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Zepto to Rapido: 10 latest unicorn start-ups in India

Here are 7 future unicorn startups that are founded by women!

11 under-30 founders named in Hurun India’s Future Unicorn Index 2024

Unicorns, Gazelles, Cheetahs: What do these startup animal terms even mean?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Maven's chief financial officer has left the women's health unicorn one year after taking the role.</li><li>The startup plans to bring in a new CFO with public market experience, per a source with knowledge.</li></ul>Maven Clinic is swapping out its chief financial officers on the heels of a fresh funding round as the women's health startup inches closer to an IPO.Maven is bringing in a new finance head with experience leading a public company, according to a source with direct knowledge of the change.Kristina Campbell, Maven's former CFO, left the startup in October, according to her LinkedIn. She joined Maven a year prior, in October 2023.Earlier this month, Maven notched a $1.7 billion valuation with $125 million in new funding from the private equity firm StepStone Group. Business Insider <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/womens-health-unicorn-maven-clinic-raising-new-funding-stepstone-2024-9">first reported</a> the round in September.The identity of Maven's incoming CFO isn't known. Maven declined to comment for this story. Campbell didn't respond to requests for comment.Maven launched 10 years ago to provide virtual care to women and families through employers and health plans, including for fertility, pregnancy, and menopause. It's since raised over $425 million from investors such as Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, and Oak HC/FT.As the highest-valued women's health startup, Maven is expected to be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/maven-ipo-chrissy-farr-womens-health-startup-prediction-2023-12">a candidate for the next wave of digital health IPOs</a>. The startup's hopeful future exit would be a boon for the women's health market, which remains a small fraction of all healthcare funding.Some of Maven's peers haven't fared as well in a tighter venture market. Fertility startup Kindbody is reportedly looking to raise more funding at a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-21/fertility-startup-kindbody-set-to-cut-valuation-letter-shows">$600 million</a> valuation, a massive markdown from the <a target="_blank" href="https://kindbody.com/kindbody-announces-100-million-in-new-funding-to-further-accelerate-growth/">$1.8 billion</a> valuation it landed in March 2023.Before Maven, Campbell spent over two years as the CFO of the cryptocurrency exchange Ripple. She left the company amid its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/xrp-price-today-ripple-crypto-bitcoin-sec-gary-gensler-2024-3">legal battle with the SEC</a> after the agency accused Ripple of selling its XRP token as an unregistered security.Campbell has now joined entertainment payroll startup Wrapbook as its CFO, according to her LinkedIn profile. Wrapbook raised a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wrapbook-fund-bessemer-venture-partners-1236009642/">$20 million</a> funding round in September at a valuation of $750 million.

Exclusive: Maven Clinic is swapping out its finance chiefs as the women's health unicorn looks ahead to an IPO

