Unicorns of 2022: Molbio Diagnostics becomes 23rd startup to enter billion-dollar club this year
As of September 29, 2022, the Indian startup ecosystem has already seen 23 companies enter the coveted billion-dollar unicorn club.
As we near the last quarter of 2022, the Indian startup ecosystem has already added 23 new entrants to the coveted $1 billion valuation club.
This year, the country has seen new unicorns emerging from across sectors— (advanced analytics), (edtech), (HRtech), (social commerce), (blockchain), (home interior and renovation), (B2B ecommerce), (logistics), (conversational AI), (GraphQL developer), (fintech), (mediatech), (fintech), (gaming), (fintech), (edtech), (beauty), (SaaS), (fintech), (blockchain), (logistics), Tata (healthtech), and the latest entrant, (healthtech).
And, there is more to come. According to a PwC report, over 50 Indian startups have the potential to enter the unicorn club—startups valued at over $1 billion each—in 2022.
The year 2021 saw the emergence of 44 startup unicorns against a cumulative number of 33 unicorns from 2011 to 2020.
Given the record-breaking year of 2021, in terms of fund inflow and the emergence of unicorns from the Indian startup ecosystem, 2022 is expected to continue the momentum. Let’s have a look at the 23 unicorns of 2022.
Fractal
Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-founder and Group CEO, Fractal
New York, US, and Mumbai-headquartered artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics solutions provider Fractal, in January, announced raising $360 million from TPG Capital Asia, the Asia-focused private equity platform of global alternative asset firm TPG.
The definitive investment agreement between the parties is expected to close by the first quarter of 2022. According to media reports, Fractal was valued at over $1 billion as part of the funding round.
The current round will take the total equity capital raised by the company to $685 million and see TPG’s Puneet Bhatia and Vivek Mohan join Fractal’s board of directors.
[Funding alert] TPG invests $360M in AI and advanced analytics solutions provider Fractal
LEAD
LEAD co-founders: Smita Deorah and Sumeet Mehta
Edtech startup (previously LEAD School) in January raised Series E funding of $100 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion. The first edtech unicorn of 2022 is also the first school edtech player to enter the coveted club.
The round was led by WestBridge Capital and saw participation from GSV Ventures. The company’s valuation has doubled in the last nine months on the back of strong growth in its operating and financial metrics. The current round is its fifth round of institutional funding since 2017.
LEAD will use the capital to achieve its vision of providing quality affordable education to 25 million+ students, with an annual revenue run-rate of $1 billion. Its immediate focus will be on product and curriculum innovation, growth in its footprint, and hiring top talent across functions.
In the long term, the company plans to go deeper into the country to serve students in lower-fee schools and expand internationally in similar geographies.
[Funding alert] LEAD becomes the first edtech unicorn of 2022 after raising $100M
Darwinbox
Hyderabad-based HRtech startup raised $72 million in a funding round led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), along with participation from existing investors Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia India, Lightspeed India, Endiya Partners, 3One4Capital, JGDEV, and SCB 10X.
The company’s valuation post the Series D round has crossed the $1 billion mark, with the total investment raised thus far crossing $110 million. DealShare has grown 200 percent since its last fundraise from Salesforces Ventures, about a year ago.
Founded in late 2015 by Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Paleti, and Rohit Chennamaneni, Darwinbox aims to use the funds for global expansion by accelerating its platform innovation agenda, strengthening its product, engineering, and customer success teams, along with scaling its go-to-market (GTM) presence in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and MENA (the Middle East and North Africa).
The team added that they aim to take Darwinbox public by 2025.
[Funding alert] Darwinbox turns unicorn; raises $72M in Series D round led by Technology Crossover Ventures
DealShare
Dealshare Founding team
Social commerce platform raised $165 million in the first close of its Series E round from Dragoneer Investments Group, Kora Capital, and Unilever Ventures. Existing investors Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global (Falcon Edge) also participated in the round.
This capital infusion saw DealShare entering the coveted billion-dollar unicorn club after its valuation rose to over $1.6 billion.
