As technology advances, so too does the number of Unicorns. In recent years, social media has helped startups reach millions of people and investors. Artificial intelligence, general computing, e-commerce, and smart devices have all improved in the last decade. But which of these technology unicorns is the next big unicorn? Here are a few examples. 🙂
ShopClues
It was January 2016, when ShopClues was valued at $1.1 billion, making it the fourth unicorn in India. Since then, the company has gone from unicorn to outcast, and a reported $80mn valuation was a steep discount to its peak value. Now it has been acquired by Singapore’s Qoo10 Pte Ltd. However, its prospects are dim as the acquisition price was almost 90 percent lower than its peak valuation.
Mensa Brands
In its IPO filing, Mensa Brands revealed that it has raised $1 billion in venture funding and has plans to use the new funds to ramp up acquisitions and scale its team across operations, technology, marketing, and sales. The company has close to 60 employees and intends to grow this number to 150 to 200 within the next 12 to 18 months. The company follows a brand aggregation strategy, partnering with digital brands and providing on-ground expertise to help them grow exponentially. As a result, Mensa has already acquired twelve brands, and plans to expand that number to 40 by the end of 2023.
MobiKwik
MobiKwik has become a unicorn with its valuation now approaching $1 billion. The company is now a few weeks away from its IPO and will likely list for a $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion valuation. This valuation is largely due to a secondary employee stock option plan (ESOP) sale round led by Matthew Cyriac. The secondary sale helped employees exercise their ESOPs and top up their stakes, which were worth about $100 million.
CredAvenue
After raising $137 million in Series B funding from Insight Partners, CredAvenue has officially joined the club of unicorn startups. The venture capitalist-backed startup has now raised $1.3 billion. The funding was allocated to acquire diverse companies and do forward and backward integration. The company plans to continue expanding its business into new markets including India and China. It also plans to add new product capabilities in the credit and collection space.
OfBusiness
Another unicorn is Oxyzo, a financing platform for SMEs. Oxyzo has raised $200 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global Management and Alpha Wave. The funding will help OfBusiness expand its digital financial services, launch new products in the supply chain marketplace, and expand fee income business lines. SoftBank previously invested in Meesho and Zeta. Both are valued at more than $1 billion. SoftBank plans to double down on its portfolio firms and invest in a unicorn’s growth story.
Nykaa
Indian e-commerce startup Nykaa has been declared a unicorn. The company has raised USD 13.6 million in a Series F funding round led by Steadview Capital in March 2020. As of March 2020, Nykaa is valued at USD 1.2 billion. Its valuation has also increased by the addition of funds from Bollywood actors like Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif. Its founders believe Nykaa is a unicorn with huge potential to be an even bigger success in the years to come.