India overtook China to add the most new unicorns – startups valued at $1 billion or more – in the first half of 2022, despite a funding winter ravaging entrepreneurs in the South Asian nation.
India added 14 new unicorns over the period (H1 2022) and China had 11, according to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2022. The US topped the rankings by adding 138 startups to the unicorn club. This isn’t the first time India has managed to add more unicorns in a given period of time. India added 10 new unicorns, and China and Hong Kong added seven, according to a PwC report in Q3CY21.
Up to 254 new unicorns were added worldwide in the first half of 2022. The US tops the list with 625 unicorns. China follows with 312 and India with 68 in third place.
“India consolidated its top 3 spot with 68 unicorns, led by $22 billion online teacher BYJU’S, followed by on-demand delivery startup Swiggy ($11 billion) and the Travel-stay finder Dream11 ($8 billion) on fantasy sports platform,” according to Hurun’s report.
Indian co-founders founded 56 unicorns outside of India. Indians created a total of 124 unicorns around the world. “Of the unicorns established outside of India, significantly all were in the US (51), led by the Bay Area, and 2 in the UK, and 1 each in Germany, Singapore, and Mexico.”
Bengaluru added 5 new unicorns in the first half of 2022, accounting for 2.5 percent of these companies worldwide.
By city, San Francisco retained the title of World Unicorn Capital with 176 unicorns, up 25. New York overtook Beijing to take second place with 120 unicorns, up 35. Beijing fell to third with 90 unicorns, followed by Shanghai with 69. London with 39 unicorns was fifth, followed by Bengaluru and Shenzhen with 33 unicorns each,” the report said.
No Indian unicorn appeared in the top 10 list. Byju’s was ranked 14th on the top 20 list with a valuation of $22 billion, making it the only Indian firm to feature there. Indian startups in the top 100 unicorn list included Swiggy, Dream11 and Oyo, ranking 45th, 75th and 91st.
The first half of 2022 saw a big drop in ratings, knocking some startups off the unicorn list. According to the report, 147 unicorns’ ratings dropped in the past six months, including 71 from the US and 29 from China. Beijing-based Douyin led the way with the largest drop in valuation, down $150 billion to $200 billion. Sweden-based Klarna has seen its value fall 86 percent over the past six months, while US-based Stripe has seen its overall value fall 35 percent.
Around 81 unicorns from the last year saw their valuation fall below $1 billion, including 36 from the US and 35 from China, led by Ping An Healthcare Technology, which had a valuation of $9 billion last year.
Japanese softbank was the second most successful investor with 180 unicorns in its portfolio. Sequoia tops the list of investors, which was the most successful investor with 234 unicorns. The third position is held by Tiger Global.
