G V Sanjay Reddy sheds light on India spearheading the Global unicorn race

There were many firsts in India’s unicorn story in the last year as the ecosystem saw several new entries. India is now ranked as the third country hosting unicorns. The country has overtaken the United Kingdom by adding 33 unicorns by 2021, including Innovaccer, the first unicorn in the health-tech sector, Meesho, and Pharm-Easy, the first unicorn in the E-pharmacy arena. Not despite, but because of the pandemic, these companies have grown exponentially. G V Sanjay Reddy shares his thoughts on what’s driving India’s unicorn boom.

In the venture capital industry, the term unicorn describes start-ups valued at one billion dollars or more. India is now home to 119 unicorns all over the world. More than 54 unicorns were formed in the country, and 65 unicorns were founded by Indians abroad, predominantly in Silicon Valley. India’s Bengaluru ranks first amongst all Indian cities in terms of unicorn counts followed by Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Gurugram.

Taking into consideration that post evaluation, the value of BYJU’s shares is $21 billion, G V Sanjay Reddy says, “That company is currently in talks for a public listing in the US, potentially bringing its value up to $48 billion.” This is followed by INMOBI, a mobile and tech company with $12 billion, and OYO Rooms with $9.4 billion. New members of India’s unicorn club include Digit, Cred, Urban Company, Zeta, BharatPe, CoinSwitch Kuber, Licious, MobiKwik, MyGlamm and many others.