users. They offer affordable and safe services in the majority of Indian cities. The company is currently valued at $2.1 billion.
Wrap Up
Indian startups are making waves with their confidence, fruitality of ideas, belief, and insight-to-future. The success of unique thoughts is well-accepted by the Indian business environment as many big business empires are making provisions for supporting young talents and ideas. Even the government is leaving no stone unturned to keep young guns to achieve the unthinkable. So far, 70 companies have achieved the status of unicorns in 2021, which shows the way is bright and shining for startups in the country. It will be worth waiting to witness how startups can bring revolution in the business ecosystem of India.