Tag: startup unicorn

Fractal Analytics: Empowering Industries through AI and Analytics

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Businesses in the financial services sector, known for their strict regulations and cautious nature, are often slow to embrace groundbreaking technologies. However, when they do, it’s a clear sign that a broader shift is happening across industries and regions. This raises a crucial question: how will this acceptance evolve into widespread adoption that delivers real value? The banking and insurance sectors may hold the key, offering valuable lessons for other industries looking to advance their own GenAI strategies.

Fractal Analytics also examines how one global financial institution is already seeing the benefits—teams are making smarter decisions and boosting productivity thanks to a new tool that automates complex data analysis.

In this article, we will highlight the various GenAI use cases in financial services. Here’s learning about Fractal Analytics, its Founders, Startup Story, Business Model, Revenue Model, Funding, Acquisitions, Growth, Competitors, and more.

Fractal Analytics – Company Highlights

Name	Fractal Analytics
Headquarters	Mumbai and New York City
Sector	Artificial Intelligence
Founded	2000
Founders	Pranay Agrawal and Srikanth Velamakanni
Website	Fractal.ai

Fractal Analytics – About

Fractal Analytics is a global leader in AI and analytics, helping businesses leverage data to make smarter, more informed decisions. With expertise across multiple industries—ranging from consumer goods and healthcare to insurance, life sciences, retail, and financial services—Fractal is at the forefront of transforming businesses through data.

Fractal’s approach is grounded in predictive analytics and visual storytelling, enabling companies to not only understand but act on insights for a competitive edge.

With offices in over 15 countries, including key locations like the United States, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and India, Fractal operates from dual headquarters in Mumbai and New York. The company’s impact and innovation have earned it recognition from industry analysts, including mentions as a “Cool Vendor” and a “Vendor to Watch” by Gartner.

Fractal continues to push the boundaries of artificial intelligence, delivering tailored solutions that drive growth and operational excellence across sectors.

Fractal Analytics – Industry

AI is shaping up to be a game-changer for global development, with experts predicting it could add a staggering $15.7 trillion to the world economy by 2030—more than the combined GDP of India and China today. But what about India’s role in this AI boom? Well, the country is emerging as a powerhouse, boasting the third-largest pool of AI talent globally. Investments in India’s AI capabilities are on the rise, growing at an impressive CAGR of 30.8%, hitting approximately $881 million in 2023 alone.

What’s fueling this surge? A big part of it is India’s growing semiconductor industry, which is set to become the backbone of AI innovations here. By 2025, India’s AI market could be worth $7.8 billion, with a massive 60% of AI’s contribution to India’s GDP coming from four key sectors: Industrials & Automotive, Healthcare, Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG). But that’s not all—BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) and Agri-tech are also rapidly emerging as exciting spaces for AI-driven solutions.

India is gearing up to be a key player in the global AI revolution.

Fractal Analytics – Founders

Pranay Agrawal

Pranay Agrawal serves as the Co-founder and CEO of Fractal, bringing a wealth of expertise in both finance and data science. He is a certified Financial Risk Manager through the Global Association of Risk Professionals and was recognized as one of the Top 20 CEOs of Data Science Service Providers in 2023 by Analytics India Magazine.

Before joining Fractal, Pranay worked with prominent financial institutions, including ICICI Bank and ANZ Grindlays Bank. His accomplishments have been widely acknowledged, including the prestigious Young Alumni Achiever’s Award from IIM Ahmedabad in 2018-19.

Pranay holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Bangalore University and a postgraduate diploma in management from IIM Ahmedabad. As CEO, his focus is on expanding Fractal’s presence in the U.S. and Europe while developing capabilities that keep pace with the evolving needs of clients.

“Our goal is to power every human decision within enterprises through analytics, AI and technology. This approach allows us to provide comprehensive support to our clients,” Pranay shared.

Srikanth Velamakanni

Srikanth Velamakanni is the Co-founder, Group Chief Executive, and Vice-Chairman of Fractal Analytics, one of India’s top analytics firms.
A graduate of IIT Delhi with a degree in engineering and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Velamakanni joined ANZ Investment Bank, where he worked in the structured debt department. Reflecting on his time there, he found the role engaging, working with high-profile clients like Enron and handling sectors such as aircraft finance.

That’s not all – Mr. Velamakanni is also a Co-founder and Trustee of Plaksha University, which emphasizes core engineering, AI/ML, and mathematics, fostering interdisciplinary learning that blends science with the liberal arts. As part of NASSCOM’s Executive Council, he contributes as a data and AI expert.

Fractal Analytics – Startup Story

Fractal Analytics kicked off its journey in 2000 in Mumbai, thanks to the vision of co-founders Srikanth Velamakanni, Pranay Agrawal, Nirmal Palaparthi, Pradeep Suryanarayan and Ramakrishna Reddy. (While Srikanth and Pranay continue to lead Fractal today, the other three co-founders have since moved on.)

