Unicorn creation pace slows down in India: Hurun Unicorn Index 2024

According to the Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2024 report, the pace of creation of unicorn startups in India has slowed since 2017.   However, India is still the third largest hub of unicorns in the world after the United States of America and China.

The Hurun Global Unicorn Index has been published since 2000 and provides a ranking of the world’s most valuable startups. Only startups with a valuation of at least USD one billion and that are not listed on a stock exchange are included in the index.

According to Hurun Research, there were 1,453 unicorns globally in 53 countries based in 291 cities. In 2023, one Unicorn was created every two minutes.

The San Francisco Bay area, in California, the United States of America, maintained its status as the world's unicorn capital, The famous Silicon Valley is located in the San Francisco city.

Singapore emerged as the fastest-growing hub for unicorns.

Most Valuable Unicorn in India 

According to the Hurun report, the Food delivery platform Swiggy and fantasy sports-focused Dream11 are the most valuable unicorns from India. They were valued at $8 billion each. 

Swiggy and Dream11 were ranked 83rd in the world.

The third most valuable unicorn was Razorpay at $7.5 billion. It was ranked 94th in the world.

More Unicorn being created outside India by Indians 

According to the Hurun report, there were 67 Unicorns in India, which was one less than 68 unicorns in 2022. Edtech company Byjus emerged as the most value destroyer unicorn in the world. It also dropped from the list of unicorns. 

One reason for this was the slowdown in fresh investment by investors in the country due to challenging economic conditions.

Another reason was that the Indian co-founders of Unicorn invested more outside India than in India. They created 109 unicorns outside India, Out of the 107 unicorns founded outside India, 95 were in the United States, followed by 4 in the United Kingdom, 3 in Singapore, and 2 in Germany.

Country having Maximum Unicorn  

• The United States has the highest number of unicorns, with 703
• In the second position was China, with 340 unicorns. 
• India was in third place with 67 unicorns.
• At the fourth position was the United Kingdom, with 53 unicorns. 

Top Unicorn  Companies 

• Amongst 10 top Unicorn companies, 4 companies are from the United States of America and 4 from China. 
• One is from Australia, and One is from Malta.
• According to the Hurun Report, the top 10 unicorns added $198 billion in value, accounting for 45 per cent of the year's overall increase in valuation among unicorns worldwide.

2024, the year of AI 

According to the Hurun report,2024 has been marked as "the year of AI," with OpenAI's valuation reaching $100 billion. Open AI company created the AI-powered ChatGPT chatbot.

According to the report, India was way behind China and the United States in AI(Artificial Intelligence).

The US and China dominate the AI unicorn list. The US has 60 unicorns, and China 37 AI unicorns.

The first AI unicorn in India is Krutrim. 

Hurun is a research, media and investments group that publishes a series of research reports. Rupert Hoogewerf founded the company in 1999 in the United Kingdom.

The Hurun company is based in Shanghai, China.