India saw 14 new unicorns in Jan-June; up from 13 year-on-year: Tracxn

In the same period last year, 13 companies became unicorns, or those privately held companies valued at $1 billion or more.

Tracxn tracks 1.4 million startups across 1,800 sectors globally.

India ranks third in overall unicorns created, with the United States in first position, followed by China, Tracxn added.

The unicorns minted this year include automation provider Uniphore, interior solutions company LivSpace, analytics company Fractal, Games24x7, ElasticRun and social commerce company DealShare.

The top three unicorns by total equity funding so far this year are Fractal, Uniphore and LivSpace.

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Indian startups are going through a downturn in investor sentiment, or a “funding winter”, amid a slowdown across categories, economic volatility, increase in interest rates, steep surge in inflation and commodity prices, as well as currency depreciation.

“There is a genuine revolution going on in the digital economy, thanks to the spread of smartphones and disruptive ideas. Valuations can fluctuate a bit, but the current funding concerns are not a reflection of the digital economy,” said Kannan Sitaram, partner at early-stage consumer startup investor Fireside Ventures.

Fireside has invested in personal care company Mamaearth, health foods and ingredients maker Slurrp Farm and electronic wearables maker Boat.

DealShare, which became a unicorn after it raised $165 million from Tiger Global and Alpha Wave Global in January, said it planned to hire 500 employees and up to 1,000 contractual workers over a six-month period, as it expands to newer cities.

“What’s happening now is that investors are getting more discriminating; they are looking at long-term gains, and every genuine business is still attracting investors,” Sitaram said.