New Delhi: The <keyword id="21833060" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fintech-ecosystem" source="keywords">Fintech ecosystem</keyword> of the country now cumulatively valued at over USD 100 billion, is at a pivotal stage of evolution, with the potential to create two to three times its current value over the next decade, as per a report by <keyword id="20058186" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BCG" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="BCG" meta.hostid="269" meta.entityid="BCG">BCG</keyword> and Z47. The report highlighted that India remains one of the top three global Fintech destinations, with the ecosystem witnessing exponential growth across all levels. It added that over the past four years, the number of <keyword id="22974213" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Minicorns" source="keywords">Minicorns</keyword> (valuation at least USD 1 million but less than USD 1 billion) in the country has increased by 3.5 times, while the number of <keyword id="19944451" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Unicorns" source="keywords">Unicorns</keyword> and Soonicorns (startup that is growing quickly and has the potential to become a "unicorn" valued at USD 1 billion) has tripled. The report noted that in 2023, the country's Fintech market achieved a revenue size of USD 25 billion, marking a 56 per cent year-on-year growth which is a remarkable contrast to the global Fintech growth rate of just 13 per cent during the same period. However, the report also added that despite generating over USD 100 billion in value within the last decade, Indian Fintechs are still considered to be in the "middle" phase of their development, especially when compared to traditional incumbents who have created USD 600 billion+ in value over 30 to 50 years. The report mentioned that now the growth and the further expansion of the fintech ecosystem in the country is expected to come from the Tier 2 cities where majority of the Indian population resides. "With 63 per cent of the Indian population outside the top cities, huge opportunity exists to serve Bharat with next wave of penetration expected to come from Tier 2 cities" the report added. As Fintechs mature, profitability has become a central focus across the sector, with over 40 per cent of founders and CXOs (Chief Experience Officers) prioritizing unit economics alongside market expansion. Those preparing for or currently undergoing the IPO process are increasingly emphasizing governance, investment in infrastructure, and security. The report noted that in a recent survey of over 60 executives from top Fintechs, the majority cited market share expansion and growth as key priorities, especially for early and growth-stage companies. Post-IPO stage Fintechs, however, are placing greater emphasis on profitability and investments in technology, infrastructure, and security. "Mature Fintechs preparing for or in the IPO journey are emphasizing governance, investment in infrastructure, security Across survey of 60+ Executives of top Fintechs, market share expansion &amp; growth emerged as priorities for early and growth stage" added the report. Notably, the report stated that the profitability outlooks are improving year-on-year across all segments, with Neobank and InsurTech showing the most significant positive shifts since 2022. However, the industry is not without its challenges, particularly in the realm of cybersecurity. Over the past two decades, more than USD 20 billion has been lost to cyber and digital attacks.

Minicorns, Unicorns tripled in USD 100 billion Indian fintech ecosystem: BCG, Z47