The beginning of a great partnership began when Velamakanni transitioned to ICICI Bank’s structured products group, where he collaborated with Pranay Agarwal, a future co-founder of Fractal, to pioneer India’s first collateralized bond obligation (CBO) in 1999. This is where they saw the potential of using math to improve business outcomes, particularly in banking.

In 2000, as the internet was booming, it was the perfect time for Fractal Analytics to take shape. The founders seized the opportunity to build algorithms that could track sentiment analysis, capitalizing on the vast amount of data generated by rapidly growing websites. This laid the groundwork for their innovative analytics-as-a-service business, allowing companies to make more informed, data-driven decisions. This insight eventually led to the creation of Fractal Analytics.

In 2016, Pranay Agrawal stepped up as CEO, succeeding Srikanth Velamakanni, who transitioned to the Group Chief Executive and Executive Vice-Chairman role.

The company hit a major milestone in January 2022, achieving unicorn status after raising $360 million from private equity firm TPG. This accomplishment has solidified Fractal’s position as a powerhouse in the AI and analytics landscape, poised for even greater success in the future!

Fractal Analytics – Mission and Vision

Fractal Analytics is on a mission to leverage AI in ways that make a real difference in the world.

Vision: Imagine a future where every decision made in businesses is fueled by AI. Fractal believes in this future, where human creativity can flourish, opening doors to exciting new possibilities that can change lives and industries around the globe.

Mission: Fractal is dedicated to transforming the business landscape by harnessing advanced science and data-driven tools. Their mission is to simplify decision-making, liberating individuals from mundane tasks so they can channel their energy into innovation and creative thinking, driving progress and inspiring new ideas.

Fractal Analytics – Name, Tagline and Logo

Fractal Logo

At its core, the logo represents the concept of “fractals,” which are irregular, fractional, and fragmented objects. This design choice reflects the company’s focus on complex systems that are often disordered and multifaceted. Just as fractals can reveal intricate patterns within chaos, Fractal Analytics aims to uncover valuable insights from vast amounts of data, helping businesses navigate the complexities of the modern world.

This connection between the logo and the company’s mission highlights Fractal’s commitment to transforming disorder into clarity, allowing organizations to harness the potential of their data in a meaningful way.

Fractal Analytics – Business Model

Fractal Analytics operates with a robust business model tailored for consumer-facing companies that handle high-volume transactions.

The company focuses on two primary objectives:

Deeply understanding consumers to enhance engagement & loyalty.
improving operational efficiency through data-informed decision-making.

Their flagship solution, Customer Genomics, exemplifies this approach by providing a comprehensive view of each customer’s behavior and attitudes. This enables businesses to create personalized marketing strategies that resonate with their target audience.

By utilizing proprietary pattern recognition and machine learning algorithms, Fractal learns from every customer interaction, including insights from social media, empowering organizations to act on previously undiscovered patterns in their data.

With a specialization in sectors such as consumer goods, financial services, insurance, retail, and technology, Fractal leverages its extensive experience across over 100 countries to deliver 40 productized services designed to enhance customer understanding and drive business success.

Fractal Analytics – Revenue Model

Fractal Analytics generates revenue primarily through its subscription-based and project-based analytics services.

The company’s diverse offerings encompass artificial intelligence (AI), business intelligence (BI), and customer intelligence (CI), providing clients with a comprehensive analytics toolkit to navigate the complexities of big data.

By offering a suite of tailored solutions that integrate scientific decision-making into the operations of their clients, Fractal helps organizations improve business process efficiency and customer experience, ultimately leading to higher market share and profitability.

Fractal Analytics – Employees

Fractal Analytics offers a range of benefits designed to enhance employee satisfaction and well-being, scoring an impressive average of 81 out of 100 in perks and benefits. Notable offerings include free food, a flexible work-from-home policy, and a performance bonus. In addition to these, Fractal provides several unique benefits across categories like Health & Wellness and Paid Time Off, fostering a supportive and enriching workplace environment.

At Fractal, employees, affectionately known as Fractalites, are encouraged to remain curious and continually challenge their capabilities. To support this mindset, the company provides training programs through the Fractal Analytics Academy (FAA). This academy features a comprehensive onboarding program for every new Fractalite, ensuring a smooth transition into the organization. The FAA is committed to ongoing skill and knowledge development, helping employees advance their careers while nurturing a culture where imagination and creativity thrive.

Fractal Analytics – Challenges Faced

Fractal Analytics leverages its experience in solving business analytics challenges across industries like consumer packaged goods (CPG), financial services, and retail.

