Biggest Startups in India that you Should Know About!

For the last couple of years, it appears like India has been hit by a tsunami of startups and unicorns. There are only two months left in the FY21, and at least 30 firms have already joined the exclusive unicorn club. According to a survey by Hurun India, India added 3 “unicorns” per month in 2021, nearly doubling the entire number of startups valued at over $1 billion to 51 as of end-August. India is now third on the list of countries with the most unicorns, behind the United States (396) and China (277), but ahead of the United Kingdom (32) and Germany (18). The number of startups in India is steadily expanding. Bengaluru remains India’s Silicon Valley, with numerous new firms settling in this city. In this blog, we will be highlighting some of the best startups in India that all of us should know about. 

Know about the Top Entrepreneurs in India and their Success Stories! 

Best Startups in India to Know About

Startup founders dream of providing society something it needs but hasn’t developed yet, whether they want to transform the world or simply make their business idea a reality. A startup, according to Forbes, is a young business formed to create a unique product or service, bring it to market, and make it compelling and irreplaceable to customers. Here is a list of some of the best startups in India that are based on innovation, correcting or overcoming existing product flaws or building totally new categories of goods and services for society.

Paytm

• Headquarters: Noida
• Founded: 2010

Paytm was one of the first few firms in India to kick off the Digital Revolution, and it has since grown to become India’s biggest payments app and one of the best startups in India. Paytm is now used by over 20 million merchants and companies to accept payments digitally. This is due to the fact that over 300 million Indians utilise Paytm to pay for their purchases. Not only that, but the Paytm App is also used to pay bills, recharge mobile phones, send money to friends and family, and book movies and travel tickets. This is only one of the milestones reached toward our aim of bringing 500 million unserved and underprivileged Indians into the mainstream economy, with financial services and goods in the pipeline.

OYO 

• Headquarters: Gurgaon
• Founded: 2013

OYO is a global platform that connects entrepreneurs and small businesses with hotels and houses by delivering full-stack technology that boosts profits and streamlines operations, while also providing guests with affordable and reliable lodging that they can book instantly. Over 45 million guests have been connected to OYO’s patrons. Since its inception in 2013, OYO has grown to become the preferred technology and revenue growth platform for over 190,000 small and medium-sized homes and hotels in over 30 countries, including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Being one of the leading and best startups in India, the company is backed by the world’s leading investors such as the SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, Airbnb, Hindustan Media Ventures Limited, among many others.

Meet India’s Youngest CEO Ritesh Agarwal

Meesho 

• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Founded: 2015

Meesho – short for “Meri Shop” – is India’s fastest growing internet commerce startup with a mission to make eCommerce accessible to everyone. The company is on the list of best startups in India, with a purpose to serve India’s 100 million small enterprises, including individual entrepreneurs, prosper online. By bringing a variety of products and new clients online, Meesho is democratising internet commerce. What began as a reseller-focused platform that enabled millions of people to sell online six years ago has evolved into a single ecosystem that connects merchants, consumers, and entrepreneurs. Following a major fundraising round spearheaded by SoftBank, the company became a unicorn in April.

Udaan 

• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Year: 2016

Udaan is India’s largest b2b eCommerce platform that is empowering small businesses through the power and scale offered by eCommerce and has thus managed to be included in the list of best startups in India. It was founded in 2016 with a vision to transform the country’s trade ecosystem through technology. Lifestyle, electronics, home & kitchen, staples, fruits & vegetables, FMCG, pharma, toys, and general merchandise are among the categories in which it operates. Across the country, Udaan has over 3 million users, 1.7 million stores, pharmacies, kirana shops, HoReCa, farmers, and 30,000 sellers. Through UdaanExpress, the platform offers supply chain and logistics operations based on sound technology for daily delivery throughout 900 cities and 12,000 pin codes. It allows small businesses, manufacturers, merchants, and buyers to build their operations by providing financial products and trade credit services through UdaanCapital.

Skyroot Aerospace

• Headquarters: Hyderabad
• Year: 2018

Skyroot, which was founded by ISRO’s rocket design centre experts, is developing technology enabling safe and affordable access to space. The award-winning startup in India is testing a futuristic cryogenic engine that runs on cleaner-burning liquid natural gas. Skyroot’s mission is to develop technologies that provide rapid, dependable and cost-effective access to space. They anticipate a future in which space travel is as common, dependable, and economical as air travel.

Meet Matt Chitharanjan and Namrata Asthana, the Brewers of Blue Tokai

CRED 

• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Year: 2018

You must have seen renowned Indian personalities like Jim Sarbh, Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev, Jackie Shroff, and the Olympic Gold Medalist- Neeraj Chopra in the recent CRED advertising and promotions. But, have you ever wondered what makes this one of India’s best startups so special? CRED is a members-only club that rewards people for paying their credit card bills on time by giving them access to unique deals and premium experiences. It’s a tool that lets credit card customers manage various cards while also getting a credit score analysis. Members with a high Experian or CRIF score are eligible for special prizes when they pay their credit card bills via the app. CRED’s credit card spend tracking and management tool was one of the app’s numerous capabilities, providing the user with analysis of spend tracking and card usage efficiency. In brief, once you become a CRED member, you will have access to CRED’s carefully curated selection of special prizes and privileges.