Founded in September 2018 by Vineet Rao, Sourjyendu Medda, Sankar Bora, and Rajat Shikhar, three-year-old startup DealShare uses a community-driven approach to offer high-quality, low-priced essentials for mass consumers at competitive prices, especially in Tier II and III cities.
[Funding Alert] DealShare enters unicorn club, raises $165M in Series E round
Polygon
Polygon cofounders (L to R) Anurag Arjun, Sandeep Nailwal and Jaynti Kanani
Ethereum scaling project (previously Matic Network) raised $450 million in its first major VC financing round led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from Tiger Global, SoftBank, Galaxy Digital, Republic Capital, Makers Fund, Alameda Research, Alan Howard, Alexis Ohanian, Steadview Capital, Elevation Capital, Animoca Brands, Spartan Fund, Dragonfly Capital, Variant Fund, and Kevin O’Leary.
The funds will be raised through a private sale of Polygon’s native MATIC token. The Web3 startup's market cap was $14.4 billion at the time of publishing.
In a statement, Polygon claimed the fundraise will allow the team to consolidate its lead in the race to scale Ethereum, obviating the need for alternative blockchains and paving the way for mass adoption of Web3 applications.
Livspace
Omnichannel home interior and renovation platform raised $180 million in Series F round, with KKR participating as the lead investor.
The latest funding round, which elevated Livspace to the coveted unicorn club, also saw participation from existing investors such as Ingka Group Investments (part of the largest IKEA retailer, Ingka Group), Jungle Ventures, Venturi Partners, and Peugeot Investments, among others.
With the funding, Livspace will expand to new markets, focus on brand building in India and Singapore, continue investing in its platform technology and digitally integrated supply chain, and hire, develop, and nurture talent across the board to support both new and existing businesses.
ElasticRun
, a B2B ecommerce startup that supplies goods to kiranas, raised $300 million in its Series E funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation from investors such as SoftBank and Goldman Sachs. Existing investor Prosus Ventures also took part in the round, the startup said.
ElasticRun will use the capital to expand and grow its operations. It may close the Series E round with a much higher capital infusion if it receives any more interest till March 21, when the subscription ends, according to its filing.
Founded by Sandeep Deshmukh, Saurabh Nigam, and Shitiz Bansal in 2016, ElasticRun operates in over 300 cities in India and works with over 125,000 retail outlets. It helps kiranas place bulk orders for goods online, as well as provides an analytics and aggregation platform.
[Funding alert] Logistics startup ElasticRun raises $40M led by Prosus Ventures
Xpressbees
Third-party logistics provider raised $300 million in a Series F funding round at a valuation of $1.2 billion. The round was led by private equity funds Blackstone Growth, TPG Growth, and ChrysCapital. Existing investors, Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners, also participated in the latest round.
With this round, the total amount of capital raised by Xpressbees exceeds $500 million. Avendus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Xpressbees on this transaction.
Xpressbees, in a statement, said it will use the fresh capital to become a full-service logistics organisation, support the business in its next phase of growth, product development, and hire talent.
Uniphore
Uniphore founders: Ravi Saraogi (left) and Umesh Sachdev
, a Chennai- and California-based conversational automation startup, raised $400 million in a Series E round of funding.
The round, which brings Uniphore’s total funding to more than half a billion ($610 million), is led by American venture capital (VC) firm NEA and raises the company’s valuation to $2.5 billion.
VC and growth equity firm March Capital and other existing investors along with new entities also chipped in.
[Funding alert] Uniphore raises $140M in Series D round led by Sorenson Capital Partners
Hasura
, a GraphQL developer startup, raised $100 million in a Series C funding round led by Greenoaks.
The latest round brings the total capital raised by Hasura to $136.5 million and the startup's valuation to $1 billion, making this startup the tenth unicorn of the year. Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Vertex Ventures also chipped in, according to a statement.
Hasura claims its solution has been downloaded more than 400 million times and has earned more than 25,000 GitHub stars since its introduction in 2018.
