A unicorn is not a mythical creature in business—it’s a startup worth a billion dollars, and India has more than 100 of those. In fact, India is currently the third-most prolific unicorn creator in the world, after the US and China.

India’s first-ever unicorn was created in 2011. In just 15 years, Indian unicorns have processed nearly 50% of all digital payments in India, delivered goods within 10 minutes, and 120 million people interact with one unicorn every month on their favorite platform that doesn’t charge them anything.

There are more than 110 unicorn startups in India today, across various industry verticals including fintech, e-commerce, SaaS, edtech, logistics, etc.

Here are the 10 most prominent unicorn startups in India—by valuation, by influence, and by sheer disruption. This article covers their founding details, ownership structure, overview, and services.

Quick Comparison

Rank	Startup	Founded	Founder(s)	Sector	Peak/Last Known Valuation
1	Flipkart	2007	Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal	E-Commerce	$35 billion (decacorn)
2	PhonePe	2015	Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari & Burzin Engineer	Fintech (Payments)	$12 billion
3	Zepto	2021	Aadit Palicha & Kaivalya Vohra	Quick Commerce	$5–7 billion
4	Razorpay	2014	Harshil Mathur & Shashank Kumar	Fintech (Payments)	$7.5 billion
5	CRED	2018	Kunal Shah	Fintech (Credit)	$6.4 billion
6	Meesho	2015	Vidit Aatrey & Sanjeev Barnwal	Social Commerce	$3.9 billion
7	Nykaa	2012	Falguni Nayar	D2C Beauty	$6.5 billion
8	Groww	2016	Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal & Neeraj Singh	Wealth Tech	$3 billion
9	OYO (PRISM)	2013	Ritesh Agarwal	Hospitality Tech	$6–9 billion
10	Lenskart	2010	Peyush Bansal	D2C Eyewear	$4.5 billion

Flipkart – India’s Flagship Decacorn

 Image Courtesy: Flipkart Official Website

• Founded: 2007
• Founders: Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal
• Owner: Walmart Inc. (~77% stake)
• HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Flipkart was started in 2007 by young IIT Delhi graduates and Amazon alumni Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in an apartment in Bangalore. It initially started as a bookseller and grew to become India’s largest e-commerce marketplace.

Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart in 2018 for $16 billion, making it one of the largest e-commerce deals ever at that time. Flipkart has a peak valuation of $35 billion as of today, making it India’s most valuable startup ever.

What It Does: Flipkart is India’s largest marketplace, connecting millions of buyers and sellers with a wide range of products.

Services Provided: Online marketplace spanning all verticals including electronics, fashion, furniture, grocery, and home décor; logistics arm—Ekart; Flipkart Pay Later; wholesale platform—Flipkart Wholesale; social commerce platform—Shopsy; quick commerce—Flipkart Minutes; Big Billion Days sale.

PhonePe – India’s Payments Colossus

 Image Courtesy: PhonePe Official Website

• Founded: 2015
• Founders: Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari & Burzin Engineer
• Owner: Walmart (through Flipkart spin-off in 2023; IPO-bound)
• HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka

PhonePe processes over 800 million transactions per month on India’s UPI platform and has an estimated 48%+ share of UPI payments in India by volume.

It has spun off from Flipkart’s parent company, Walmart, and has raised close to $2 billion in funding so far. PhonePe has also launched an IPO and is on its way to becoming one of India’s most valuable payments companies.

What It Does: PhonePe is India’s largest digital payments platform that provides UPI money transfer services, QR codes, bill payments, and other financial services to its users.

Services Provided: UPI money transfer services; QR code payments and POS; bill payment services; mobile recharge and other utility payments; gold and mutual fund investments; insurance services (two-wheeler, car, health, and life); buy now pay later services; PhonePe for Business; international money transfers.

Zepto – India’s Quick Commerce Disruptor

 Image Courtesy: Zepto Official Website

• Founded: 2021
• Founders: Aadit Palicha & Kaivalya Vohra
• Owner: Privately held; major investors include Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, and StepStone
• HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Zepto is a quick commerce company that delivers groceries and daily necessities within 10-15 minutes. It has one of the fastest unicorn growth stories and is backed by top-tier investors such as Y Combinator, Nexus Venture, Stepstone, etc.

Zepto’s dark store model and aggressive expansion plans in metro cities put it in direct competition with other quick commerce startups such as Instacart and Amazon.

What It Does: Zepto is a hyperlocal quick commerce company that delivers daily necessities within 15 minutes across its network of dark stores.

