Startups India 2021 is a story of triumph and Unicorns. As demand for digitization surged exponentially in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, India’s startup ecosystem saw record investment of roughly $ 36 billion in privately held enterprises this year. According to Preqin, a UK-based investment data platform, venture and private equity investments surged thrice throughout the year, from $11 billion in 2020 to $31 billion in 2021.
The sharp surge in valuation of unicorns like Razorpay, Ofbusiness, and Cars24 has been the highlight of this year. Furthermore, the Indian startup ecosystem has created more than 40 unicorns this year.
Web3/crypto, SaaS, direct-to-consumer or D2C brands, finance, business-to-business (B2B) commerce, EdTech, and healthcare are among the leading sectors in 2021. These areas are expected to be good bets again next year, according to investors.
The volume of seed-stage deals dominated this year, with roughly 396 deals totaling $705.86 million, while around 166 series A investments totaled about $1.67 billion, according to data through December 20.
According to Prequin statistics, the majority of the investments were aimed towards pre-IPO fundraising rounds in companies like Zomato, Ola, Policybazaar, and Paytm, with the top 10 deals totaling up to $5.58 billion.
Aside from an increase in the number of deals, Indian entrepreneurs raised larger financing rounds this year than in prior years, as risk capital investors stepped up to take bigger bets on high-growth companies early on. As a result, companies have been able to obtain greater valuations, with prices frequently doubling or tripling in subsequent fundraising rounds.
Startups India 2021: Top funding deals
Among the top deals in this year’s Startups was – Fintech unicorn Razorpay raised $375 million in a Series F round led by Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital, and TCV at a valuation of $7.5 billion.
Ofbusiness raised $325 million from Alpha Wave Ventures, Tiger Global and SoftBank Vision Fund II at a valuation of $5 billion.
Cars24, a marketplace for pre-owned vehicles, raised $400 million in a mix of equity and debt from Alpha Wave Global and others at a valuation of $3.3 billion.
Grocery delivery startup Zepto raised $100 million from Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partner, Glade Brook Capital Partner, and Contrary Capital.
B2B marketplace Jumbotail raised $85M led by Artal Asia Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of global equity investment firm Invus.
Seafood marketplace Captain Fresh raised $40 million from Tiger Global, Prosus Ventures, Accel India, Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, and others.
Cycle maker Ninety One raised $30 million from A91 Partners, Fireside Ventures, Avaana Capital, and Titan Capital.
The Good Glamm Group has invested Rs 100 crore in Sirona Hygiene.
Tech startup Ripplr raised $12 million from Sojitz Corporation, Stride Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Zephyr Peacock India Growth, and others.
India’s startup ecosystem, has built one unicorn after another, is playing a significant part in strengthening the economy of the nation. 2021 has been a record breaking year for the startup funding ecosystem which well and truly has surpassed all projections — both in terms of the number of unicorns and the funding raised.
