India startup ecosystem: National Startup Day 2025: Mapping India's unicorn journey over the decade - The Economic Times

Published 1 month ago• 1 minute read

Synopsis

, Rapido, Ather Energy, Perfios, Porter, Krutrim, Zepto, Boat, among others.

During Covid, (2020 to August 2022), India added 76 startups to the unicorn list, including major firms like Nykaa, Unacademy, Zerodha, Blinkit, Upgrad, Digit, Zetwerk and Razorpay.

Before Covid, between 2014 and 2019, 28 startups, including Quickr, Delhivery, Lenskart, PhonePe, Oyo, Paytm and Zomato, achieved unicorn status. Prior to this, only 4 startups, with Flipkart being the most notable, turned unicorn.

Unicorns and IPOs

Indian unicorns are increasingly opting for IPOs to raise large-scale capital, enhance their public profiles, and offer liquidity to early investors and employees.