BENGALURU: This year, more than 50 start-ups have the potential to turn into unicorns, and are likely to take the tally of Indian unicorns beyond 100.
A majority of these 50 start-ups will be from fintech, SaaS (software as a service) and logisticstech space, says a report from PwC.
As many as 11 start-ups in fintech, including Lendingkart, Cleartax, Rupeek, Aye Finance and Mswipe; six start-ups from SaaS, including Yellow.ai and MoEngage; and eight start-ups from Logisticstech- Shiprocket, Zoomcar, Bounce and Dunzo- have the potential to turn into unicorns, as these companies have raised over $100 million till date.
The report adds that five start-ups in healthtech- Practo, Dialhealth, Healthify, MFine and Twin Health-- and five start-ups in e-commerce(B2B) - Ninjacart, Bizongo, DeHaat, Jumbotail and Agrostar - have the potential to join the coveted unicorn club. Zepto, a 10-minute grocery delivery app, and social commerce start-up DealShare are also likely to turn unicorns soon.
Last week, during the inaugural session of the Startup India Innovation Week, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said that the country’s start-up ecosystem should look to create another 75 unicorns this year.
In 2021, more than 40 start-ups attained unicorn status and had raised aggregated funding of $250-300 million on an average at the time of gaining unicorn status. The unicorn funding round is usually for $100-150 million.
“Applying the same benchmark, companies that have raised more than $100 million till date stand a fair chance of becoming a unicorn in the next funding round - this count works out to 52 as at December 2021,” said the PwC report.
Globally, 2021 saw 510 new unicorns and SaaS (including Artificial Intelligence) is emerging as one of the strongest sectors, as 178 unicorns in 2021 operated in the SaaS space, followed by fintech with 136 unicorns.
Amit Nawka, Partner - Deals & Startups Leader, PwC India, said, “...the base of the companies in the growth stage and late-stage deals have improved significantly in CY21... unicorn tally to go well beyond 100 by the end of 2022.”