Transition from analytics to AI: First, the company had to anticipate client needs years in advance, prompting a significant increase in research and development investment, from 3-4% of revenue to 12.5%. Second, the shift required a change in talent strategy, prioritizing a learning-oriented mindset over specific skills. To address this, Fractal invested heavily in training and development programs, ensuring employees could adapt to evolving AI technologies. Despite these adjustments, the overall transition was relatively smooth, with the core business questions remaining constant.
Building a risk model: The lack of sufficient data, posed significant risks, especially in the financial sector where errors could cost banks a fortune. For instance, while developing a personal loan cross-sell model for ICICI’s credit card customers, they encountered thin data for price sensitivity analysis, a relatively new area at the time. To overcome this, Fractal conducted extensive research and wrote a paper on the subject, which they presented to the bank. This built credibility and allowed them to confidently offer their services to other major clients like Citibank and Hindustan Lever.
Keeping up with the fast-evolving world of analytics: At Fractal Analytics, the industry changes so quickly that knowledge becomes outdated in just three years. To tackle this, they established the Fractal Academy, a dynamic learning hub designed to keep employees ahead of the curve. By partnering with platforms like eDX and Coursera, Fractal encourages its team to continuously upgrade their skills. Employees can earn credits for completing relevant courses, ensuring they stay sharp and ready to handle the industry’s rapid advancements while maintaining a culture of continuous growth.

Fractal Analytics – Funding and Investors

Fractal has raised around $855 million to date including a $360 million round, where the Srikanth Velamakanni and Pranay Agrawal-led company turned unicorn.

Date of Funding	Funding Amount	Round Name	Investors
July 15, 2025	$170 million	Secondary share sale
January 5, 2022	$360 million	Series E	TPG
January 17, 2019	$200 million	Series D	Apax
May 10, 2016	$100 million	Series C	Khazanah Nasional Berhad
August 13, 2014	Undisclosed	Series B	Aimia
January 24, 2013	$25 million	Series A	TA

Fractal Analytics – Mergers & Acquisitions

Fractal Analytics has made several acquisitions across three countries, with the majority concentrated in India and the United States. Most of these acquisitions have been focused on AI services and IT services, with two acquisitions in each of these areas. These strategic moves have strengthened Fractal’s capabilities in delivering advanced AI-driven solutions and expanding its footprint in key global markets.

Acquired On	Acquired Company
January 11, 2022	Neal Analytics
June 22, 2021	Samya.ai
January 15, 2021	Zerogons
January 15, 2021	XStreams
March 14, 2018	Finalmile Consulting
June 2017	4i Inc.

Fractal Analytics partnered with Final Mile to integrate data science with behavioral science in September 2017.
Fractal Announces Merger with Eugenie.ai (June 24, 2024)
Fractal Partners with QiCAP.Ai (June 4, 2024)
Acquisition of Imagna Analytics (2015)
Fractal Analytics has also acquired Mobius Innovations, a Singapore-based startup specializing in mobile-based, context-aware Big Data solutions for an undisclosed sum.

Fractal Analytics – Financials

Fractal Financials	FY24	FY25
Operating Revenue	INR 2196 crore	INR 2765 crore
Total Expenses	INR 2250 crore	INR 2575 crore
Net Loss/Profit	INR -55 crore	INR 221 crore

Fractal Analytics – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns

Fractal Analytics allocated under $100 million for print advertising over the past year, strategically investing in premium ad units. The company advertised across fewer than 50 different media properties, utilizing a variety of formats to reach its audience. In addition to its advertising efforts, Fractal launched and promoted a new product called MarshallGoldsmith.ai in the last twelve months. MediaRadar, a platform that tracks creative runs on leading websites, magazines, and national television for over 3 million brands, captures Fractal’s advertising presence. Recently, the company has placed several advertisements through its subsidiaries, showcasing its commitment to effective media engagement.

Fractal Analytics – Awards and Achievements

Fractal has received the following awards:

Best Places to Work in New York 2023
Fast 50 Asian American Business: Honored by the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC).
Innovation Award: Fractal Analytics received the prestigious Innovation Award at the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) annual Analytics Challenge during the DMA2013 Conference & Exhibition held in Chicago.
Best in Business for ‘AI and Data’: Best in Business Awards 2023, featured in the Winter issue of Inc. magazine.

Fractal Analytics – Competitors

The main competitors of Fractal include:

Alteryx
Microsoft
Qlik
ThoughtSpot
Altair Engineering
AWS
BDB
Salesforce (Tableau)

Fractal Analytics – Future Plans

Fractal prepares for an IPO to raise $400–$500 million at a valuation of around $3 billion. The company has appointed Morgan Stanley, Kotak Securities, and Axis Securities as its IPO bankers and is preparing to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).

FAQs

What does Fractal Analytics do?

Fractal Analytics is an artificial intelligence company offering services across various industries, including consumer packaged goods, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, retail, technology, and finance.

Who is the CEO of Fractal Analytics?

Pranay Agrawal is the CEO of Fractal Analytics.

When was Fractal Analytics founded?

Fractal Analytics was founded in 2000 by Srikanth Velamakanni, Pranay Agrawal, Nirmal Palaparthi, Pradeep Suryanarayan and Ramakrishna Reddy.

Who are the competitors of Fractal Analytics?

The main competitors of Fractal Analytics include Alteryx, Microsoft, Qlik, ThoughtSpot, Altair Engineering, AWS, BDB, Salesforce (Tableau) and others.