[Tech 30] The journey of Hasura, from a food delivery app to a platform that helps developers build apps
CredAvenue (now Yubi)
Gaurav Kumar, Founder and CEO, CredAvenue
Chennai-headquartered debt marketplace for enterprises (now Yubi) raised $137 million in a Series B round of funding, catapulting it to the famed startup unicorn club. The round, led by Insight Partners, B Capital Group, and Dragoneer Investment Group, valued the company at $1.3 billion post-money, a 3X jump from its $410-million valuation in September 2021.
Incorporated in 2021 by Gaurav Kumar and Vineet Sukumar as a subsidiary of financial services marketplace , CredAvenue will nearly double the pool of capital for Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to Rs 500 crore across two separate programmes, Co-founder and CEO of CredAvenue, Gaurav Kumar told YourStory.
The startup claims to work with over 2,300 corporates and connects them to over 750 lenders. It has a loan book of over Rs 90,000 crore.
Amagi
Cloud-based SaaS technology company raised $95 million in a funding round led by Accel with participation from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners and Avataar Ventures.
This latest investment brings Amagi’s valuation to more than $1 billion, making it a unicorn and one of the highest-valued media-tech companies worldwide.
The startup has also announced a 108 percent annual growth in revenue.
This funding will enable the company to accelerate business expansion, both in terms of Amagi's international footprint and its product portfolio in the current media and entertainment (M&E) market.
The unicorn also aims to increase sales and marketing five-fold across the globe. Amagi will also explore allied and adjunct opportunities in the cloud and video market to deliver greater impact across the value chain, evaluating the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities that can contribute to revenue growth or add technology capabilities to product lines.
We have grown over 4500% in the past 3 years: Srinivasan KA, co-founder Amagi
Oxyzo
Gurugram-based Oxyzo Financial Services, a tech-enabled smart financing solution provider, announced its $200 million Series A fundraise led by Alpha Wave, and co-led by Tiger Global, Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, and Creation Investments. The round values the company at $1 billion.
The startup will use the funds to expand Oxyzo’s broader digital financial services play organically and inorganically across a strong own balance sheet play, scaling the supply chain marketplace, launching innovative fixed income products for the SME space, and scaling other fee incomes business lines, including debt capital markets and securities.
Founded in 2016 by Asish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra, Oxyzo started as a financing platform of OfBusiness—a unicorn since July 2021—to provide cash flow matched working capital financing for buying raw materials for SMEs in the traditional sectors of the economy such as manufacturing and subcontracting.
Meet Oxyzo Co-founder and CEO Ruchi Kalra — one of the rare women unicorn founders
Games 24x7
Multi-game platform raised $75 million in a recent funding round led by Malabar Investment. The round also saw participation from existing investors—Tiger Global and Raine Group.
The startup says the latest investment round makes it India’s most valuable multi-game platform, at a valuation of $2.5 billion, marking its entry into the unicorn club. It offers RummyCircle (India’s largest online rummy game), My11Circle (India’s second-largest fantasy platform), and U Games (a portfolio of casual games).
Founded in 2006 by Trivikraman Thampy, an engineering alumnus of IIT Bombay and PhD in Economics from New York University, and Bhavin Pandya, an engineering alumnus of Purdue University and MPhil in Economics from New York University, Games24x7 is headquartered in Mumbai with offices in Bengaluru, Delhi, Miami, and Philadelphia.
Open
Open Founders
SME-focused neobanking platform raises $50 million in its Series D round from IIFL, along with existing investors Temasek Holdings, Tiger Global Management, and .
To date, the Bengaluru-based startup has raised over $140 million in funding, backed by global investors—including Temasek, Google, Visa, Tiger Global, Beenext, Recruit Strategic Partners, 3one4 Capital, Speedinvest, Tanglin Venture Partner Advisors, Angellist, and Unicorn India Ventures, to name a few.
Within six months from raising its Series C round of Rs 735 crore ($100 million) led by Temasek, the startup bagged its Series D round—at a valuation of $1 billion—making it India's 100th unicorn.