Razorpay

• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Year: 2014

Razorpay is the first full-stack financial solutions provider in India. The company, which is counted among the best startups in India, is on a quest to improve the payment experience of over 300 million end-users. They hope to make it possible for Indian businesses, large and small, to accept payments online with the least effort and maximum convenience. Razorpay has evolved from a payment gateway provider to a solutions-oriented company with a broad product suite for accepting and disbursing payments, as well as raising cash and parking money. In a nutshell, this startup fits into every nook and cranny of your company’s financial operations.

BoAt

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Year: 2016

Founded in 2016 by  Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, the company’s co-founders actually saw a huge gap in the Indian audio and wearable market. After identifying this gap, they decided to launch boAt with the goal of bringing fashion and consumer electronics together. BoAt is now the world’s 5th largest wearable brand, as well as India’s #1 Earwear brand and a part of the chain of the best startups in India.

Also read about Vivek Gambhir, CEO of Boat, Godrej

Urban Company 

• Headquarters: Gurugram
• Year: 2014

Urban Company, formerly known as Urban Clap, is Asia’s largest home services company and one of the best startups in India which was founded in November 2014 by Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan, and Raghav Chandra. The company is an all-in-one platform that allows customers to hire premium service providers such as beauticians and masseuses, as well as sofa cleaners, carpenters, and technicians. Urban Company has created a network of 40,000+ trained service professionals and served over 5 million consumers in India, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, and Singapore since its establishment.

Dunzo 

• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Year: 2015

This hyperlocal delivery company has changed the way people shop, from delivering your lost phone charger to making a drugstore run. It’s a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week delivery platform that retrieves and delivers everything and anything within the city while ensuring lightning-fast service. In Bengaluru, the startup’s ‘Dunzo Daily’ service seeks to deliver food and basics to customers in 19 minutes. After delivering products like cow dung and breastmilk, the firm quickly gained cult status, with customers swearing by its services. It’s also the first and one of the best startups in India to receive direct funding from Google itself.

Mobile Premier League (MPL)

• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Year: 2018

With over 70 games available on its iOS and Android apps, the Mobile Premier League (MPL) is India’s largest eSports and mobile gaming platform. MPL has already moved to Indonesia and the United States, and it is rapidly expanding, with over 90 million users worldwide! MPL has expanded to over 1000 employees in just over three years and is at the forefront of the eSports revolution in India and Asia. Counted among the best startups in India, it’s seeking to invest in original gaming content as well as higher expertise in engineering, product management, and design.

Read about Pavandeep Singh’s Journey From Automobiles to Tasty Tales

Did you know: An incubator is a component of the Startup India initiative. The public-private partnership or PPP is supported in this module. The module provides the startup with the necessary knowledge and support. Currently, 118 incubators throughout India are fuelling the startup environment and assisting the startup ecosystem.

India’s Best Startup with a Student First Approach

• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Year: 2017

Founded by Mr Akshay Chaturvedi in 2017, Leverage Edu believes in the crucial concept or principle that each of us has the right to decouple our destiny from that of the country in where we were born, in order to better realise and fulfil our potential. Being considered as one of India’s fastest-growing startups, the company helps students to believe in their own potential, apart from that of the country, and in the concept that each of us has the right to separate our path from that of our birthplace. The company believes that they are all true “masters of our fate,” and “the captains of our souls,” and that we, not our birthplaces, govern and define our destinies. Leverage Edu has established itself as one of India’s most reliable brands and the best startups in India in the higher education market.

At Leverage Edu, we assist students in determining what they should do and where they should be in order to reach their greatest potential, wherever that may be on the globe. Our mentorship and guidance assist students in navigating and evaluating their journey thus far, matching them with individualised mentors, counselling them toward their higher education dream through an employability lens, and ensuring that everyone punched above their weight to bring dreams to life and truly be able to level up. So far,

• 10,000+ students have received offers from top universities in UK, Canada, US & more.
• We have partnered with 250+ universities abroad for seamless application submission and student experience.
• 500+ recruitment partners that source students directly from 800+ cities and towns in India.

The company is backed and funded by some of the best investors and companies like Blume Ventures, Tomorrow Capital, GOQii, Paytm, OYO, Airbnb and famous TV personalities like Ranvijay Singha as well.

