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The Most Famous Indian Startups

The Indian startup ecosystem is said to be the third-largest in the world and continues to attract investors from all over as business opportunities grow. Home of the largest eCommerce deal between Walmart and Flipkart, 31 unicorns and counting, and plenty of untapped opportunities — it shouldn’t come as a surprise that India has been home to some of the biggest startup success stories.

And the impact of India’s most successful start-ups is not just felt in the country, but across the world, as Indian start-up products and services cross over to international markets.

Over the years, Indian start-ups have found success across sectors, with start-ups in enterprise tech, eCommerce, and travel tech grabbing global attention. At the same time, many of the most successful startups in India are also looking to expand their footprint and reach, particularly in Tier 2 and 3 cities.

1. InMobi – Adtech supports businesses in launching captivating ad campaigns on mobile devices

Cred Office at Indiranagar, Bengaluru. Photo by Soumendra Kumar Sahoo –

Naveen Tewari founded InMobi in 2006, but it pivoted to become a mobile advertising and content discovery platform at a later stage. InMobi supports businesses in launching captivating ad campaigns on mobile devices through app partners, and in making smart marketing decisions on where to spend their money.

Tewari led several acquisitions at InMobi, growing the company so phenomenally that it became India’s first unicorn.

Founded as an SMS-based mobile search platform called Mhkoj, InMobi’s mobile ads and discovery network currently serve over 1.64 Bn devices () globally.

The adtech startup, turned profitable in the last quarter of 2016, soon after crossing 1 Bn active devices in 2015. While the US continues to be InMobi’s top territory in terms of revenue thanks to the larger app economy, China has become its second-largest market.

 InMobi is putting up a tough fight with the two biggest global players in the space — Facebook and Google — for a slice of the worldwide mobile internet ad spending pie.

2. Swiggy started its operations in Bengaluru’s venerable Koramangala neighborhood

US Navy 120107-N-TZ605-180 Aviation Structural Mechanic 3rd Class Jay Jordan, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81, performs a startup chec.
INDIAN OCEAN (Jan. 07, 2012) Aviation Structural Mechanic 3rd Class Jay Jordan, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81, performs a startup check on an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are underway on a western Pacific deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy A. Hazel/Released)
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class. Photo by Timothy A. Hazel –

Swiggy started its operations in Bengaluru’s venerable Koramangala neighborhood in 2014, covering just one neighborhood with six delivery executives and 25 partner restaurants. It provides a complete food ordering and delivery solution for a wide range of restaurants to the urban foodie.

Today, it has over 2.1 lakh active delivery partners and processes nearly 1.4 Mn food orders daily across India, compared with about 700K orders per day last year.

In October 2019, it announced the launch of the operation in its 500th city and plans to expand to 600 cities by December 2019, with the most recent funding from Naspers and Tencent Holdings of $1 Bn.

The growth has come at the expense of profits; Swiggy ended FY 2018-19 with a 93% rise in losses with a total loss of INR 397 Cr.

3. Flipkart was founded by Sachin and Binny Bansal

MSME & Startups Forum – Bharat. Photo by Bhavtoshsisodiya –

Flipkart was founded by Sachin and Binny Bansal in 2008 with a sum of $6,000 (INR 4 Lakh). It went on to become one of the largest eCommerce startups in India and is now valued at a whopping $20 Bn.

Flipkart has had many a milestone in its decade-long journey, one of the biggest being the $16Bn investment by Walmart making it the largest eCommerce deal in the world, and since then it has also burgeoned its payments business with a sharper focus on PhonePe, which has grown into a unicorn by itself.

Of late, Flipkart has been diversifying its operations by getting into the OTT space with Flipkart Videos and the food retail business with Flipkart FarmerMart.