August 19, 2025

List of Top 14 Unicorns in the United States

Ever heard of a unicorn? If you are imagining the beautiful mythical creature then you are wrong! Today’s generation has a different understanding of unicorns, thanks to Mr Aileen Lee, who popularized the term in 2013. So, what exactly is a unicorn? It is a private startup company that has a valuation of over $1 billion.

What is more shocking is that there are more than 900 unicorns across the world as recorded till December 2021. It makes you think the world is rich, isn’t it? Some of the former popular unicorns around the world are Facebook, Google, and Airbnb. Did it ring a bell? Well, it should! These unicorns later went on to become some of the largest companies in the world. We are here to look into the unicorns that are currently ruling the US.

Given below is a list of the top unicorns in the United States. We have curated a list of the best startup companies that have made a mark in the US market in a very short period.

1. SpaceX
2. Stripe
3. Epic Games
4. Instacart
5. Databricks
6. Chime
7. Fanatics
8. Gopuff
9. Plaid Technologies
10. Grammarly
11. Faire
12. Brex
13. JUUL Labs
FAQ

1. SpaceX

Country- USA

Valuation- $100 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2012

SpaceX Logo

SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. Its headquarters are in Hawthorne, California. Musk founded SpaceX with the aim to reduce space transportation costs and to conduct the colonization of the planet Mars. The company has developed a liquid propellent rocket, a spacecraft, and an orbital rocket among its many products. It is on the verge of creating a mega constellation named Starlink for providing commercial internet services.

2. Stripe

Country- United States

Valuation- $95 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2014

Stripe Logo

Stripe is a financial services company that is headquartered in San Francisco. However, it also has another headquarter in Dublin, Ireland. Stripe usually works with e-commerce websites and mobile applications. One of its major achievements includes the introduction of Radar, an anti-fraud tool to block fraud transactions.

3. Epic Games

Country- United States

Valuation- $42 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2018

Epic Games Logo

Epic Games is a popular video game and software development company is headquartered in Cary, California. This unicorn was founded by Tim Sweeney in 1991. It was earlier named Potomac Computer Systems. Its first commercial video game release was ZZT in 1991. It is mostly known for developing the commercially available game engine, Unreal Engine. It is also used to power internally developed video games.

4. Instacart

Country- United States

Valuation- $39 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2014

Instacart Logo

This popular retail company operates both in the US and Canada. Instacart operates a grocery delivery service and a pickup service in both countries. The company’s services are offered through its web and mobile app.

5. Databricks

Country- United States

Valuation- $38 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2019

Databricks Logo

Databricks is a popular software company that was founded in 2013. The creators of Apache Spark created this unicorn with the aim of creating multiple open-source projects. Most of them spin around data science, data engineering, and machine learning. It mostly develops and sells cloud data platforms.

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6. Chime

Country- United States

Valuation- $25 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2019

Chime Logo

This financial technology company provides free mobile banking services owned and provided by Central National Bank or The Bankcorp Bank. It issues Visa debit cards to the account holders and they also get access to the online banking system. The company earns a majority of its revenue through the collection of interchange fees.

7. Fanatics

Country- United States

Valuation- $18 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2012

Fanatics logo

This popular American retailer unicorn, Fanatics was developed in 1995 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It mostly deals with sports merchandise, equipment, and sportswear. Founded by Alan Trager, Fanatics proudly boasts of having connections with over 1080 product vendors and companies like Majestic, Adidas, Reebok, Nike, and more.

8. Gopuff

Country- United States

Valuation- $15 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2020

Gopuff Logo

This food delivery company operates not only in the US but also in England. Its headquarters are currently in Philadelphia. The unicorn boasts of operating in over 650 cities in the US. You will also be shocked to know that the company’s worth as of 2021 is $15 billion. It makes for a huge amount, isn’t it?

9. Plaid Technologies

Valuation- $13.4 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2018

Plaid Technologies Logo

This is also a fintech startup that is headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is responsible for building a data transfer network that is known to power Fintech and other digital finance products. The company also hosts a technology platform that enables the applications to connect with the bank accounts of the users. Apart from the US, Plaid Technologies also operates in the UK, Canada, Spain, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

10. Grammarly

Valuation- $13 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2019

Grammarly Logo

Who doesn’t know Grammarly? This popular cloud-based writing assistant has helped millions of users around the world correct their grammar and tone. It uses a special AI method to identify mistakes and search for an alternative for those words in the platform. It was initially released in 2009 and remains one of the most popular writing assistants in today’s world. Right from reviewing spellings, punctuation, grammar, engagement, and clarity, it looks for everything in content.

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11. Faire

Valuation- $12.4 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2019

Faire Logo

It is another popular eCommerce platform based out of the US. Users can shop from over 40,o00 independent brands through Faire’s website. It acts as a wholesale marketplace for both brands and retailers. It mostly helps the retailers find and buy unique merchandise as per their demands or requirements.