How a high school dropout went on to co-found Open, India's 100th unicorn
PhysicsWallah
Edtech platform (PW) on Tuesday said it raised $100 million in Series A funding from UK-based Westbridge and GSV Ventures, a global VC fund focused on digital education, at a valuation of $1.1 billion.
This makes PW India's 101st unicorn.
In a statement, the startup said it will use the funds to expand its business, open more learning centres, and introduce more courses.
"Since its inception, we have focused on delivering high-quality education with affordability at the forefront, ensuring that learners from all walks of life can continue their higher education and boost their career trajectory without any hassles," said Alakh Pandey, Founder and CEO of PW.
He added that PW has been profitable since its inception and has positive cash flows and reserves. In FY22, the startup's revenue rose nine-fold, claimed Alakh. The current run rate for FY23 is $65 million.
Unicorn TV: From starting up on YouTube, PhysicsWallah's story to now be a web series
Purplle
Purplle co-founders (L to R): Rahul Dash and Manish Taneja
Online beauty and personal care products retailer entered the startup unicorn club at a valuation of $1.1 billion.
The company announced raising $33 million in a Series E round of funding from South Korean investment firm Paramark Ventures, apart from returning investors Premji Invest, Blume Ventures, and private equity fund Kedaara.
This takes the total amount of equity capital raised by the company to $215 million. The Mumbai-headquartered startup had raised $140 million as part of its Series D round across two tranches, which saw participation from Kedaara and Premji Invest.
The company will utilise the funds to invest in technology, fuel business expansion, grow its label of private brands and explore cross-country synergies.
At present, Purplle owns and operates five direct-to-consumer (D2C) private labels, including FACES Canada, Purplle, Good Vibes, NY Bae, and Carmesi.
The company was founded in 2011 by IIT alumni Manish Taneja, Rahul Dash, and Suyash Katyayini. Purplle claims to have scaled its GMV to $180 million for FY 2022.
Purplle will be the third Indian unicorn in the online beauty and personal care space, besides Good Glamm Group, which turned unicorn in November 2021, and Nykaa, which made its public market debut last year.
[Funding alert] Beauty products e-marketplace Purplle raises $50M from Premji Invest in ongoing Series D round
LeadSquared
Nilesh Patel, CEO, LeadSquared
Bengaluru-based sales automation platform is the latest Indian startup to join the unicorn club after raising $153 million in a Series C round of funding from WestBridge Capital. The round values LeadSquared at $1 billion.
The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, which offers marketing automation and sales execution CRM (customer relationship management) solutions, last raised $32 million led by Gaja Capital in December 2020.
The startup said it will utilise the capital to expand to new geographies, hire talent, and make tuck-in acquisitions, Founder and CEO Nilesh Patel told YourStory.
Founded in 2011 by Nilesh, Prashant Singh, and Sudhakar Gorti as part of their company MarketXpander Services, LeadSquared also claims to have doubled its annual revenue from Rs 100 crore for FY 21 to Rs 200 crore in FY 2022.
“With this financing, we will double down on growth investments in India and North America, start building in APAC and EMEA, add new offerings to our product portfolio, and fund acquisitions. To support our growth, we plan to double our headcount in the next 18 months,” said Nilesh in a statement. LeadSquared has an employee base of 1,200 across its offices in India, the US, APAC, and Africa.
He told YourStory that the company will evaluate acquisitions in adjacent applications such as conversational AI, sales training space, specialised analytics, and customer experience, among other areas. It will also look for acquisitions to enter new geographies.
OneCard
Founders of FPL Technologies
FPL Technologies-owned , a fintech startup that offers credit cards, has raised $100 million in its latest Series D round, as per its filings with the regulator.
The $100 million fundraise values the startup at over $1.4 billion, according to TechCrunch, which cited a source familiar with the matter, making it the latest entrant to the unicorn club.
Singapore-based Temasek led the round, while existing investors QED, Sequoia Capital, and Hummingbird Ventures also participated in the round.
