Tech30 is now Tech50. For the first time at TechSparks, YourStory presents 50 most promising Indian startups
YourStory presents its annual list of handpicked Tech50 startups, the rising stars in India’s constellation of startups at TechSparks 2021
Over the last 10 years, we at YourStory have been presenting the Tech30 — our specially curated list of India’s top 30 early-stage tech startups. The 300+ Tech30 startups including the likes of , , , , , and among others have, cumulatively, raised growth capital of more than $2 billion, helped create over 31,000 jobs, are totally valued at $6.8 billion+, and have attracted investments from more than 400 investors.
The Indian startup ecosystem has truly come of age. And that was clearly reflected in the quality of applications we received this year for the Tech30 list. From technologies to map space debris and make space flights easier, financially empowering children, providing cleaner air, helping farmers forestall crop loss due to floods and heavy rains, to making news fun for teens, helping businesses create videos using AI, and wearable devices that help you achieve inner peace — the startups in this year’s list are at the cutting edge of technology.
And so for the first time in the history of TechSparks and as a sign of India's burgeoning startup ecosystem, we are proud to present, not Tech30 startups but, Tech50 — our list of 50 of the most innovative, disruptive startups, cutting across sectors and demographics, that we are convinced have the potential to solve problems at scale and redefine the future.
Download YourStory's Tech50 Research Report
This year, our Tech50 was presented in hybrid mode during the Grand Finale of TechSparks 2021 on Saturday, Oct 30. While TechSparks sessions played out on thousands of screens virtually, our Tech50 startups along with many of the founders, investors and other industry stakeholders joined us in-person at Conrad Bengaluru for the Grand Finale in Bengaluru to meet with and undertake our journey in enabling our Tech50 startups.
Indeed, that is precisely what Tech50 is all about. Spotlighting and empowering the freshest crop of early-stage tech startups that will go on to become the next generation of changemakers. Being at the forefront of reporting innovations and technological advancements in India, YourStory aims to help these startups achieve their dreams by giving them a platform to tell their stories, meet investors, collaborate with ecosystem experts and enterprises, raise funding, and take their startups to the next level.
Here are some interesting facts and figures about our Tech50 applicants:
- One of the more encouraging statistics to emerge this year was that the majority of the applicants (54 percent) were bootstrapped while almost 40 percent of the companies are in the range of pre-Seed to early stage.
- It is also interesting to see that close to 50 percent (47.92 percent to be exact) of the Tech50 applicant startups have pivoted their business model after their launch. Of these, 28.19 percent pivoted one time, 12.88 percent pivoted two times, while 6.84 percent pivoted three or more times.
- A majority of the Tech50 applicants (67.5 percent) have team size of less than 20. Also, it is encouraging to see that 38.82 percent of the Tech50 applicants have already floated ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans) at their companies.
- This year’s startups have been handpicked from over 1500+ applications. It was heartening to see startups headquartered in Tier II cities like Jaipur, Indore, Coimbatore, Surat, Nagpur and Lucknow making it to the top 15.
- It’s encouraging to note that the maximum applicants to Tech50 2021 have launched their startups in 2020 and 2021— a reassuring statistic for what was a very tough period for most startups.
I urge you to go through all the profiles in detail and get to know these passionate entrepreneurs because they are poised to define the narrative of new India:
AarogyaAI leverages genomics and artificial intelligence to provide a report on the drug susceptibility status of patients and helps start suitable treatment at the onset of the disease.
Addverb is an intralogistics automation solution provider that automates tasks related to the storage and movement of goods in controlled environments.
Apna is a professional networking and skilling platform for India’s working class. It helps first-time internet users access professional opportunities, collaborate with others, gain new skills, and create communities that motivate them to find jobs.
Bigbox provides hyperlocal shopping experience by enabling face-to-face interaction between sellers and consumers through video. [could not find twitter handle]
Bittron is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency or digital currency designed for the online community. The network aims to process a block every minute, as compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minutes and Litecoin's 2.5 minutes.
Blingg is a subscription-based privileges and commerce platform exclusively for working professionals in India.
BlockSurvey is a decentralised blockchain-powered data collection platform, which enables businesses and individuals to create no-code online forms and surveys with end-to-end encryption.
CellStrat is a global AI-SaaS startup that specializes in developing AI Developer Tools and APIs on the Cloud for thousands of AI developers worldwide.
CustomerGlu is a low code gamification platform that drives retention and engagement for mobile-first businesses using game-like visual experiences.
Defy Aerospace is a drone technology platform for commercial cargo operations. It also aims to protect human lives and focus on the healthcare segment, including delivery of medicine, blood, plasma, disaster relief, etc.
Devic Earth is a green tech company that provides plug-and-play air pollution control equipment for heavy industries, factories, businesses, and outdoor spaces
Digantara is a spacetech startup focused on space surveillance and space situational awareness (SSA), i.e. keeping track of objects in the orbit and predicting where they will be at any given time.
DIY.org is an online social learning platform for children that provides age-appropriate instructional and learning-based content through how-to videos, courses and live workshops to encourage children to explore and develop new skills.