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Some expat Indians are moving back home to launch companies of their own.</li><li>India's booming market size, internet growth, and post-pandemic spending is driving their decision.</li></ul>Nithin Hassan, 41, has always been fascinated with building something of his own.As a child in India, he would get in trouble for dismantling electronics around the house just so he could peek inside.In college, in true <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-to-bet-your-career-on-in-2024-2024-2">startup</a> fashion, he started working on a small business out of his parent's garage in Bengaluru, assembling computers for friends and family.It was the early 2000s and the internet was not the trove of knowledge it is today — Hassan was relying on books to learn. Finding mentorship and the right guidance was a challenge, too.Everyone around Hassan told him that going to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/resume-tips-google-software-engineer-skills-experience-careers-software-tech-2024-3">US for a master's degree</a> was the next big opportunity. So he did.Over the next 16 years, he put his startup plans on hold and worked at some of the world's biggest companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta.<div type="image" title="Nithin Hassan" height="2450" width="3266" msid="113831978" hostid="261" sizebytes="215682"></div>But the pandemic felt like a turning point. And its aftermath made India look like a lab-designed business environment: It had just become the world's most populous country, the pandemic had created <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/private-consumption-continues-to-be-supported-by-pent-up-demand-finance-ministry/articleshow/99069973.cms?from=mdr">pent-up demand</a> for consumer products, and growing internet adoption made commerce more scalable, he said.So Hassan left behind about $500,000 in annual pay at Meta to move back to Bengaluru in December 2023 with his wife and two children. He has since launched two startups.Hassan is part of a group of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-moved-back-to-india-after-living-abroad-for-decade-2024-9">expat Indians moving back</a> home to venture out on their own. As such, he's also part of a decades-long trend of reverse migration back to India.The trend began in the 1990s and picked up at the turn of the century, driven by the economic collapse in 2008, said Binod Khadria, the president of Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism. Many of those who returned to India for work were largely working for multinational companies.Today, the impetus for the move often looks a bit different: It's driven by factors like unstable visa policies and economic recessions, which lead to uncertainty when it comes to jobs and duration of stay in these destinations.Many returnees find work in tech, but the finance, retail, and climate sectors also absorb a large number of expat Indians, Khadia said. And some of the returnees are heading back to India to start companies of their own.India is undergoing a startup explosion. The country reported over<a target="_blank" href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2043805"> 140,800 recognized startups</a> at the end of June — nearly 50,000 more than last year — and credited them with creating 1.6 million direct jobs.To be sure, not all of these companies will make it big — and some do still stumble, like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://inc42.com/features/what-are-the-current-problems-being-faced-by-oyo/">Oyo </a>and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-hsbc-funds-byjus-startup-valuation-zero-edtech-india-raveendran-2024-6">Byju's</a>. But the chaos, where even established startups are trying and failing, makes India a fair playing field for new entrants, Hassan said.Business Insider spoke to six <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-vc-wants-see-5-traits-new-founders-fundraising-antler-2024-8">first-time founders </a>about why they have recently returned to India after spending several years, or even an adult life, abroad.<h2 id="0e4a3c47-ba19-4690-8b52-c6bfece1c81d">Fastest-growing economy</h2>The health of the economy and interest from investors are fueling the entrepreneurship boom.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-billionaire-karan-adani-plans-challenge-china-dominance-seaports-2024-8">India's economic growth</a> in 2023 — 8.2% — was the fastest of all large economies worldwide. That's led to greater purchasing power, which lets companies, including startups, sell more.India's inflation rate of about 3.5% is well below its annual wage growth of 9.6%. This makes inflation less of a challenge than it is for slower-growing peers, where consumer-focused businesses have been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/economy-jobs-report-sentiment-consumers-elections-recession-inflation-mortgage-rates-2024-9">hurt by high prices</a>.Investors are getting in on the action.From 2015 to 2021, the number of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-capital-vc-firm-split-china-india-2023-6">unique investors in India</a> nearly quadrupled, though the number is tracking much lower this year, per PitchBook."Other than a slight downturn in 2022 and 2023 due to global macroeconomic factors, VC funding has been consistently growing in India," said Ben Mathias, a managing partner at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia &amp; India.Besides funding, domestic developments have encouraged founders and VCs too, Mathias said.The Indian government's Universal Payment Interface system has spurred consumers and businesses to pay online, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bcg.com/press/2june2022-digital-payments-in-india-projected-to-reach-10-trillion-by-2026">40% of all digital