12. Brex

Valuation- $12.3 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2018

Brex Logo

This technology company deals in financial services and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. It not only offers cash management accounts but also business credit cards to other technology companies who require them. The cards offered by Brex are business charge cards and are issued by the Emigrant Bank.

13. JUUL Labs

Valuation- $12 billion

Unicorn Entry- 2017

Juul Labs Logo

It is an electronic cigarette company that was carved out of Pax Labs a few years ago in 2017. The electronic cigarette made by JUUL labs atomizes the nicotine salts that are derived from tobacco. Moreover, one-time-use cartridges are used to provide the products for the same. This popular company headquarters is in San Francisco. If you are not aware, JUUL even became the most popular e-cigarette in the US back in 2017.

Conclusion

With the advent of growing competition in the market, unicorns are striving hard and leaving no stone unturned to remain in the field. This is happening in every part of the world and the US seems to be leading the way here. Multiple unicorns have already reached heights of success while a few others have just entered the market. Only time will tell what lies in the fate of these non-mythical, real unicorns that are currently running for success and fame.

FAQ

How many unicorns are there in the United States?

There are approximately 487 Unicorns in the USA.

Which city has the most unicorns in the United States?

San Francisco has the most unicorns with a total count of 203 unicorns.

How many unicorns are there in the world?

As of January 2022, there are more than 1000 unicorns in the world.

January 26, 2022
Top 15 Unicorn Startups in Europe to watch out for in 2021

You might be wondering, which countries are known to have the highest number of unicorns around? Well, answering simple, countries in Europe have been known to have these numbers rising more by each year. Startups are majorly recognised by their valuation. And, in Europe, around 10 new unicorns have been recognised in the year 2020.

Likewise, many more startups are on their way to join the billion dollars valuation list. Over the past years, the startups around Europe have grown in a wide number. And among these, many have made their way to the unicorn list of Europe.

According to the database of 2021, many funding deals, M&A and IPOs are recorded to the mint condition of unicorns in Europe by the rising numbers. And many startups that reached the 1 billion valuation were found.

That’s why we have made things quite easy for you and brought the list of unicorns in Europe. Stay tuned!

Global Switch
Klarna
Revolut
Hopin
CureVac
Nucom Group
Monzo
Greensill
Bolt
Shift Technology
Epidemic Sound
Atom Bank
Auto1 Group
Darktrace
Dfinity
FAQ

Global Switch

Global Switch Website

Global Switch is known to be the most valuable unicorn in Europe that regulates the data centres in Asia and Europe. By the year 2018, the company’s 25% stake worth $2.8 Billion, was sold to some consortium investors. This brought the company with the help of its expansion plans.

Klarna

Klarna Website

The very prominent company offering online payment services, Klarna, has recently made a great number of acquisitions. These have been recorded as the purchase of cart and checkout browser expansion Shop.co and then, its Germany based expenditure company Billpay worth $75 Million. Klarna is a very well established unicorn of Sweden, Europe.

Revolut

Revoult Website

The fastest and the broadest growing digital banking company, Revolut is known widely across Europe. Revolut has broadly expanded its business from a mere travel currency card company to a well-established full-time range of digital banking services.

Revolut has quite a tough competition with the N26 and it’s moving all the way out to beat its competitors.

Hopin

Hopin Website

Hopin is a very well known Virtual events platform in Europe that made its fastest way towards the list of unicorns; within 8 months of its launch. And, by the end of 2020, it became the fastest-growing company in Europe.

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CureVac

CureVac Website

The well-established biopharmaceutical company works with the usage of mRNA for various medical purposes but, most importantly for the development of vaccines. CureVac is a unicorn established in Germany worth $1.7 billion.

Nucom Group

NuCom Group Website

The Germany-based startup, Nucom Group holds a portfolio of consumer & lifestyle brands. This also includes the Parship, Eharmony, Amoreli and Falconi.

Nucom Group has a valuation of $2.2 billion with the prominent investment by General Atlantic, which holds around 30% of the company’s stake.

Monzo

Monzo Website

Monzo is a startup established in the United Kingdom as a challenger bank. The valuation of Monzo is estimated at $2.5 billion. Monzo has raised a $144 million series F from its potential investors such as Stripe, Accel, Y Combinator and General Catalyst.

Greensill

Greensill is a supply chain finance company that carries the position of the third party between the solid suppliers and the businesses. They offer early supplier payment and business funding. Greensill has the investments of General Atlantic, SoftBank Group and many others.

Bolt

Bolt Website

The leading transportation platform, Bolt is one of the European developing companies. Bolt was initially launched as Taxify which was an environmental influence fund along with a €10 million seed capital. It took the initiative of manufacturing such products that suit the global science and environmental advantages.

With all means, Bolt now operates around 13,000 electrical Scooters and bikes.

Shift Technology

The company with a valuation of $1 billion, Shift Technology is known to be Europe’s largest insurance funding round which raised to $220 million Series D within a week. Shift Technology is a France based company that aimed the expansion of its casualty insurance market and its property along with health security.

