Today’s Startup Achievers &Tomorrow’s Brand Icons: Shaping the Forthcoming Startupreneurs
Startup culture in India has slowly started surging and taking place into main-line business. They are believed to be the revolution that was much needed in India. With the emergence of innovative technology at a rapid pace, India is eagerly awaiting to witness many more successful startups in subsequent years. Startups of today have achieved electrifying spirit with several factors such as Artificial Intelligence, Block-chain and green sustainable technologies. The flourishing startups have revolutionized various sectors and carved novel paradigms of success. Walking down the path of innovation and scalable technology, startups can generate impactful solutions, and thereby act as vehicles for socio-economic development and transformation. Indian Startups are known as the key pillar of economic growth. To motivate and acknowledge the burning ideas of successful business the ‘Indian Achiever’s Forum’ takes pride in introducing them to the world by awarding the young startups the ‘Indian Achiever’s Award for Promising Start up’.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” –Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Apple
Embrace the Hardship & End-up with the Smile of VICTORY!!
To become an achiever and set an example to world you must go on improving and improvising the product till it satisfies you and your dedicated customer. Converting the challenges into advantage is the foremost quality to have in any startup; otherwise, they will not get the desired success. The report of Hurun Research Institute reveals that, India’s future unicorns are currently worth $57 billion. It has also unveiled that, 147 potential startups which are soon to be added in the unicorn list come from 25 cities and, on average eight years old. Bangalore topped the list of the city with 53 unicorns. With a cumulative valuation of $19.9 billion, Bengaluru serves as the home to 12 Gazelles and 41 Cheetahs. Majority of them are selling software & services, and only 20% are selling physical products. Bangalore is followed by Mumbai, Gurgaon, and New Delhi.
Few Achievers in the Startup Economy
Incred Financial Services: A New-age Financial Services Platform
Sector: FinTech
Founded: 2016
Key Person: Bhupinder Singh (Founder & CEO)
Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra
It is the latest addition in the unicorn list by achieving a valuation of $1 billion through a successful funding round that raised $60 million, placing the company's valuation at 1.04 billion dollars. With this achievement the company became the 2nd unicorn of 2023 after Bangalore based e-commerce platform Zepto. The Founder & CEO Bhupinder Singh, has a vast and detailed experience of more than 25 years in financial sector. He completed his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He started his career as Investment Banker and then he joined Deutsche Bank and worked there for 16 years. He looked after Deutsche Bank's fixed income, equities and investment banking divisions. He also headed the corporate finance division for Asia Pacific. In 2016 he founded this startup with two main entities InCred Finance & InCred Capital. He owns 24, 97,925 shares in the company, which accounts for a 6.46% stake.
“Investment options are no-longer limited to mutual funds, bonds and direct equity, but expanded to include many more alternate asset classes and structured products designed to meet the needs of sophisticated and informed investor”, – Bhupinder Singh
Delhivery Private Limited: A Small World.jpg)
Sector: Logistics
Founded: 2011
Key Person: Sahil Barua (Co-Founder, Managaing Director & CEO)
Headquarter: Gurgaon, Haryana
Delhivery is a third-party logistics service provider that offers last-mile delivery, third-party and transit warehousing, reverse logistics, payment collection, vendor-to-warehouse and vendor-to-customer shipping and more. The company is founded by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Bhavesh Manglani, and Kapil Bharati. It works with serving customers in over 18,000 zip codes, which includes large and small e-commerce participants, SMEs, and 350+ leading enterprises and brands. The report of NSE reveals that, Delhivery’s revenue from operations grew 5% to Rs.7,225 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2023. Sahil completed his mechanical engineering at NIT in Karnataka and received an MBA from IIM Bangalore. He visited the University of Maryland in 2005 and worked there as a research intern at CALCE Labs for four months. Previously he was associated with Bain & Company India Private Limited as Consultant. The report of inc42.com says, he earns more than 25 lakhs in a month or 3.1 crore annually.
