The Economic survey 2021-2022 report, which was tabled in Parliament on January 31, 2022, depicts that India recorded stellar performance in the number of unicorns added in 2021. The survey stated that newly recognized startups have increased to over 14,000 in 2021-22 from only 733 in 2016-17.
India is the third-largest startup ecosystem globally after the US and China. It overtook the UK to emerge as the country with the highest number of unicorns, after, of course, the US and China, which added 487 and 301 unicorns, respectively, in 2021.
Survey also highlighted that a record 44 Indian startups achieved unicorn status in 2021, taking the overall tally to 83 with a combined valuation of $277.77 billion as of January 14, 2022. Startups in India have grown remarkably over the last six years. Five Indian companies have hit unicorn status so far this year.
Social e-commerce startup DealShare became the fifth unicorn of the year with $165 million fundraise following the entry of HR tech startup Darwinbox, ed-tech firm LEAD, analytics company Fractal, and mother care entity Mamaearth in the coveted unicorn status.
Delhi replaces Bengaluru as the startup capital
As per the Economic Survey 2021-22, over the recent years, Delhi has replaced Bangalore as the startup capital of India. Over 5,000 recognized startups were added in Delhi, while 4,514 startups were added in Bangalore between April 2019 to December 2021. With 11,308 startups, Maharashtra has the highest number of recognized startups.
The Economic Survey report suggests startups in India have grown remarkably over the last six years. In total, more than 61,400 startups have been recognized in India as of January 10, 2022. Most of these belong to the services sector. During 2021, 555 districts had at least one new startup. On the other hand, only 121 districts had at least one new startup in 2016-17.
The year of the IPO
The primary market has seen frantic fundraising in April-November 2021, with 75 companies garnering INR 89,066 crore through their IPOs, much higher than in any year in the last decade, as the Economic Survey showed. Moreover, a flurry of technology startups made their public debuts during the period.
In April-November 2021, IPOs of 75 companies have listed, garnering INR 89,066 crore, compared to 29 companies raising INR 14,733 crore during April-November 2020, indicating the spectacular rise 504.5 percent in fund mobilization, the Economic Survey for 2021-22 showed.
