If we take a trip down the memory lane of the year that has gone by, the growing billion dollar club in the country is certainly worth remembering. After almost a lull for two years, India seems to have produced Unicorns at an unprecedented pace in 2018. The years 2016 and 2017 together saw only three companies crossing the billion dollar valuation mark, but a revived optimism among investors in 2018 took this number to five. Now, the total count of tech companies, which have achieved Unicorn status in the country stands at 14, according to data from CB Insights.
As of August 2018, there were more than 260 unicorns around the world. Variants include a decacorn, valued at over $10 billion, and a hectocorn, valued at over $100 billion. United States leads the pack and harbours 150 tech start-ups with valuations of over $1 billion, followed by China (83) and India.
The story, however, does not end here. The average time taken to attain a unicorn status has also come down in the country. As the per the industry body Nasscom it has come down to 5-7 years. According to calculations based on the data collated from Tracxn Technologies Private Limited, the average time taken to attain a billion dollar valuation by Indian companies in 2018 was approximately 5.6 years compared to an average of around 11.3 years in 2015.
The Indian start-up landscape has changed significantly over the past five years with over 7,000 start-ups incepted during 2013-18, registering a growth of 12-15 per cent. According a recent report by Nasscom, over 1,200 start-ups were added in 2018. In the year 2018 (year-to-date) Indian companies saw a funding (excluding debt, grant and post IPO rounds) of $11,681.3 million in 1,091 rounds compared to $14,516 million in 2017.
We hope more companies join the Unicorn club next year.
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