The fundraise comes against the backdrop of the crackdown by the Reserve Bank of India on non-banks extending credit lines via PPI instruments such as digital wallets or stored-value cards.
Founded in 2019 by Rupesh Kumar, Anurag Sinha, and Vibhav Hathi, who spent over a decade at ICICI Bank—FPL Technologies is a fintech firm operating in the digital and physical credit cards, called OneCard, and credit score-checking product called .
5ire
5ire, a Layer 1 blockchain project focusing on sustainability, has raised $100 million in Series A funding (at a valuation of $1.5 billion) from UK-based conglomerate SRAM & MRAM, it said in a statement.
The startup said the funds will be used for business expansion and extending 5ire’s footprint across Asia, North America, and Europe, with India as the hub of operations and core area of focus.
5ire was founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs Pratik Gauri and Prateek Dwivedi, along with Web3 financier Vilma Mattila, in August 2021.
Pratik Gauri, CEO and Founder of 5ire, told The Decrypting Story, "It is an all-equity deal, with no tokens involved. Our testnet goes live in a month, followed by the mainnet in November, after which revenues will kick in.
5ire is also planning to increase its team size, which currently stands at over 100 employees. Pratik said the deal will also help 5ire leverage investor connections to build and establish relationships with several industries and governments across the world.
Shiprocket
Logistics enablement platform has raised Rs 257.34 crore or nearly $32.6 million (according to current exchange rates) in a new round of funding from returning investors. The round values the logistics aggregator at nearly $1.3 billion, up from $940 million, with the company joining the unicorn club.
Shiprocket is the 21st company to join the billion-dollar club in 2022.
According to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies, Lightrock India Fund led the round, followed by Temasek Holdings. Other investors in the round include Bertelsmann, Moore Strategic Ventures, March Venture Capital, Huddle Collective, and Paypal. The investors were issued a total of 59,793 shares in a Series E2 round.
Founded in 2017 by Saahil Goel, Gautam Kapoor, and Vishesh Khurana, the company elevated its Chief Business Officer Akshay Ghulati to the post of Co-founder in 2020.
Tata 1mg
E-pharmacy platform Tata 1MG crossed the coveted billion-dollar valuation mark after raising about $40 million (Rs 319.4 crore) in a round led by Tata Digital. Other investors participating in the round include MPOF Mauritius Ltd, HBM Healthcare, and KWE Beteiligung.
Tata Digital invested close to $32 million (Rs 254.6 crore), while KWE Beteiligung put in close to $2.35 million (Rs 18.7 crore), according to filings with the Registrar of Companies.
The company has issued 30,992 shares at a price of Rs 1,03,047 per share.
The company did not disclose the valuation of the deal but the infusion is set to have valued the healthtech startup at $1.25 billion, according to several media reports, thus achieving unicorn status.
Molbio Diagnostics
Goa-based Molbio Diagnostics, which provides solutions for universal access to high-quality healthcare, on Monday announced that Temasek invested $85 million in the company alongside existing investor Motilal Oswal Alternates. Post the round, the company will be valued at $1.6 billion.
It will utilise the funding to develop and commercialise a host of near-care technologies based on clinical need gaps. Furthermore, this will also help the company in fast-tracking its efforts to take the Truenat platform to global markets.
Molbio is known for its Truenat technology—a point-of-care, portable, battery-operated real-time PCR platform. As per the company, the technology can be deployed at all levels of the healthcare chain, including very remote and inaccessible areas, to provide early, rapid, and accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases, aiding in timely and appropriate treatment. The platform can test for over 40 diseases in addition to TB, including COVID-19, hepatitis, HIV, HPV, and vector-borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya, and malaria.
(This is an ongoing story and will be updated as new startups enter the unicorn club this year.)
(Written by Trisha Medhi, with inputs from Sindhu Kashyap, Aparajita Saxena, Payal Ganguly, Malvika Maloo, Rishabh Mansur, Ayshwaria Lakshmi, Sujata Sangwan, and Minakshi Sangwan.)