SME Times News Bureau | 06 May, 2022
The
wave of Unicorns in India has soared to new heights as the country
witnessed the birth of its 100th Unicorn on 2nd May 2022. Today, 1 out
of every 10 unicorns globally have been born in India.
Union
Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal highlighted the achievement
in a tweet.
The
term ‘Unicorn’ refers to the rarest of the rare startups who become
Unicorns attaining a valuation of more than USD 1 billion. The Indian
Startup Ecosystem, the third-largest in the world in number of Unicorns,
as of 5th May 2022, is home to 100 unicorns with a total valuation of
USD 332.7 billion.
2021
experienced a huge surge in the number of unicorns, registering a total
of 44 startups entering the Unicorn club through the year with a total
valuation of USD 93 billion.
In the first four months of 2022, India has given birth to 14 unicorns with a total valuation of USD 18.9 billion.
The
entrepreneurial spirit exists throughout the length and breadth of the
country and is evident by the spread of the Department for Promotion of
Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recognized startups across 647
Indian districts encompassing all 36 States and Union Territories.
Since
the launch of the Startup India initiative on 16th January 2016, more
than 69,000 startups have been recognized in the country till 2nd May
2022.
Innovation in India is not just limited to certain sectors; we
have recognized startups solving problems in 56 diverse sectors with 13%
from IT services, 9% healthcare and life sciences, 7% education, 5%
professional and commercial services, 5% agriculture, and 5% food &
beverages, he said.
While
every startup has its unique journey to becoming a unicorn, the minimum
and maximum time taken by a startup to become a unicorn in India are 6
months and 26 years, respectively.
Till FY 2016-17, approximately one
unicorn was being added every year. Over the past four years (since FY
2017-18), this number has been increasing exponentially, with a whopping
66% Year-on-Year growth in the number of additional unicorns being
added every year.
As
we hit the milestone of a century in Indian unicorns, the homegrown
startup ecosystem continues to work effectively towards the mission of
self-reliance and self-sustainability as they have been in the past. The
vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat is rooted deeply in the Startup Ecosystem
and shall continue to prevail in the coming years.