4. BYJU’S offers various online secondary and senior secondary courses

Dass Sons Communications & Information Technology is an Indian multi technology startup company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include an Our Services in Typing, Data entry, Presentation, Data Research, Social Marketing, Company Social Media Optimization (SMO), Educational Software, Brand Promotion, Google Website Development, Human resource provider, Academic Content, Assignment work – Both online and offline, Project, Print out, Bio-Data, E-Shram Card, PAN Card, Aadhaar Card updation, Voter ID card, Ration Card, Birth certificate, Marriage certificate, Driving license, Passport, GST Registration, E-Udyog, Government exam application, School admission application fill-up, College admission application fill-up, Money transfer in across India, Electricity bill payment, Water bill payment, Mobile Recharge, Train ticket, Air ticket, Bus ticket, Rent agreement/Affidavit etc. Photo by Dass Sons Communications & Information Technology –

What started as a simple e-learning platform has grown into one of the world’s largest edtech brands.

BYJU’S today offers various online secondary and senior secondary courses suited to the Indian schooling system along with online study material for competitive examinations such as IAS, CAT, GRE, and study material from Class IV to Class X for both CBSE/ICSE students and learning modules for pre-school children.

Since the launch of its learning app it has registered 35 Mn users and 2.4 Mn annual paid subscribers. The company said that in April 2019, BYJU crossed INR 200 Cr ($28.61 Mn) in monthly revenue.

BYJU’S was last valued at $5.7 Bn and has raised over $969.8 Mn in funding from investors such as General Atlantic, Tencent, Naspers, Qatar Investment Authority, and Canada’s Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) among others.

5. Freshworks was started by Girish Mathrubootham

Fittr logo. Fittr is an Indian fitness startup. Photo by Fittr –

Girish Mathrubootham, the founder of SaaS startup Freshworks (formerly Freshdesk), is hailed as the thalaiva (boss in Tamil) of the Indian SaaS industry. Mathrubootham has taken Freshworks from strength to strength since he founded it in 2010.

Today, the startup is a member of the burgeoning unicorn club of India and is valued at $1.5 Bn.

SaaS startup Freshworks is currently headquartered in San Bruno, California, and has offices in India, the UK, Germany, and Australia. Freshworks has been revolutionary in integrating technology with SaaS and has more than 150K clients worldwide — including companies such as NHS, Honda, Rightmove, Hugo Boss, Citizens Advice, Toshiba, and Cisco, among others. With its newest products, it’s also looking at the growing market of startups and SMEs.

Freshworks is reportedly working towards an initial public offering (IPO) as early as 2021. The listing is expected to be on the New York-headquartered stock exchange, NASDAQ.

6. Paytm – Fintech began as a digital wallet

US Navy 120107-N-TZ605-166 Aviation Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Matthew Hill, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81, stands by as an F-A-18.jpg INDIAN OCEAN (Jan. 07, 2012) Aviation Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Matthew Hill, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81, stands by as an F/A-18E Super Hornet undergoes startup procedures on the flight deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are underway on a western Pacific deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy A. Hazel/Released) U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class. Photo by Timothy A. Hazel –

While Paytm began as a digital wallet, it has morphed and taken on new verticals within payments many times over the years. To its credit, Paytm has managed to keep its services relevant and compliant with the changing regulatory and fintech trends. It claims to have more than 130 Mn active users today and besides individual payments and transactions, customers can pay bills for utilities, transfer funds to other bank accounts, book flights, trains and movie tickets, and more.

Paytm’s turning point came with the demonetization of high-value currency notes in November 2016. Its user base grew from 125 Mn users before demonetization to 185 Mn three months after. Since then, it has continued to grow, hitting the 300 Mn mark in 2018. It has also diversified to incorporate six new entities — Paytm Financial Services, Paytm Entertainment, Paytm Money, Paytm Mall, Paytm Insurance Corporation, and more.

Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has said Paytm will be looking to get publicly listed after 2021 when the fintech company starts generating cash.

