India is home to the third- highest number of Unicorns in the world. Unicorns are those startups that reach USD $1 billion in valuation. So, the latest kid to become a unicorn is an India-based AI startup Ola Krurtrim which will support queries in 22 selected languages. 2
Did you know that a business has only 0.00006% of becoming a unicorn? Let alone being home to 112 unicorns (as of 2023) altogether | Startups Turning Into Unicorns. We are beating the odds and how?
And this is just the tip of the iceberg, the time taken for companies to reach Unicorn status has also gone down significantly. Earlier, it used to take startups 15 years, later that went down to 8 years, and now to 5.5 years to attain unicorn status.
In 2023, Indian startups secured $8.2 billion in funding, reflecting a sharp drop from the 72% drop from the $25 billion raised in 2022. The number of startup IPOs rose to 8, up from 4 in 2022.
There were a total of 123 acquisitions, a reduction from 229 in 2022. Cartrade.com’s acquisition of Olx Autos was the largest in 2023, followed by Automattic acquiring Texts.
Even though in 2023 we only saw 2 unicorns, owing to the conditions of the market, it indicates the market is getting bigger. Sounds exciting right?
Are you wondering what is common in all these unicorns, the traits that made them reach their unicorn status perhaps?
Magical Traits of Unicorns | Startups Turning Into Unicorns
Unicorns are Disruptive
In business, disruption is good. Disruption refers to innovation that a company brings into its products that change the face of the industry and force people to change their ways of operating.
Innovation is at the heart of the unicorns. They usually start at the bottom, competing with the giants in their industry, giving their services at cheap prices that meet the standard of high-end products. Take the example of Canva and how it turned around the Graphic design Software industry by providing freemium services.
You need to be creative, think outside of conventional norms, innovate, and give something new to your customers.
Unicorns are Tech-savvy
Companies need technologies to scale their business. Technologies or software like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, AI tools, and cloud computing, help companies function efficiently. 90% of unicorns provide software products and services.
AI tools are versatile and can help companies automate many tasks, freeing up their resources and taking their business to new levels.
Unicorns are Consumer-focused
Unicorns are strong in bringing value to their customers. 60% of unicorns are in the B2C space. They mainly focus on building affordable products and services for everyday needs. So, you need to identify the problems faced by your customers in your industry and how you are going to jump in and help them.
Unicorns are Efficient
Before launching their full-fledged services most startups start small with only the must-have features in the initial stages. This is to check if the product works fine if it's getting the response from the customers, and what changes need to be made to the product so it can be tweaked.
One great example of this is Uber. Uber started with only three cars and a simple interface, collecting customer feedback after each ride to make further improvements. From three cars to now, Uber has become a household name and a world-renowned company.
So, this was the tale of a magical journey from being a startup to a unicorn. It sure is full of ups and downs and that’s what makes the journey exciting and magical.
(Author: Karishma Chandnani is a Content Writer at TechDoQuest. She offers a refreshing & youthful perspective on the topics she writes about).