Services Provided: Grocery and other daily necessities delivery; Zepto Café (fast food delivery); subscription-based service—Zepto Pass; advertising services.

Razorpay – India’s Payments Infrastructure Giant

 Image Courtesy: Razorpay Official Website

• Founded: 2014
• Founders: Harshil Mathur (CEO) & Shashank Kumar (CTO)
• Owner: Privately held (formerly Y Combinator batch; Series F stage)
• HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Razorpay was founded in 2014 by IIT Roorkee graduates Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar. They realized that collecting digital payments in India was a difficult task for businesses and decided to make it easier.

Today, Razorpay serves hundreds of thousands of businesses, ranging from small start-ups to large enterprises.

What It Does: Razorpay provides end-to-end payment solutions to millions of businesses across India by enabling them to collect payments from their customers seamlessly.

Services Provided: Payment gateway; Razorpay X (current account and payment solution); payroll processing; vendor payments; subscription billing; payment links; international payments; Razorpay Capital (loans to businesses).

CRED – India’s Premium Fintech Play

 Image Courtesy: CRED Official Website

• Founded: 2018
• Founder & CEO: Kunal Shah
• Owner: Privately held; investors include DST Global, Tiger Global, and GIC Singapore
• HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka

CRED was founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneur Kunal Shah, who also founded FreeCharge. The company primarily focuses on India’s credit space by encouraging credit card users to pay their dues on time.

CRED rewards its users handsomely by giving them points for every timely payment, which can be redeemed for various benefits offered by CRED and its partners. CRED has a market valuation of $6.4 billion.

What It Does: CRED operates a premium financial services platform that rewards its users for paying their credit card dues on time while also offering a plethora of other services.

Services Provided: Credit card payment services with rewards in the form of CRED coins; CRED Mint (P2P lending platform); CRED Cash (personal loan services); CRED Pay (payment services); CRED Travel; premium store; UPI payment services.

Meesho – Social Commerce for India’s Next 500 Million

 Image Courtesy: Meesho Official Website

• Founded: 2015
• Founders: Vidit Aatrey & Sanjeev Barnwal
• Owner: Privately held; investors include SoftBank, Meta, and Y Combinator
• HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Meesho is a social commerce platform that helps small businesses and individuals to sell their products on WhatsApp and social media.

It provides India’s first zero-commission marketplace, where sellers get paid directly and quickly for their goods. It aims to bring India’s next 500 million people into the digital economy.

What It Does: Meesho is India’s zero-commission social commerce marketplace that enables small businesses, individual sellers, and first-time sellers to sell their products on social media and WhatsApp.

Services Provided: Zero-commission social commerce marketplace; cash on delivery; products sold range from unbranded to semi-branded; Meesho supply (B2B sourcing services); logistics and return services; social media marketplace; women-focused marketplace; online shopping experience for non-metro users.

Nykaa – India’s Leading Beauty E-Commerce Company

 Image Courtesy: Nykaa Official Website

• Founded: 2012
• Founder & CEO: Falguni Nayar
• Owner: Falguni Nayar’s family (majority); listed on BSE/NSE (FSN E-Commerce Ventures)
• HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Falguni Nayar, a 49-year-old investment banker, decided to leave her job and start a beauty e-commerce company called Nykaa.

She has subsequently grown it to become India’s largest and most successful beauty and fashion company, listed on the stock exchanges. Falguni Nayar has proved that one is never too old to build a unicorn.

What It Does: Nykaa is India’s largest beauty and personal care e-commerce company that has expanded its footprint to fashion retail and offline salons.

Services Provided: Nykaa.com online portal; Nykaa Fashion; beauty retail; Nykaa Man; offline salons; personal care products; own brands—Kay Beauty, Dot & Key; videos, content, and reviews; Nykaa membership.

Groww – India’s Rising Investment Platform

 Image Courtesy: Groww Official Website

• Founded: 2016
• Founders: Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal & Neeraj Singh
• Owner: Privately held; investors include Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global
• HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Groww is an investment and wealth-tech platform that allows first-time investors to start investing in stocks, mutual funds, and fixed deposits.

It has one of the most intuitive UI/UX designs and makes the investing process basic for first-time investors. It was founded in 2016 by four ex-Flipkart employees.

What It Does: Groww is an investing platform that allows everyday Indians to invest in stocks (NSE, BSE), mutual funds, direct equities, fixed deposits, and more.

Services Provided: Mutual fund investments; direct equity trading; IPO applications; digital gold; fixed deposits; recurring deposits; US stocks; DIGI Gold; Groww UPI.

