Unicorn News

Unicorn hiring peaked in March at over 42,000 cumulative employee additions, according to the report by SaaS-based network platform PrivateCircle.

The initial public offering (IPO) numbers have surged, with 29 tech companies going public in 2024 (year to date), compared to 15 during the same period in 2023, according to the report by Tracxn, a SaaS-based market intelligence platform.

Releasing the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2024, the report said that 25 future Unicorns, 5 Gazelles, and  20 Cheetahs dropped out of the index list.

The Direct-To-Consumer (D2C) brand offers a wide range of beauty and personal care products and is valued at over $1 billion. The company was founded by the husband-wife duo of Varun and Ghazal Alagh in 2016. 

Founded in July 2021, Zepto said it plans to go public in the next 2-3 years.

Highlighting the increasing role of women in governance, the prime minister gave the example of President Droupadi Murmu.

India is currently home to 83 unicorns, 51 gazelles (most likely to go unicorn within three years) and 96 cheetahs (to achieve unicorn status in five years), according to the 'ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2023' report.

Reports by Tracxn, a leading global market intelligence platform, showed there were no new unicorns created in the January-March period, compared with 14 unicorns in Q1 2022.

According to data compiled by Finbold, the US has the highest number of unicorns at 704 while China comes a distant second with 243 unicorns (as of November this year).

The Prime Minister informed that India jumped to the 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index from 81st rank in 2015 this year. The number of unicorn start-ups in India has doubled since 2021, as India emerges as the third largest start with 81000 recognized start ups. The Indian talent pool has encouraged hundreds of international companies to have their R & D centres in India.

The funding winter continues in India`s start-up ecosystem and globally, and it`s uncertain when this will end. The average deal ticket size declined from USD 23 million in Q2 2022 to USD 13 million in Q3. Funding in growth- and late-stage deals continued to decline, with an average ticket size of USD 13 million in Q3 CY22.

Neobank Open raised $1 billion in its Series D round of funding. The funding round was led by Mumbai-based investment firm IIFL. Neobanks are bridging the gap between traditional banks' services and clients' changing expectations in the digital age.

The capital raised will be used for product development, talent acquisition and the next phase of growth. The total amount of funds raised by Xpressbees exceeds USD 500-million. Existing investors Investcorp and Norwest Venture Partners also participated in the fresh round.

Smallest known black hole in the Milky Way galaxy. Blackhole is roughly three times the mass of our sun. Black holes form when massive stars die and their cores collapse.

Groww raised around Rs 615 crore. Funding round led by Tiger Global. Groww started almost five years back.

Eyeing an "aspirational India", Snapdeal has invested Rs 200 crore in rebranding activities and also unveiled a new logo as the e-commerce major focuses on wooing the next 100 million potential online shoppers.

In line with rivals TCS and Infosys, country's third largest software services firm Wipro today said it has set up a team of 200-250 professionals as part of its efforts to ramp up revenues from digital services.