payments</a> globally happen in India today, the partner said.Programs like Startup India, which provides founders benefits like tax exemption, easier compliance, and funding support, have made creating a company smoother.Devyani Parameshwar worked in the microfinance and fintech space in India in the 2010s before heading to the UK and Africa. She returned to India in 2022 to launch a financial management venture."It's changed dramatically. I remember standing in line at various ministries in Delhi trying to get meetings and then trying to get answers and it wasn't easy in the past," she said of her memories of India.Now, she can use an online platform to ask the country's central bank and banking regulator questions.It's easier than ever for foreign companies to invest in India, which means startups have a clearer exit path through acquisition — something VCs think hard about before entering new markets or writing checks.<h2 id="e5dd7b6f-a09f-4ff2-84c1-5907de96dc5e">Market ripe for the taking</h2>For Rohan Bhide, who spent most of his college and professional life <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worked-in-big-tech-before-launching-my-own-startup-engineer-2024-9">preparing to launch something of his own</a>, a trip home in 2017 while he was studying in the US was a turning point.Indian telecom giant Reliance had recently launched a cheap unlimited data plan, which spiked Indian internet adoption. India was charting among the countries with the highest online transactions."That really, really drew my attention," said Bhide, who worked at Meta after graduation. "It was my dream come true — a huge market, a huge user base, and at the same time, the ability to adopt technology was incredible."Bhide returned to India in January, leaving behind about $580,000 in total compensation at ticketing platform StubHub. He and a cofounder are working on launching a consumer tech product later this year.<div type="image" title="Rohan Bhide" height="2304" width="3072" msid="113831979" hostid="261" sizebytes="218468"></div>Most Indians grew up wanting to work at a multinational company — but that's changing, Bhide said.Freelancing, running your own business, or working for a startup is much more socially acceptable now, because people see the success of other Indian startups. The country has the third-largest number of "unicorns" — companies worth $1 billion or more — with 64, per PitchBook.<h2 id="7f423804-745b-4e04-a250-839e01663f09">Boom in entrepreneurship culture</h2>A lot has changed since Hassan first wanted to launch his hardware startup in the early 2000s.Tech hot spots like Bengaluru and Gurugram have seen a boom in entrepreneurship culture in the last few years, with meet-ups, networking mixers, and even morning walks with like-minded builders.<div type="image" title="man standing in front of mountains in USA" height="2268" width="3024" msid="113831980" hostid="261" sizebytes="141132"></div>Dhruv Anand, who left Google in the US to move back to India in 2021 to launch an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-startups-most-promising-2024-9">AI startup</a>, said that there were lots of other founders and mentors to help guide him."If you want to figure out who's the right chartered accountant to talk to, who's the right lawyer to help you draft agreements, all of that stuff is very easy," Anand said."It's been a really, really supportive community," Bhide said. There are people "telling you about their entire lives just because they want to help you and they're hoping that you pass the favor onto the next person who moves to India and wants to start their own company."<h2 id="3c8bff36-e855-4530-9b44-bcc7f36b0825">Not everything is perfect</h2>Although these founders made the decision to return to India, that doesn't mean they no longer see the benefits of operating in the US.Ruchit Garg founded an agriculture startup in Silicon Valley in 2016, with a focus on supporting farmers around the globe. In 2019, he returned to India, where his late grandfather worked as a farmer.Garg has been building in India ever since, but he says its startup ecosystem cannot yet compete with the Valley's decades of experience."The overall ecosystem was more mature back in Silicon Valley. It's still one of the best places for entrepreneurs. India isn't there yet, although it's growing pretty drastically," he said.Despite efforts to digitalize key processes, many bureaucratic challenges persist.For most founders, after living in US cities where populations are a fraction of those in Mumbai and Bangalore, congested roads and poorer air quality are also everyday annoyances.But India provides some big perks, including affordable domestic help and the appeal of building solutions for problems they witness firsthand."It's a different joy to be able to build for problems that you feel for very personally," Parameshwar, the fintech founder, said. When she worked in Africa, she needed translators. Now, she can speak with her users herself.Bhide said the general sentiment among local founders is shifting from "Build from India" to "Build for India."For some founders, being surrounded by family and the culture they grew up in was another selling point.Niranjan Vemulkar moved back to India in 2015 and later founded a digital legacy planning platform.He said that he never fully felt at home in the US, where he lived for over a decade."For us, it was the fact that we wanted to raise a family in an environment where the children would have access to the grandparents and Indian culture," Vemulkar said. "The fact that you could come back to India, start something of your own and figure things out in an ecosystem which was potentially booming for startups, was just a cherry on the cake."Are you in India and have a story to share about the tech and entrepreneurship landscape? Please reach out at shubhangigoel@insider.com