Shift Technology gained its unicorn status in May 2021 with total funding of €289 million.

Epidemic Sound

Epidemic Sound was launched in 2009 but, recently, in march 2021, it found its way to the unicorn list of Europe. It was raised with equity from fhe EQT Group and Blackstone, worth $450 million. Moreover, it also has its alignment with the Kichi Invest, SEB, Creandum and DS Asset Management.

Epidemic Sound holds a valuation of €1.3 billion.

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Atom Bank

AtoM Bank is the first-ever app bank in the United Kingdom. It provides the offering of a wide range of personal and business banking products in a mobile banking application which can be protected by the voice of face lock. Atom Bank gained its unicorn status in 2018 when it raised $514 million and extended its valuation of $1.25 billion.

Auto1 Group

Auto1 Group is a European company that provides a marketplace where you can conveniently sell or buy a car. It’s a platform that connects the buyers and sellers to crack a potential deal.

In the January of 2018, Auto1 Group received an investment worth €460 million from Softbank which led its way to the unicorn list.

Darktrace

Darktrace is a billion dollars tech company that works against cybercrime through machine learning and artificial intelligence that helps it to detect the assailant through its Enterprise Immune System. In May 2018, the country gained a valuation of $1.25 billion and made its way to the unicorn list.

Dfinity

Dfinity is a well-established company in Switzerland. It is a software company that designs to host the next level of services and technology through blockchain, decentralised networking.

Dfinity was founded in 2015 and now, it aimed to develop the “Internet Computer”, prominently.

Conclusion

There are plenty of unicorns in the region of Europe and many are on their way to gain the status of one. Unicorns contribute an enormous role in the globalization of VC as well as the economy. Among the countries of Europe, Israel has the most number of unicorns, followed by the United Kingdom and Germany in line.

Through this article, you would know some of the fastest-growing and developing unicorns of Europe.

FAQ

How many unicorns are there in Europe?

There are approximately 70 unicorns in Europe as of 2021.

How many unicorns are there in the world?

There are around 700 unicorns in the world as of July, 2021.

Which country has the most number of unicorns?

United States tops the list of most number of unicorns with 288 unicorns.

July 21, 2021
What Makes A Unicorn Startup & How To Build One
People know about popular unicorn companies like Uber, Swiggy, Airbnb, Snapchat, and Pinterest and their journey to success, but most people don’t know what a unicorn company exactly means. What are the different criteria for a startup company to become a unicorn? A unicorn in the Business world indicates a privately owned startup company that has a valuation of $1 billion.

The term was initially coined by a well-known venture capitalist Aileen Lee, who choose the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of successful startup companies. The simplest definition of a startup has remained unchanged ever since, while the number of unicorns has gone up. Unicorn has now become a catchphrase within the global startup market. When a startup becomes a unicorn, it shows how the business model of the company and its value proposition is in the eyes of the investors. The unicorn helps grows in both visibility and operational outlay, which often leads directly to greater business opportunities for the organization.

The article ahead will give you an insight on How to become a Unicorn Startup, the Features & Characteristics of a Unicorn Company, and more.

The Characteristics of Unicorn Startup
Investors of the Unicorn Companies
Can Only Startups be a Unicorn?
Disruption and Value Seeding
Market Size of the Unicorn Companies
Maximizes Growth and Net Profit
Which Indian Startups turned Unicorn in 2021?
FAQ’s
Conclusion

The Characteristics of Unicorn Startup

The process to be a unicorn is not easy and each and every unicorn has its own story. All the unicorn companies have a similar set of features that makes them a unicorn startup.
- Groundbreaking innovations: The unicorn companies have brought a disruption in the field they belong to. Uber, for example, changed the way people commuted. While Airbnb is known to have changed the way people planned their way while traveling. The innovative strategies are what make them a unicorn company.
- The First innovations: The unicorn companies are mostly the starters in their industry. They change the way people do things and gradually create a necessity for themselves. They are also known to continuously innovate and stay ahead of competitors which might later boom.
- High Technology: Most unicorn companies have a business model run on a higher level of technology. Almost 87% of the unicorn products are software, 7% of them being hardware, while the other 6% of them being based on products and services.
- Consumer-focused startups: Their main goal into simplify and make things easy for consumers and be a part of their day-to-day life. Over 62% of the unicorns are particularly B2C companies. Another key ingredient is keeping their products and services affordable.
- Privately owned: Many known unicorn companies are nowadays privately owned which gets their valuation bigger when an established company invests in it. There are more than 361 private companies around the world valued at over $1 billion. India has 16 of these companies, that are taking up 4% of the overall share.
Popular unicorn companies outside the US

Key ingredients of a Unicorn
- To make a simple solution to an existing problem
- Make a strong and highly marketable value proposition
- Make a plan in order to have a clear vision for the future of the company and the products and services they offer
- Unicorn companies have Potential beta testers and customers
- They usually have an easy-to-use UX that allows users to quickly adapt and get the product.
Investors of the Unicorn Companies

Great ideas usually don’t have value until you do something with them, which is what the unicorns companies are good at as they have the right people, skills, tools, and data to make the magic happen. This is taken into consideration by the investors for deciding which startup to fund. It is very important to project revenue and growth.