Welcome big bro @rannvijaysingha to the @leverageedu gang 👊👊 pic.twitter.com/lSqE6cHMdu

— Akshay Chaturvedi (@Akshay001) November 11, 2021

Some of the prominent products and assistance offered to students include:

UniValley

Trusted by 200+ universities from different parts of the world, UniValley is a bespoke marketing and branding offering to empower universities with a host of student engagement solutions and provide students access to highly vetted programs. here are a few that we have listed here for you to quickly read:

1. AI-Led Course & University Shortlisting Using AI Course Finder: Students find their best-suited university for overseas education via our data-driven and millennial-first approach of Leverage Edu’s Proprietary AI Algorithm.
2. A common Application Platform: A unified application that allows students to apply to multiple universities with a single click.
3. Seamless Application Management System: Transparently manage multiple students from application status to visa approval.
4. Full-Stack Value-Added Services: From scholarships, VISA, loans, finance and forex till the student’s arrival at the university campus, we offer the best post-admission assistance.

UniConnect 

UniConnect is the World’s first and largest initiative for an online education fair that connects over 100+ universities from across the globe and students who are wanting to pursue higher education abroad. In a web-based exhibition style, it includes hundreds of universities from across the world and allows students to communicate directly with admission personnel as well as professors from the universities. Students can research and pick programs that are a good fit for them at the university of their choice.

Leverage Live

Taking the responsibility of being an emerging and one of the best startups in India, Leverage Edu is on its toes to take students first approach to greater heights. To help you ace international exams like GMAT, GRE, IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, ACT, and SAT, our product Leverage Live gives you democratic access to the greatest professors and easy technology—all at the touch of a button. Leverage Live enables students to be test-ready by providing excellent study materials, one-on-one problem-solving sessions, and personalized mentoring. Leverage Live is your all-in-one platform for test prep, study plans, rewarding mentorship, and beyond. Book your first free demo class today at https://live.leverageedu.com/. 

Cost of Living Calculator

Leverage Edu has taken the further step of informing students about the necessity of understanding the cost of studying and living in their chosen study abroad destination so that they may choose the best funding option. They wish to assist students at every level in developing a sound strategy for pursuing higher education in another country. As a result, they’ve designed a unique cost of living calculator that will help you figure out how much it will cost you to live in your chosen study area. Let’s have a look at how to use a cost of living calculator here.

Here’s what you need to know about MBA Chaiwala a.k.a Prafull Billore

Benefits for Startups in India (BONUS)

Here’s a bonus section for all our readers that will explain some of the prominent benefits that can be availed by all of the best startups in India under the Startup India Scheme by the Government of India:

Self-Certification

Various labour laws must be followed by a corporation. Violations of such statutes result in strict liability. Because they are relatively new to the eco-systems, startups tend to overlook them. Startups in India, on the other hand, are permitted to self-certify compliance with nine labour and environmental rules in order to decrease regulatory responsibilities. In this instance, no inspections will be carried out for three years.

Tax Exemption

Did you know that startups that are registered under the Startup India Scheme are exempted from tax? This exemption is only available for the first three years. Incubators are free from paying taxes on any investment that is worth more than the market price. Angel investor investments are likewise excluded from the scheme’s taxation. A tax break for the first three years or achieving a specified threshold limit means that the company can use all of its profits for business expansion.

Patent Protection

If you’ve ever tried to register a patent, you’ll know how time-consuming it can be. However, the system takes various efforts to safeguard valuable intellectual property. This includes a speedy review of patent applications. The efforts aren’t limited to expedited patent applications. Once the patent is filed, an additional rebate of 80% of the entire patent price is given.

Single Window Clearance from Mobile App

One of the advantages of the Startup India Scheme is that it allows qualifying businesses to register using a single form. This can be done through the Startup India mobile application. The application features a single form that startups can use to register. This programme also offers single-window clearances for approvals, registrations, and filing compliances for the startups in India. This is the most straightforward way for anyone to launch a business.

Relaxed Government Norms

Previously, a corporation needed to have “previous experience” or a “necessary turnover” to participate in public procurement. This is not the case anymore. Some of India’s most well-known and best startups in India have opened the road for equitable possibilities for both enterprises and seasoned entrepreneurs. Startups in India now have more leeway when it comes to public procurement. As a result, they will find it easier to engage in public procurement.

Support from Government Tenders

The majority of government projects are substantial and come with significant financial incentives. It is, however, quite difficult to obtain one. The main reason for this is its competitive nature. Startups in India, on the other hand, are offered incentives to receive government tenders under this scheme. They are also not required to have any prior experience in order to be considered for these bids.

Research and Innovation Benefits

Finally, among those who aspire to be entrepreneurs, the best startups in India can be the biggest excuse to support research and innovation. There are plans in the works to establish seven new research parks. Students and businesses will be able to use these parks to conduct research and develop their products/services.

Building a Healthy India with Rohan Mirchandani, founder of Epigamia!

So these were the best startups in India that we think everyone should know about and support the cause for which they are existing in the ecosystem. For more such informative and inspiring reads, stay tuned to Leverage Edu and follow us on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and LinkedIn.