Some techies are leaving cushy Silicon Valley jobs to launch startups at home in India

<ul class="summary-list"><li>AI startups have raked in over $35 billion in 2024, but many have inflated valuations.</li><li>VCs say that capital-intensive startups struggling to generate revenue are raising flat or down rounds.</li></ul>Down rounds and flat rounds for VC-backed startups have <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/vc-startup-down-rounds-decade-high">hit an all-time high</a> this year since 2014.And AI startups, which have been the darlings of the tech ecosystem since late 2022, aren't exempt from the trend.Case in point: buzzy startup Inflection AI raised $1.3 billion at a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/29/inflection-ai-lands-1-3b-investment-to-build-more-personal-ai/">$4 billion valuation</a> in 2023. When Microsoft paid $650 million to license Inflection AI's software earlier this year — and simultaneously hired key figures from the startup — the price tag fell short of the unicorn valuation the AI upstart had initially commanded.The Big Tech giant stopped short of officially acquiring Inflection AI, but that didn't stop the UK's competition regulator describing the acquihire as a "relevant merger situation." The deal was seen by some investors as an omen for a wider phenomenon in the AI ecosystem — an impending wave of flat rounds and down rounds."In light of the current hype surrounding the sector, we've observed early signs that the AI market may be overheating, with the increase in flat rounds, down rounds, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wave-ai-acquisitions-deals-who-could-get-bought-2024-5">acquihires</a> being indicative of the challenges ahead," Andreas Riegler, general partner at APEX Ventures, told Business Insider.AI startups raked in nearly $50 billion globally from VCs in 2023, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://news.crunchbase.com/ai/hot-startups-2023-openai-anthropic-forecast-2024/">per Crunchbase.</a> However, investor optimism appears to be fading in 2024. Startups are struggling to raise at the lofty valuations they did after the advent of ChatGPT-3, so many are looking at alternative funding arrangements.As growth slows, a spate of AI juggernauts have recently cut their valuations or entered acquihire arrangements that significantly slash how much they are worth. Jasper AI <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=d1540641a96b861283a8871d546a563e19e1c7e96e641adbf8c07bcd25acc706&amp;postID=66c889fb7d61a86c1873a0d6&amp;postSlug=ai-down-rounds-rise-valuations-investors-2024-9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theinformation.com%2Farticles%2Fjasper-an-early-generative-ai-winner-cuts-internal-valuation-as-growth-slows">slashed its internal valuation</a> in 2023 as growth stymied, while the founding teams of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-hires-characterai-cofounders-licenses-its-models-information-reports-2024-08-02/">Character.ai</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/28/amazon-hires-founders-away-from-ai-startup-adept/">Adept</a> were absorbed by Google and Amazon, respectively."Investors went crazy for AI startups with zero revenue, at higher valuations, which will be an issue," said Umesh Padval, managing director at Thomvest Ventures. "Acquihires like Inflection.ai, Adept, and Character.AI will accelerate in the next 12 months, and these startups will have to face the music," he said."If they could be acquired for an equal amount of the last round, it's great, but it's not happening," he added. "The fact that they're selling means they're not growing otherwise."<h2 id="4f4e55ed-41da-4a23-a651-52483bc00bdb">Down rounds are on the rise</h2>In 2022, 90.2% of AI startups in the US raised up rounds, while 6.5% raised down rounds, according to PitchBook data. In 2024, the number of startups raising up rounds dipped to 81.1% — and down rounds rose to 11.4%.In 2021, the multiples in the market were at an all-time high. By 2023, startups that raised at inflated valuations could no longer justify the price tag — so had to resort to flat rounds, Padval said. Now, the AI ecosystem is in for a similar reckoning.Many startups entering these arrangements are strapped for cash because they focus on building foundational models, a capital-intensive process."A lot of them hired really expensive engineers to try to solve this problem," a London-based investor who was not authorized to speak on the record told Business Insider. "They also spend a lot of money trying to train these datasets, and what they realized is that now they're running out cash without any sort of traction to prove — so they've burnt a lot of money."The key problem is that these AI startups operate like typical software companies, "with the caveat that the infrastructure serving the customer was more expensive than before, so margins were lower," said Francesco Ricciuti, a deep tech VC at Runa Capital."Those that torch VC's money to chase growth will crash mid-flight. They will die just like the quick commerce startups," he added.<h2 id="e39c7c04-5af1-4e16-9514-c8a1902af4f7">Secondaries are becoming an attractive option</h2>Some VCs are reticent to back AI startups at the same lofty valuations they commanded in 2023 — so companies are thinking of inventive ways to raise capital."Startups aren't going out publicly and raising a flat round — but many are opting for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/secondary-sales-startup-employees-are-pushing-companies-for-liquidity-2023-2">secondaries</a> as a means to do this," the London-based investor told BI.Secondary share sales have had a renewed importance in the last few years. Because of the scramble for AI talent, startups are starting to hire people with the promise of giving secondary sales to employees as a perk, Padval said."They're doing this to retain them — it's not a typical phenomenon, it's an AI phenomenon," he added.

AI startups should brace for a wave of down rounds, investors say. Here's how it might play out. 

You Searched For "unicorns startups" and got 8 results

Zepto to Rapido: 10 latest unicorn start-ups in India

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Exclusive: Maven Clinic is swapping out its finance chiefs as the women's health unicorn looks ahead to an IPO

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Some techies are leaving cushy Silicon Valley jobs to launch startups at home in India

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