“No Knowledge brings no baggage, and a little knowledge is very dangerous.” – Sahil Barua
Apna: LinkedIn for blue & grey-collar workforce.jpg)
Sector: HR Industry
Founded: 2019
Key Person: Nirmit Parikh (Founder& CEO)
Headquarter: Bengaluru
This is India’s one of the largest professional networking & job opportunities platforms in India. It has over 40 million users and 545k employers who trust this platform. They are currently operating in 74 prime cities all over the country. It is the youngest startup to achieve the spot of unicorn just within 22 months of their commencement in the world’s second-largest internet market. It has raised $100 million in a round led by Tiger Global, in series C funding it valued 1.1 billion. The founder Nirmit had been a serial entrepreneur for over a decade. He was so inspired by the song ‘Apna Time Ayega’ from Gully Boy that he named his startup as Apna. However, this time he was on a mission to solve problems for the working class professionals. At that time, he was working with global tech giant Apple as part of the product and strategy team for iPhone. He undergraduated from Ahmedabad and after that he flew to Stanford University in California to pursue his Master’s degree in Computer Science. His vision was to bring radical cultural and social change for the Indian society by ubiquitous technology.
“Employment and upskilling are the most pressing issues of any country”, – Nirmit Parikh
Darwinbox: Integrated HCM Suite.jpg)
Sector: HR Industry
Founded: 2015
Key Person: Rohit Chennamaneni (Co-Founder & CEO)
Headquarter: Hyderabad
This startup was established in by three friends, Paleti, Chaitanya Peddi and Rohit Chennamaneni. This is a HR tech platform which raised $72 million from TCV, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia India, and Lightspeed just before the start of FY23. Darwinbox is a cloud-based integrated HR technology product that covers solutions including recruitment, payroll, employee engagement, talent management, and people analytics across the employee life cycle. Their mission is to engage, empower and inspire employees. Till date more than 750 enterprises and two million employees from across 90 countries loved the Darwinbox experience. They are eyeing an IPO by 2025 and aims to achieve profitability in India by 2023. Rohit is currently working as head of operations. Before joining Darwinbox, Rohit worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey in the offices located in India, the US and Africa. He completed his B.Tech degree from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and after that he pursued his MBA degree from IIT Lucknow. Post MBA he started working with tech-giant Google as a product analyst and worked in India & Ireland.
“We have dedicated 60% of the workforce In R&D and Product & Engineering. This leads to a good customer experience and helped us get a lot of references”, – Rohit Chennamaneni
5ire: Sustainability Driven Blockchain with Reputation-based Mechanisms.jpg)
Sector: FinTech
Founded: 2021
Key Person: Pratik Gauri (Co-Founder & CEO)
Headquarter: Bengaluru
5ire is one of the fastest growing blockchain unicorn startup in India, which lent its technical expertise and knowledge in the writing of the module. Niti- Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission has come out with first-of-its-kind blockchain module in partnership with 5ire and Network Capital. Blockchain technology is the foundation, and one of the driving forces in world of data technologies and interest services. In the near future, they aim to become an ecosystem focusing on positive impact. It raised $100 million in Series A funding from UK-based conglomerate SRAM & MRAM, making it the 105th unicorn of India in just 11 months of commencement. As the Founder & CEO, Pratik is responsible for day-to-day operations of the firm and its strategic efforts. Apart from 5ire, he has founded 8 companies, which is a block-chain ecosystem that brings forward Sustainability, Technology & Innovation to build the 5th industrial revolution with an aim to impact 1B+ humans positively. He is a public TEDx speaker and a social media influencer with more than 1M+ followers across different social media platforms. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and a Certificate in Strategic Management from the University of Chicago.
“We are on a mission to embed sustainability into the blockchain”, – Pratik Gauri
Conclusion: Backed up by the power of innovative, intuitive learning and development, India has achieved the spot of third largest eco-system in the world. To embrace the dawn of National Startup Day, Startup India has commenced its Startup Innovation Week 2024 from 10-18th January. From mere 340 startups in 2016 to 1,15,000+ startups in 2023, our nation has come a long way overcoming lot of odds and obstacles. Programs like ASCEND for the North-East, Women for Startups for women entrepreneurs and Startup Angels for budding angel investors, all these programs have paved the way towards India’s growth in the entrepreneurial landscape. Startup India’s ‘Ask Me Anything (AMA)’ sessions are very much beneficial for the blooming aspiring innovators where they can get suggestion and tips from accelerators, investors, mentors, unicorns, corporates, startups, academia, and government officials. According to latest report of World Bank, India’s Rank in ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ is 63/190.
