YourStory presents Unicorns of India — a real-time data-driven platform

Good Morning,

India’s year of unicorns, 2021 saw the number of startups crossing the billion-dollar valuation mark touch 42, breaking all records. Total active unicorns in the country more than doubled from 33 between 2011 and 2020 to 75 (as of December 2021) — holding a cumulative valuation of over $196 billion.

Recognising India's unicorn boom, YourStory has launched India's first real-time data-driven research platform — ‘Unicorns of India’.

The product leverages a decade of data tracked by YourStory to offer sharp business insights that map the transformation of India’s most valuable startups into global stakeholders.

“With the Indian startup ecosystem growing leaps and bounds, the yardstick of its growth is also moving beyond the summation of deal values and deal counts to a more holistic lens," says Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, commenting on the launch. "As India's largest platform for startups, we are proud to take the narrative forward.”

For more analysis around India's startup unicorns, click here to explore YourStory's Unicorns of India.

The Interview

In 2016, Ujjwal Jain founded the platform to build a Unified Wealth Interface (UWI) for the asset and wealth management ecosystem on top of broking.

In a conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO, YourStory, Ujjwal talks about how WealthDesk's journey started, its curated portfolios WealthBaskets, how WealthDesk bootstrapped because patient capital was needed to achieve the patient UWI vision, and more.

Editor’s Pick: Third Wave Coffee

Founded by Ayush Bathwal, Anirudh Sharma, and Sushant Goel in 2017, Third Wave Coffee Roasters offers locally-sourced coffee brews and curated food and beverages. In the past 12 months, it has expanded from 10 stores to 35 outlets in Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, and Hyderabad. 

In an interview with YourStory, Sushant Goel, Co-founder and CEO, throws light on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Third Wave Coffee, and how it has planned store expansion across the country despite the uncertainty. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Native marketplace to sell NFTs

Over half-a-million Indian users have shown interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverse projects from the beginning of November till date, according to a new report by DappRadar.

Riding this opportunity, Bengaluru-based Vibranium, which is among YourStory's Tech50 list of most promising early-stage startups, is gaining momentum as one of the fastest-growing marketplaces for artists who can convert their digital artwork into NFTs and can sell them at a fair value. Read more. 

News & Updates

• Infogain acquired Bengaluru-based Nggawe Nirman Technologies (NNT), a cloud-native app development startup that helps clients build platforms. Both NNT and Infogain did not disclose the acquisition size.

• Test preparation platform for government jobs, Adda247 has acquired UPSC focused edtech platform, StudyIQ Education, for around $20 million (around Rs 150 crore) in a cash and stock deal. 

• BYJU'S is in advanced discussions for a public listing in the US in partnership with Michael Klein's special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that could value the Indian edtech giant at $48 billion, sources said. They added that BYJU'S would raise about $4 billion.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the fact that frugality of startups is capable of helping even larger enterprises solve problems across the board.”

— Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO, YourStory

Now get the Daily Capsule in your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter today!