Some projections need to be backed by hard data and the forecasting growth for the next 6, 12, or 18 months. If a startup in need of funding without any numbers to back up its claims, the potential investor may not be interested in good. Recent startups wait in order to seek out investors until they have a marketable product with proven demand as well as a number of opportunities coming your way.

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Can Only Startups be a Unicorn?

The answer is yes because the unicorn is a term given only to startups who have a valuation of over a billion. The only startups that have a valuation of 10 billion are grouped under the term called decacon (which is a super unicorn). Dropbox, SpaceX, and WeWork are some examples of decacon.

For the startups that are based out of Canada, there is an exclusive term for what we call a unicorn. It is the narwhal. This means that any Canadian startup company with a valuation of over 1 billion is called a narwhal. Some of the famous narwhale companies are Hootsuite and Wattpad.

How to become a unicorn startup in 2020

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Which Indian Startups turned Unicorn 2021?

Indian Unicorn Startups 2021

Here’s the list of Top Unicorn Startups in India 2021

Disruption and Value Seeding

The main reason behind the growth and success of each and every unicorn is the disruptive impact it has on its chosen market. A well-known example of this is the on-demand taxi aggregator Uber. Uber uses smartphones as a medium to connect consumers with their nearby cab drivers at the touch of the button, the only reason that has driven the massive success that the company continues to enjoy.

Uber not only made booking a cab booking more convenient for the end-user but also headed more operational efficiency for cab drivers and taxi service providers by helping them optimize their revenue streams. As a result, the company is now one of the most successful unicorns with a valuation of 64.5 billion in 2020.

Market Size of the Unicorn Companies

It is important for startups aspiring to make the title of a unicorn in order to analyze the market they are operating in. Entrepreneurs must understand and analyze their target markets well in advance in order to aim for the title of a unicorn in order to analyze the markets they are operating in. They must analyze their target market and target audience well in advice before aiming to make their startups into the next big thing in the startup community.

An example of the is Airbnb. Founded as an alternative lodging/hotel solution for business travelers all over the world, the company then changed its approach to target the much larger global hotel industry, which is currently worth 550 million.

Where Can You Look For Ideas For Your Business

There are so many different factors that contribute to the success of your startup. Business idea is an important factor among them. It has an important role in creating sales and profits. Where can you look for ideas for your business? There are so many ways.

StartupTalkyATHUL C K

Maximizes Growth and Net Profit

There no fixed rule that requires a company to be profitable in order to become a unicorn. In fact one of the earliest unicorns, Nutanix earned the status in 2013 despite a complete lack of profits. The point is that profits and growth don’t always go hand in hand. In fact, going after profit can sometimes slow your ability to increase revenue.

The startups must work towards building sustainable growth rather than opting for a quick, short-sighted bump in profits. Instead of only focusing on growing your margins to impress investors with fast ROI, they must also focus on perfecting your product, increasing your total revenue, and growing your user base.

FAQ’s

What is a startup unicorn?

A term that describes a privately-owned startup with a valuation of over $1 billion.

What is a unicorn in a startup?

In finance, “unicorn” is a term that describes a privately-owned startup. The term was introduced by venture capital investor, Aileen Lee, in 2013 to describe rare tech startups that were valued at more than $1 billion. The phenomenon of unicorns is quite controversial.

Which Indian startup became unicorns in 2020?

In all, 11 Indian startups — Unacademy, Pine Labs, FirstCry, Zenoti, Nykaa, Postman, Zerodha, Razorpay, Cars24, Dailyhunt, and Glance — became unicorns this year.

Which is India’s fastest Unicorn startup?

Bengaluru and San Francisco-based SaaS startup Postman became the fastest SaaS startup to reach unicorn status. In June 2020, the six-year-old startup secured a Series C funding of $150 million at a valuation of $2 billion.

Which country has the most unicorns?

The number of unicorn companies found in China in early 2020 was bigger than those of 29 other countries, including Germany, India, and the UK, combined.

Conclusion

Hope you got an idea on how to build a unicorn startup & what are the unicorn startups’ characteristics. Startups into tech will now embrace machine intelligence mostly in its devices or products. Artificial intelligence is the future and is making innovations in the tech industry for years. But its presence will become more in the coming years. This in turn will give rise to unicorn startups which will dominant the startup industry. The moto is not to make unicorn startups but to create something that takes away the human effort by making the world a little better.
July 8, 2021
Why are people excited for Zomato IPO when it’s in loss?

The Initial Public Offering of Zomato is the much awaited IPO of 2021. It is considered to be one of the largest IPO’s of 2021. The company on 28 April 2021 has finally filed the draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Let’s look at why there is so much excitement in the market for the issue of Zomato’s shares even though they are a loss making company.