DrapCode helps companies design, build and launch custom web applications without writing a single line of code by providing drag and drop capabilities to build and launch custom web apps.
A B2C, Early stage fintech startup FamPay helps children below the age of 18 assert their own financial independence in a safe, parent-controlled environment.
A mobile-first bookkeeping, lending, and payments platform, GimBooks is enabling Indian SMBs create, share and manage documents, day-to-day purchases, inventories, and more.
GoSat is offering a Bitcoin reward system, which is the simplest Bitcoin on-ramp in India, allowing users to do as they please with their accumulated crypto.
A bootstrapped agritech startup, GreenSat uses satellite imagery and AI/ML to provide precise farming services and an end-to-end support, including banking, market linkages, and crop insurance products.
A B2B service procurement platform, GroCurv uses AI-based algorithms to help SMEs make precise project briefs and source agencies and service providers basis precise matching.
Growfitter offers goal-based premium rewards from consumer health and wellness brands that users can avail of by leading a healthier lifestyle
Hesa stands out for being a one-stop solution for corporates, SMEs, banks, government and NGOs who wish to access rural India.
HyperStealth’s disruptive technology provides stealth features against the entire range of modern warfare sensors, offering adaptability to the surroundings - like a chameleon
A bootstrapped adtech startup Intellemo offers a platform-based model of selling marketing ad posts as a product, instead of customised service
A deeptech service-cum-product based startup, Jamsfy helps startups build fast, SEO optimized, and secured websites using Jamstack and Progressive Web Apps
With intelligent automation, Jidoka offers the software solution - Kompass and trademarked hardware solutions to enhance the quality and efficiency of quality control in manufacturing.
KidEx is building one of the world’s largest experiential learning platforms to supplement children’s school education with skills for future employability.
Marut Drones combines the power of emerging technologies such as drones, IoT and AI with traditional scientific knowledge to create innovative drone solutions for healthcare, environment, afforestation and agriculture.
A B2B SaaS venture in the media tech space Mogi offers an umbrella of products and services under video tech, image tech and while label solutions.
MOJOPAQ is a techware venture and an innovation house disrupting the smartphone charging space with innovative global first products.
Multipl is a Plan Now, Pay Smarter app that lets you save for your upcoming spends and get 5X more value for money.
Neokred is a fintech infrastructure startup that empowers corporates, fintechs and startups in any industry to pioneer their own banking services with the help of Neokred’s NeoBox.
Neuphony uses non-invasive brain-computer interface technology to analyse brain activity with its EEG headband and a mobile application.
Neurostellar addresses problems related to misdiagnosis of epilepsy. Its smart medical-grade wearable EEG is equipped to monitor a patient’s brain, detect and classify epileptic seizures.
Nyus Media Private Ltd turns news items into memes to make it interesting for teenagers and young people. Its target audience is the age group of 13 to 24 years.
OneCode is a tech enabled distribution platform for products that require education and training.
Pretture is known for its real-time and user-friendly smart cloud solution for brands, manufacturers and retailers - a SaaS platform to easily manage their end to end workflow as per their business.
Rackpiper Technology Inc is an API and logical components/microservices/systems marketplace for developers and tech companies.
ReshaMandi is a B2B marketplace digitizing the natural silk supply chain, providing a full-stack digital ecosystem in the form of a super app, starting from farm to retail.
Share At Door Step (SADS) is a cause-commerce platform, which allows users to donate goods effortlessly and earn rewards. Its core lies in turning “preloved” to “re-loved”.
SmartClean Technologies is a B2B proptech startup, building IoT and AI-powered intelligent cleaning management systems.
STAGE is a dialect based, hyperlocal OTT providing entertainment content in Indian dialects such as Haryanvi, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Bundelkhandi etc.
Subtl.ai creates cognitive bots that can parse through PDFs and create knowledge bases to help users.
TENTO is a knowledge-based game platform that rewards new-age users for “answering correctly and also contributing questions”.
Greenovative Foods Pvt Ltd, which owns The Green Meat™, is developing a “guilt-free” plant-based meat product. The Green Meat will use efficient texturisation technology to create a preservative-free and 100% plant-based meat substitute
Toch.ai’s AI platform combines technologies such as Machine Learning, Analytics, and Big Data to create new assets - especially videos - from existing content.
Upscale is a sales engagement platform that automates sales outreach using multiple channels like email, phone calls, LinkedIn, SMS, and more. The B2B sales engagement startup empowers sales reps to book more meetings faster and maximise revenue growth.
Uznaka designs electric vehicle charging stations and provides last mile mobility.
Vibranium is a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace where artists can sell and purchase NFTs. Its creator-centric NFT marketplace is based on Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
Xane AI is an AI platform helping businesses reduce cost to service and increase user retention through DIY diagnostics, using computer vision and natural language processing (NLP).
Zippy Fitness is building a metaverse for runners by combining the principles of gametech and deep tech to offer users a running experience that is as immersive as playing a console game.
