ET SpecialThese startups span diverse sectors, including fintech, healthtech, auto tech, transportation tech, software as a service (Saas), retail tech, real estate tech, media and entertainment. They are poised to achieve the unicorn status in the coming years or during India’s next techade, enabling radical digital transformation, providing cost-effective solutions, and contributing to India’s economic growth by building from India for Bharat and beyond. The Delhi-NCR is home to some of the pioneering category creators and poster children of the Indian startup ecosystem from the e-commerce giant Flipkart to the mobility tech disruptor Ola, the Noida-based Paytm, India’s first fintech unicorn, the Gurugram-based hotel aggregator Oyo, and India’s largest stock brokerage firm, Zerodha, among others. With the Gurugram-based homegrown toxin-free personal care brand Mama Earth’s IPO making headlines in the startup-tech innovation economy, it is only timely that the report delves deep into the richly layered landscape of the Delhi-NCR startup ecosystem, which commands a top spot on NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index. Watch Jeet Vijay, Geetika Dayal and ET Editors launch the ET 30 Future Unicorns of Delhi-NCR report
30 Future Unicorns of Delhi-NCR report: Why it matters
In his opening video address titled ‘ET Soonicorns Summit: Enabling the rise of a resilient startup ecosystem and tracking new frontiers of growth’, Satyan Gajwani, Vice Chairman of Times Internet, noted that the ET Soonicorns Summit 2023, with its theme of ‘Resilience. Reset. Results.’ isn’t just an event. He acknowledged the extensive research and effort invested by the Economic Times team to ensure the summit’s productivity and its role as a platform for valuable conversations. “We also publish our soonicorns report at this event, which is useful and valuable for players in both the public and the private sectors to learn from the (existing) state of our economy and the state of the industry as it stands today,” said Gajwani.
Meanwhile, in his inaugural keynote address titled ‘Startup20 Vision: Enabling Indian startups to become the engine for global economic growth,’ Jeet Vijay, CEO of MEITY Startup Hub, lauded the initiative of the ET Soonicorns Summit, highlighting how the public and the private sectors must collaborate to strengthen the Indian startup ecosystem.
Vijay shed light on how the government is looking at resilience, reset, and results — the words that the summit positioned as being reflective of the current state, thrust and tone of the Indian startup ecosystem — through its macroeconomic policies, practices, processes, and a people-focused inclusive growth model. In fact, he highlighted that accessibility, availability and affordability are the three pillars that are driving the nation’s vision to accelerate sustainable growth of the Indian economy.
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Vijay also presented the broader outlook that defines the context of reset for startups, as they have been navigating a challenging journey, shifting from valuations to value creation amid a tough funding winter. He highlighted how most startups became unicorns in 2020 and 2021 owing to the digital opportunities that the pandemic unlocked, prompting a realisation of the immense power of digital technologies in providing resources and services to underserved customers across the length and breadth of India. This triggered an overall shift in the startup model, from achieving valuations regardless of high costs of customer acquisition and negative EBITDA to a value-creation centric model with resilient growth and profitability in focus. The CEO of MEITY Startup Hub urged founders to recognise the power of a stellar product and the solution it offers, be it in terms of patented technology, or a last-mile delivery focused solution at a cost which competitors would find it hard to replicate, among others. The word ‘reset,’ in this context, signifies being invested in long-term value creation, which would pave the way for building lasting businesses of the future. Meanwhile, painting a compelling vision for the deeptech sector was Geetika Dayal, Executive Director of TIE Delhi-NCR, the subsequent keynote speaker. During her inaugural keynote address titled ‘India’s deeptech startup opportunity: Enabling the rise of Future Unicorns from Sunrise Sectors,’ Dayal said, “When I talk of the deep tech ecosystem, and how the soonicorn or unicorn journey for deeptech is starting, it almost evokes a sort of a retro- futuristic feeling. We’ve all seen things like flying objects, time travel and tele transponders in sci-fi movies and books…which seemed like human superpowers. However…it is because of deeptech that many such things have become a reality today, from the smartphone that we hold in our hands to the optical fibres that are laid under the ocean, the laptops we work on, even the way we consume energy…so many things which we take for granted today are actually things that we had never thought of or dreamed of before.” She highlighted that it has only been possible because of deeptech-enabled innovations, and not just now but even earlier as well when deeptech was not necessarily known by this catchphrase. It has been possible primarily because of passionate entrepreneurs — whose ventures were not yet termed as startups — who were so passionate about the technology they were building that they just went along with it.