.jpg "Sreejita Talukdar, Content Writer")
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” –Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Apple
Embrace the Hardship & End-up with the Smile of VICTORY!!
To become an achiever and set an example to world you must go on improving and improvising the product till it satisfies you and your dedicated customer. Converting the challenges into advantage is the foremost quality to have in any startup; otherwise, they will not get the desired success. The report of Hurun Research Institute reveals that, India’s future unicorns are currently worth $57 billion. It has also unveiled that, 147 potential startups which are soon to be added in the unicorn list come from 25 cities and, on average eight years old. Bangalore topped the list of the city with 53 unicorns. With a cumulative valuation of $19.9 billion, Bengaluru serves as the home to 12 Gazelles and 41 Cheetahs. Majority of them are selling software & services, and only 20% are selling physical products. Bangalore is followed by Mumbai, Gurgaon, and New Delhi.
Few Achievers in the Startup Economy
Incred Financial Services: A New-age Financial Services Platform
Sector: FinTech
Founded: 2016
Key Person: Bhupinder Singh (Founder & CEO)
Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra
It is the latest addition in the unicorn list by achieving a valuation of $1 billion through a successful funding round that raised $60 million, placing the company's valuation at 1.04 billion dollars. With this achievement the company became the 2nd unicorn of 2023 after Bangalore based e-commerce platform Zepto. The Founder & CEO Bhupinder Singh, has a vast and detailed experience of more than 25 years in financial sector. He completed his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He started his career as Investment Banker and then he joined Deutsche Bank and worked there for 16 years. He looked after Deutsche Bank's fixed income, equities and investment banking divisions. He also headed the corporate finance division for Asia Pacific. In 2016 he founded this startup with two main entities InCred Finance & InCred Capital. He owns 24, 97,925 shares in the company, which accounts for a 6.46% stake.
“Investment options are no-longer limited to mutual funds, bonds and direct equity, but expanded to include many more alternate asset classes and structured products designed to meet the needs of sophisticated and informed investor”, – Bhupinder Singh
Delhivery Private Limited: A Small World
Sector: Logistics
Founded: 2011
Key Person: Sahil Barua (Co-Founder, Managaing Director & CEO)
Headquarter: Gurgaon, Haryana
Delhivery is a third-party logistics service provider that offers last-mile delivery, third-party and transit warehousing, reverse logistics, payment collection, vendor-to-warehouse and vendor-to-customer shipping and more. The company is founded by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Bhavesh Manglani, and Kapil Bharati. It works with serving customers in over 18,000 zip codes, which includes large and small e-commerce participants, SMEs, and 350+ leading enterprises and brands. The report of NSE reveals that, Delhivery’s revenue from operations grew 5% to Rs.7,225 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2023. Sahil completed his mechanical engineering at NIT in Karnataka and received an MBA from IIM Bangalore. He visited the University of Maryland in 2005 and worked there as a research intern at CALCE Labs for four months. Previously he was associated with Bain & Company India Private Limited as Consultant. The report of inc42.com says, he earns more than 25 lakhs in a month or 3.1 crore annually.
“No Knowledge brings no baggage, and a little knowledge is very dangerous.” – Sahil Barua
Apna: LinkedIn for blue & grey-collar workforce
Sector: HR Industry
Founded: 2019
Key Person: Nirmit Parikh (Founder& CEO)
Headquarter: Bengaluru
This is India’s one of the largest professional networking & job opportunities platforms in India. It has over 40 million users and 545k employers who trust this platform. They are currently operating in 74 prime cities all over the country. It is the youngest startup to achieve the spot of unicorn just within 22 months of their commencement in the world’s second-largest internet market. It has raised $100 million in a round led by Tiger Global, in series C funding it valued 1.1 billion. The founder Nirmit had been a serial entrepreneur for over a decade. He was so inspired by the song ‘Apna Time Ayega’ from Gully Boy that he named his startup as Apna. However, this time he was on a mission to solve problems for the working class professionals. At that time, he was working with global tech giant Apple as part of the product and strategy team for iPhone. He undergraduated from Ahmedabad and after that he flew to Stanford University in California to pursue his Master’s degree in Computer Science. His vision was to bring radical cultural and social change for the Indian society by ubiquitous technology.
