Hurun Research Institute today released the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022

Key Highlights

In search of India’s Gazelles and Cheetahs

India will have 122 new Unicorns in the next 2 to 4 years

India is currently home to 84 Unicorns, 51 Gazelles and 71 Cheetahs, as against 51 Unicorns, 32 Gazelles and 54 Cheetahs in the 2021 index.

India’s future Unicorns are currently worth US$ 49bn, with an increase of 36% as compared to last year.

17 Gazelles and 7 Cheetahs, from last year’s index, hit Unicorn valuation this year.

Double Promotion: 7 Cheetahs from the last year’s index, “skipped” the Gazelle stage and directly entered the Unicorn club this year.

Logistics tech start-up Shiprocket is the most valuable Gazelle.

Online furniture platform Pepperfry and payment infrastructure start-up Juspay are the most valuable Cheetahs.

Bengaluru continues to be the start-up capital of India. The city is home to 46 probable Unicorns followed by Delhi NCR (25) and Mumbai (16).

21 Indian future Unicorns have overseas headquarters, 18 in the USA, two in Singapore, and one in the UK.

E-commerce, FinTech, and SaaS comprise 43 percent of the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022.

Financial services, Logistics, Healthcare and Education are the sectors disrupted most by the future Unicorns.

Having invested in 39 probable Unicorns, Sequoia is the most active investor in the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 and is followed by Tiger Global with stakes in 27 future Unicorns.

Nine Gazelles and eight Cheetahs featured in the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 made profits in FY 2021.

Companies featured in the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 employ more than 82,300 people.

19-year-old Kaivalya Vohra, the co-founder of quick commerce start-up Zepto, is the youngest co-founder in the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022.

Where did they study? Indian Institute of Technology (90) and the Indian Institute of Management (32) top the index of institutes that produce successful start-up founders.

Delhi, India, 29th June 2022: The Hurun Research Institute unveiled the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 today, a ranking of India’s start-ups founded in the 2000s, valued at least US$200 million, not yet listed on a public exchange. The index has classified companies as would-be Unicorns (those founded after 2000 and valued at least $1 billion), Gazelles (those most likely to become Unicorns in the following two years), and Cheetahs (start-ups that could go Unicorn in the next four years). 

The prospective Unicorns featured on the list were founded on average in 2015, with the great majority selling software and services and only 17% selling physical goods. 37% are business-to-business sellers, while 63% are consumer-facing. Financial services, logistics, healthcare, and education were being disrupted by Future Unicorns. 

Hurun Research identified 122 future Unicorns in India from 25 cities. Bengaluru continues to be the unicorn-capital of India with 46 Unicorns, with Delhi NCR and Mumbai trailing at second and third spot with 25 and 16 Unicorns respectively.

Speaking at the launch, Rajesh Saluja, CEO & MD, ASK Wealth Advisors Pvt Ltd said, “India has emerged as the third largest ecosystem for start-ups after US and China, and saw a record 44 start-ups turning Unicorns in 2021. New ideas and innovations which have the potential to benefit millions of consumers are being incubated by the start-up ecosystem.”  

“The ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn list showcases the leaders of tomorrow today. We shine the spotlight on Gazelles & Cheetahs, the rising stars of the start-up ecosystem, and possibly, future Unicorns. 17 Gazelles and 7 Cheetahs from last year’s list hit Unicorn valuation this year. Being a wealth manager of choice, for us, this report is not merely a compendium of start-ups, but a reflection of how founders are creating value. The current scrutiny of valuations in this ecosystem, we believe, will help build more sustainable business models in the long-term.” he added.

Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India said, “While compiling the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022, we discovered that the country’s start-up ecosystem is expanding at an unprecedented rate. In just one year, the number of Unicorns has increased by 65%, the number of Gazelles has increased by 59% to 51, and the number of Cheetahs has increased by 31% to 71. Probably, the pandemic has accelerated the disruption of traditional businesses and fostered the emergence of start-ups. The ecosystem is gradually attaining the requisite maturity and resilience.”

“There are some global economic concerns that could affect the valuations and capital-raising abilities of Indian start-ups’. Additionally, some Indian start-ups are implementing layoffs and cost-cutting 

measures, fuelling speculation of an ecosystem downturn. We believe there could be a short-term blip in the growth story, but the Indian start-up ecosystem’s long-term potential remains excellent and resilient. The pressure felt during the valuation process and the increased inspection of deliverables could help broaden the system’s foundation,” he added.

Gazelle: Unicorn in the next two years

The Hurun Report defines a Gazelle as a start-up that was created after the year 2000 and has the potential to become a Unicorn within two years. The gazelle is capable of outrunning the cheetah due to its agility and speed. Below is a list of the top ten Gazelles from the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 that are expected to become Unicorns during the next two years. 

The Gazelles on the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 are projected to be worth between US$ 500mn and US$ 1bn. The Gazelle pack is led by Shiprocket, a five-year-old LogisticsTech startup, followed by Zepto, Turtlemint, Ather Energy and Vivriti Capital.

Table 1: Gazelles on the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022

Source: Hurun Research Institute. ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022

Cheetah: Unicorn in the next four years

According to the Hurun Report, a “Cheetah” is a startup that was created after 2000 and has the potential to become a Unicorn within the following four years. Hurun classification has been validated in this year’s report, as six Cheetahs from the previous index’ skipped’ the Gazelle stage and entered the Unicorn club. This year, the Cheetah pack is led by Pepperfry, followed by Bengaluru-based Juspay and then Ratan Tata-backed FinTech Mswipe Technologies. 

Table 2: Cheetahs on the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022

Source: Hurun Research Institute. ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022

The youngest start-up founders in the index are Kaivalya Vohra (19) and Aadit Palicha (20), both co-founded Zepto, a 10-minute grocery delivery company based out of Mumbai. The oldest founder in the index is K Satyanarayana, aged 61, of Ecom Express. The average age of Indian start-up founders in the index is 38. There are 18 start-up founders aged under 30 and 19 aged above 50. Fifteen companies featured in the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 have a woman co-founder. FinTech contributed the most start-ups to the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022, with 27, followed by E-commerce with 14 and SaaS with 11. Approximately half of the firms in the index are involved in FinTech, E-commerce, SaaS, and EdTech. Other potential fields in the Indian start-up ecosystem include AgriTech, Artificial Intelligence, HealthTech, and Shared Economy.

Ranked by the valuation of their most recent fundraising round, the objective of the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 is to showcase India’s rapidly expanding start-up ecosystem to investors, governments, family offices, aspiring entrepreneurs, and the global world in order to bring to light the pace of development in the economy. 

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