7. Delhivery – Logistics was started to disrupt the logistics supply chain market in India 

Defense.gov News Photo 120107-N-TZ605-397 – U.S. Navy Airman Michael Johnson a plane captain assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 81 signals to an F A-18E Super Hornet aircraft pilot during.jpg
U.S. Navy Airman Michael Johnson, a plane captain assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 81, signals to an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft pilot during startup procedures on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in the Indian Ocean on Jan. 7, 2012. The Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing 17 are under way on a western Pacific deployment.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Timothy A. Hazel, U.S. Navy –

Logistics unicorn Delhivery is the brainchild of Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, and Suraj Saharan. Delhivery was launched in 2011 to disrupt the logistics supply chain market in India. The startup currently provides services in about 600 cities across 8,500 pin codes in India. It has 12 fulfillment centers for B2C and B2B services and works with eCommerce giants such as Flipkart and Paytm.

In FY18, the company reported a jump of 42% in its revenue gaining total revenue of $153.26 Mn (INR 1,073.64 Cr). Here, its operational revenue contributed almost 95% to its total revenue as against $107.92 Mn (INR 756 Cr) for the previous year.

8. Dream11 took three years to hit its first million users

CRON Systems. This is the official logo of CRON Systems, a deep-tech startup based in India.. Photo by Vaneet –

Nobody thought India would have a gaming startup that will earn global acclaim. But Dream11 has done just that and largely because of its association with the biggest cricketers in the world, and its focus on capturing the market around tournaments such as the Indian Premier League as well as customizing fantasy football gaming for the Indian market.

It took the company three years to hit its first million users, and soon after that, it crossed 3 Mn users in less than two months. Today, Dream11 boasts 50 Mn users and sports-related websites regularly cover fantasy game predictions as they would cover actual cricket matches.

As cofounder Bhavit Sheth told Inc42 earlier this year, Combined users from Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4 are much higher than Tier 1 because when we grew from 300K to 10 Mn and so on, the last few growth spurts have come from the lower-tier cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, etc.

9. Ola claims to complete over a billion rides annually

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Bhavish Aggarwal was traveling from Bengaluru to Bandipur when the driver of his cab abandoned him en route to his destination over a failed renegotiation of the deal. His experience of being stranded in the middle of nowhere drove Aggarwal to launch cab aggregation startup Ola.

He roped in cofounder Ankit Bhati and, after extensive market research, Ola was born in 2010 and is now offering its services across 50 cities in India, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The company claims to complete over a billion rides annually with its over 1.5 Mn drivers

Ola’s services include online booking of auto-rickshaws and bikes as well as vehicles. It has also come up with a connected car platform called Ola Play and recently ventured into the self-driving market with Ola Drive. It’s also betting big on electric vehicles with Ola Electric, which became India’s fastest unicorn earlier this year.

Beyond mobility, the company has entered the food delivery and cloud kitchen business as well with the launch of the Ola Khichdi Experiment.

10. OYO valuation is estimated to be $16Bnafter its latest round

US Navy 120107-N-TZ605-223 Aviation Electrician’s Mate Airman Seth Orourke, a plane captain assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81, signals. INDIAN OCEAN (Jan. 07, 2012) Aviation Electrician’s Mate Airman Seth Orourke, a plane captain assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81, signals “thumbs up” to a pilot during startup procedures of an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Carl Vinson and Carrier AirA Wing (CVW) 17 are underway on a western Pacific deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy A. Hazel/Released). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy A. Hazel –

Ritesh Agarwal, who started as a teen entrepreneur, has transformed his startup into India’s largest hospitality company. OYO currently operates in more than 800 cities across India, China, the UAE, Malaysia, the US, Europe, Indonesia, and other countries. The company’s valuation is estimated to be $16Bn after its latest round.

With more than 35K hotels and 125K vacation homes, and over 1.2 million hotel rooms in 800 cities and 80 countries, OYO works near its partners while exercising full control over the hotel rooms, ensuring a quality experience for its customers.

As part of the service, OYO turns all types of properties into modern, fully-furnished hotels under its brands OYO Townhouse, OYO Rooms, and OYO Flagship. Over the past year, OYO has focussed heavily on the coworking space with OYO Workstation and its acquisition of Innov8.  

As the Indian startup ecosystem grows and the market for tech services and products expands, many more unicorns and soonicorn startups will be joining this list of the most successful startups in the Indian startup ecosystem.