“Employment and upskilling are the most pressing issues of any country”, – Nirmit Parikh
Darwinbox: Integrated HCM Suite
Sector: HR Industry
Founded: 2015
Key Person: Rohit Chennamaneni (Co-Founder & CEO)
Headquarter: Hyderabad
This startup was established in by three friends, Paleti, Chaitanya Peddi and Rohit Chennamaneni. This is a HR tech platform which raised $72 million from TCV, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia India, and Lightspeed just before the start of FY23. Darwinbox is a cloud-based integrated HR technology product that covers solutions including recruitment, payroll, employee engagement, talent management, and people analytics across the employee life cycle. Their mission is to engage, empower and inspire employees. Till date more than 750 enterprises and two million employees from across 90 countries loved the Darwinbox experience. They are eyeing an IPO by 2025 and aims to achieve profitability in India by 2023. Rohit is currently working as head of operations. Before joining Darwinbox, Rohit worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey in the offices located in India, the US and Africa. He completed his B.Tech degree from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and after that he pursued his MBA degree from IIT Lucknow. Post MBA he started working with tech-giant Google as a product analyst and worked in India & Ireland.
“We have dedicated 60% of the workforce In R&D and Product & Engineering. This leads to a good customer experience and helped us get a lot of references”, – Rohit Chennamaneni
5ire: Sustainability Driven Blockchain with Reputation-based Mechanisms
Sector: FinTech
Founded: 2021
Key Person: Pratik Gauri (Co-Founder & CEO)
Headquarter: Bengaluru
5ire is one of the fastest growing blockchain unicorn startup in India, which lent its technical expertise and knowledge in the writing of the module. Niti- Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission has come out with first-of-its-kind blockchain module in partnership with 5ire and Network Capital. Blockchain technology is the foundation, and one of the driving forces in world of data technologies and interest services. In the near future, they aim to become an ecosystem focusing on positive impact. It raised $100 million in Series A funding from UK-based conglomerate SRAM & MRAM, making it the 105th unicorn of India in just 11 months of commencement. As the Founder & CEO, Pratik is responsible for day-to-day operations of the firm and its strategic efforts. Apart from 5ire, he has founded 8 companies, which is a block-chain ecosystem that brings forward Sustainability, Technology & Innovation to build the 5th industrial revolution with an aim to impact 1B+ humans positively. He is a public TEDx speaker and a social media influencer with more than 1M+ followers across different social media platforms. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and a Certificate in Strategic Management from the University of Chicago.
“We are on a mission to embed sustainability into the blockchain”, – Pratik Gauri
Conclusion: Backed up by the power of innovative, intuitive learning and development, India has achieved the spot of third largest eco-system in the world. To embrace the dawn of National Startup Day, Startup India has commenced its Startup Innovation Week 2024 from 10-18th January. From mere 340 startups in 2016 to 1,15,000+ startups in 2023, our nation has come a long way overcoming lot of odds and obstacles. Programs like ASCEND for the North-East, Women for Startups for women entrepreneurs and Startup Angels for budding angel investors, all these programs have paved the way towards India’s growth in the entrepreneurial landscape. Startup India’s ‘Ask Me Anything (AMA)’ sessions are very much beneficial for the blooming aspiring innovators where they can get suggestion and tips from accelerators, investors, mentors, unicorns, corporates, startups, academia, and government officials. According to latest report of World Bank, India’s Rank in ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ is 63/190.
Buck up! Run! Turn All the Odds into Advantages! Win! And Repeat!