Zomato IPO
Losses of Zomato
Zomato Warns losses to continue
Bad Cash Flows
IIFL Securities
Motilal Oswal Financial Services
Kotak AMC
FAQ

Zomato IPO

Zomato has been one of the biggest successful startups in India in the last decade along with Flipkart, Byju’s and its rival startup Swiggy. The Initial Public Offering of Zomato is expected to increase the value of the company.

The dealers in the unofficial or grey market who trades in unlisted shares said that the valuation of the company could be around INR 53,000 crores. The expected valuation of Zomato will make it larger than one-third of the companies that are listed on the index of Nifty 50.

On July 8, 2021, Zomato is one week away from launching its debut IPO. The company has already filed its red herring prospectus with the Bombay Stock Exchange, and in the same, Zomato has also revealed some much-awaited details of its upcoming IPO.

According to the prospectus, the shares that Zomato would offer would be priced between Rs 72-76 each, which would make the whole issue worth between Rs 9,357 – 11,198 crores. The food delivery giant would issue its shares for a period between July 14 – 16, 2021. Furthermore, as per the reports, there will be a total of 1,30,20,83,333 equity shares of face value Re 1 each on offer for bids.

Zomato had initially disclosed that the total amount of its IPO would be Rs 7,500 crores last month. However, the company eventually had to increase the total size of the issue due to rising demands from the investors. The portion of the IPO, as offered to the retail investors, has been limited to 10% of the total size of the issue. This is because the brand has not achieved profitability yet.

Losses of Zomato

The difference between Zomato and the other companies listed on the Nifty50 index is that they are profit making companies for several years or at least from the last decade. Whereas Zomato is recording losses continuously for the past 4 years.

For the last nine month period which ended in December 2020, the company has reported a net loss of INR 682 crores and INR 2,385 crores for the year 2019-2020, INR 1,010 crores for the year 2018-19 and INR 107 crore for the year 2017-18.

In the draft red herring prospectus, which was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Board of India the company has mentioned that they have a history of net losses and are expecting an increase in the expenses in the future.

Prior to the launch of its debut IPO, Zomato is spending Rs 1.3 to earn a single rupee of operating revenue in FY21, which has improved from Rs 1.92 that the company had to spend in FY20.

Furthermore, the company has also witnessed an improvement of around 66% in terms of the total losses. Zomato suffered an annual loss of Rs 2385.6 crore in FY20, which came down to be Rs 816.4 crore in FY21. The company, which is going live with its IPO next week, still has outstanding losses worth Rs 5,600.3 crore at the end of FY21

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Zomato Warns losses to continue

Zomato has warned the investors that the company expects the expenses to increase in the future and their losses to continue for a period of time. The company said that from the significant investments it would require some time to grow the business.

The company has plans to pump in a lot of money into the marketing, advertising and promotion. They also have plans to expand its services to new markets in India and develop its platform in addition to expanding its delivery partner network.

The company said that these efforts would be costlier than they expect and added on saying that it may not result in the increase in revenue or growth of the business. The company said that the increase in revenue and the investments received will be spent on other expenses. This would prevent the company from increasing or maintaining its profitability at a consistent level or a positive cash flow.

Zomato Revenue Growth

Bad Cash Flows

Zomato has not just struggled in generating profit but has a bad track record of generating cash flows from its operations. The cash outflow of Zomato from operations is INR 269 crore in the year ended in December 2020.

The company has reported negative cash flow in the past 3 financial years. Most of the negative cash flows are due to the high promotion and advertising expenses of the company to attract new customers to scale up their operations on the platform.

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IIFL Securities

The brokerage firm IIFL Securities said in a report that it expects Zomato to earn an operating profit in the current financial year due to the increase in the demand of delivery business because of the coronavirus pandemic.

IIFL securities have an expectation that Zomato will increase its net revenues at a growth of 48 % on a yearly basis for the next 5 years. They expect the fixed costs to grow at a rate of 27 % on a yearly basis which would provide an improvement in the operating margin for the next decade.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Raamdeo Agarwal who is the chairman and co-founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services has said that by giving valuations one wouldn’t look for what the company has earned in the past 5 years but will be looking at what the company will earn in the next 25 years.

Kotak AMC

Anshul Saigal who is the head of portfolio management services at Kotak AMC has said that it is confusing for investors, but he wants the investors to ask themselves a question before investing that is if the company stopped growing today will its business model earn profits. He added that the answer to this question is the heart of valuing a tech company.

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FAQ

Is Zomato listed in stock market?

Zomato is planning to go public in 2021.

Who is the CEO of Zomato?

Deepinder Goyal is the CEO of Zomato.

Is Zomato an Indian company?

Zomato, is one of India’s largest food delivery company.

Conclusion

Zomato’s IPO will be more like a leap of faith for the Indian investors. The traditional way of valuing a business cannot be used by the Indian investors when it comes to valuing a business model like Zomato.

July 8, 2021