Going forward, food security, agri tech, defence, climate tech and healthtech are some of the sectors that would rely heavily on deeptech to build for the digital economy, according to Dayal. For instance, talking about the future of the healthtech sector, she emphasised how deeptech will be pivotal for bringing in solutions for patient-centric Alzherimer’s treatment and more accessible and affordable alternatives to chemotherapy in cancer care.
“I think 2022 was a watershed year for deeptech startups. The next five years will hopefully give us almost 10 startups from within the deeptech sector itself,” said the Executive Director of TIE Delhi-NCR, cautioning that deeptech is not an overnight success. “It takes time, one needs to really be passionate about it, (one needs) the time to be able to test it, the ability to be able to commercialise it, build IPs around it, and then take it forward in terms of building in India for the world; all of that is a challenging scenario,” she added.
She also had a word of wisdom for venture capitalists (VCs) and investors: While it may take patient capital, in some cases, deeptech startups might not be able to give a return on investment (ROI) in the typical five-year phase that VCs are used to. On the greener side, while a deeptech startup might take longer to give ROI the kind of IP phase and the kind of risk that it must have mitigated in the earlier period are actually likely to yield higher returns for a longer period of time. So, investors should realise this potential, and accordingly display a commitment to invest in companies that can make a larger difference.
Similarly, Dayal left startup founders with some food for thought too. “I think from the perspective of unicorn and other startup founders, the important thing is to be focused on what difference you’re making in the world, because it is not just about an idea… It’s about realising that what you’re doing has meaning…”
Read the full ET 30 Future Unicorns of Delhi-NCR report here
Key takeaways from the Future Unicorns report
As of February 28, 2023, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) officially recognised over 92,000 startups in India, securing its position as the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem.
The ET 30 Future Unicorns of Delhi-NCR report builds on the success of its predecessor, the ET 50 Future Unicorns of Karnataka report, which was launched during the Bengaluru edition of the ET Soonicorns Summit 2023. While Karnataka with its vibrant global tech-hub aura further augmented by its rich legacy of being the original startup capital of India and Bengaluru — better known as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ — continue to take the lead in the Indian startup ecosystem, the story of Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) unfolds with its own narrative of daring ambitions, relentless passion and new-age spirit of innovation. A melting pot of diverse communities, cultures and sentiments, the Delhi-NCR startup ecosystem mirrors multiple stories of heterogeneous India with its myriad ambitions to be a part of a thriving digital economy and drive socio-cultural change.
The report maps the unique journeys of each of the 30 future unicorns, presenting informative and insightful profiles anchored in the backgrounds of their respective sectors and sub-sectors. Additionally, the report presents a structural analysis of the startups across the parameters of collective valuation and impact, region-wise and sector-wise valuation, total funding raised, top five soonicorns by valuation, a number-wise breakup of business models, an overview of their impact in job creation and growth, and startups founded by women. According to Tracxn data, the top 30 future unicorns of Delhi-NCR have raised a total funding of $2.81 billion*. Stashfin, which has raised total funding of $142 million, is estimated to have the highest valuation of $800 million. Meanwhile, Stanza Living tops the list of top five soonicorns by funding raised with $178 million.
The report also serves as a guiding light to our readers, policymakers, investors and the entire fraternity of innovators and changemakers as the individual and collective growth story of these startups is poised to reshape businesses, products, services and beyond. This also marks a step ahead in the journey towards profitability, paving the path to sustainable growth, tech for good and successful IPOs.
The ET Soonicorns Summit 2023 was co-presented by Persistent – Google Cloud and had myBiz by Makemytrip as the Scaleup Enabler; Persistent – Google Maps as the Associate Partner; SAP India as the Technology Partner; Balancehero India as the Associate Partner; Tracxn as the Research Partner and Kimirica, Deciwood, Boat, Sleepy Owl, Beyond Snack and Jaggic as Gifting Partners.
Watch the full ET Soonicorns Summit 2023 here
For more information on the ET Soonicorns Summit 2023, visit our website.