The Quest for Unicorns

"WHILE ACCURATE DATA IS DIFFICULT TO COME BY, VARIOUS ESTIMATES REVEAL THAT ABOUT 80 PER CENT OF UNICORNS ARE LOSS-MAKING."

- RAJEEV KALAMBI

CHASING UNICORNS

When Aileen Lee coined the term Unicorn for startups or unlisted companies that achieved a USD1bn valuation, I'm certain she was drawing attention to the rarity of such an achievement. However, they do not seem to be as rare as this accolade suggests. India got its first unicorn – InMobi – in 2011, added a record-breaking number of 45 unicorns in 2021 and reached a peak of 115 by June 2024, as per Inc42's India's Unicorn Club tracker.

However, this list accounts for companies that were minted unicorns following fundraises at valuations above USD one bn but likely doesn't take stock of their current status. As per the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2024, the total number of Unicorns is 67, which means that the extant number of unicorns are 47 startups lower than the peak count. As per Tracxn, 16 unicorns are either acquired or gone IPO. That leaves us with 31 startups that have lost their unicorn status.