OYO (PRISM) – India’s Largest Hospitality Tech Unicorn

 Image Courtesy: OYO Official Website

• Founded: 2013
• Founder & CEO: Ritesh Agarwal
• Owner: PRISM (parent company); investors include SoftBank, Sequoia, and Airbnb
• HQ: Gurugram, Haryana

OYO was founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal, who was just 19 when he started the company. Today, OYO is one of India’s most valuable consumer tech unicorns with a valuation of $6–9 billion. PRISM is the parent company of OYO.

What It Does: OYO is a hospitality franchising company that owns and operates a chain of budget hotels across the world under the brand name OYO Rooms.

Services Provided: Budget and premium hotel rooms; luxury stays (OYO Townhouse & Palette Resorts); mid-market segment (Capital O); European vacation stays (Belvilla); corporate hospitality (OYO for Business); technology-enabled hotel management solutions (OYO OS).

Lenskart – India’s Leading D2C Eyewear Company

 Image Courtesy: Lenskart Official Website

• Founded: 2010
• Founder & CEO: Peyush Bansal
• Owner: Privately held; investors include SoftBank, Temasek, and Kedaara Capital  
• HQ: New Delhi

Lenskart was founded in 2010 by Peyush Bansal, a former Microsoft executive and celebrity entrepreneur (who appeared on Shark Tank India). It disrupts India’s Rs. 5000 crore+ eyewear industry by making eye care affordable for everyone.

With a valuation of $4.5 billion, Lenskart is one of India’s most valuable D2C startups and has expanded its operations to Japan and Southeast Asia as well by acquiring Owndays.

What It Does: Lenskart is an omnichannel D2C eyewear company offering a range of prescription and non-prescription spectacles and contact lenses.

Services Provided: Spectacles, contact lenses, sunglasses; at-home eye test; virtual try-on feature; 1,000+ offline stores; Owndays (Japan/Southeast Asia); Lenskart Pro subscription; blue cut and other lens coatings.

FAQs

What is a unicorn startup?

A unicorn is a privately held startup company valued at $1 billion or more. The term was coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013 to describe the rarity of such companies. A decacorn is a company valued at $10 billion or more. India has had several unicorns and decacorns.

How many unicorns does India have?

As of now, India has more than 110 unicorn startups.

Which was India’s first unicorn startup?

InMobi was India’s first unicorn and is a mobile advertising company. It was founded in 2005 and went public in 2011.

Which is India’s most valuable unicorn?

Flipkart currently has the highest valuation of any Indian startup at $35 billion, although this number fluctuates.

Which sector has produced the most unicorns in India?

The fintech sector has produced the most unicorns in India. This includes payment companies like Paytm, Razorpay, and PhonePe, as well as other financial technology firms.

Which is India’s youngest unicorn?

Zepto is considered to be India’s youngest unicorn.

Are unicorns always profitable?

Most unicorns are not typically profitable; they are often valued based on anticipated future profits. However, there has been a shift in this trend as many unicorns are now prioritizing profitability. Some unicorns, including Zoho and Zerodha, are even bootstrapped.

Which Indian unicorns are publicly listed?

Several unicorns, including Zomato, Nykaa, Paytm, Swiggy, PolicyBazaar, Delhivery, FirstCry, and Ola Electric, are publicly listed. Once a firm becomes public, it ceases to be a unicorn.

Which city produces the most unicorns in India?

Bengaluru is India’s unicorn capital, followed by Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.

What government policies support India’s thriving startup scene?

Several policies promote India’s thriving startup scene, including tax benefits for startups under the Startup India program and the availability of Digital India initiatives, UPI, and DPIIT recognition.

Conclusion

India’s unicorn companies are more than just billion-dollar ideas. They represent a fundamental shift in how millions of Indians interact with the digital economy. Flipkart has digitized commerce and made shopping accessible to all. PhonePe has enabled Indians to adopt digital payments as the default mode of transaction.

Zepto has made ten-minute delivery a reality. Razorpay has made it effortless for anyone to collect payments online. CRED has incentivized Indians to maintain a good credit score. Meesho has brought economic independence to millions of would-be entrepreneurs. Nykaa has demonstrated that Indians want not only products but also experiences and aesthetics.

Groww has given first-time investors a straightforward platform to begin their investment journey. OYO has made budget-friendly hotel stays accessible to the masses. Lenskart has brought modern eyewear at affordable prices to the average Indian.

Each unicorn listed above disrupted the status quo and solved a tangible problem for real people. With emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and deep-tech, India is set to welcome the next wave of unicorn startups.