Let us talk about unicorn startups. A unicorn startup is a private entity the value of which increases more than USD 1 billion. It is like the Golden Club of the startups, in which only very few startups get an entry. The term Unicorn Startup was first created in the year 2013 by Aileen Lee, who is someone who are intrested in investing upon business firms like these.
The year 2020 was a very shocking year for the economy. With lockdown imposed, there was not much happening around. But the year 2021 has been an amazing one. The economy has opened up and we are seeing so many unicorn startups coming up. We already have 33 unicorn startups in the year 2021 and we will be here talking about the 34th startup which has turned into a unicorn recently.
Unicorn startups in the year 2021
As discussed above, the year 2021 has seen a rise in the number of unicorn startups. There has a lot been going on and the economy is doing good compared to the year 2020. The list of the startups which have turned into unicorns this year (2021) is given below-
Digit Insurance
Droom
InfraMarket
Chargebee
CRED
Groww
ShareChat
GupShup
Meesho
PharmEasy
Urban Company
OfBusiness
Zeta
Moglix
BrowserStack
BlackBuck
BharatPe
Eruditus
CoinDCX
upGrad
Zetwerk
Grofers
MindTickle
Vednatu
Apna
Mobile Premier League
CoinSwitch
Innovaccer
Rebel Foods
Licious
MobiKwik
40% of the unicorns created in the history of India have been created in the year 2021.
Announcement of the 34th unicorn
The startup, Acko, has raised a funding of USD 255 million, as announced on September 28, 2021. This round of funding was led by General Atlantic and Multiples Private Equity, both being private equity firms.
The other participants of this round of funding were the Lightspeed Growth and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which is the largest pension fund in Canada. Even some existing investors became part of this round of funding, which was Intact Ventures and Munich Re Ventures.
The total funds raised by the startup have come up to USD 450 million and the value of the startup has come up to USD 1.1 billion, thus entering the Golden Unicorn Club. The last valuation of the startup before this round of funding was USD 500 million, which was one year ago.
The newly turned unicorn startup plans to use the funds raised to grow and expand its insurance vertical which is related to automobiles, besides focusing on other insurance products availble in several categories which includes- travel, gadgets, and appliances. They are a contributor to around 80% of the total premiums.
It also is planning to use the funds in its health insurance vertical, which is only a year old and is a contributor to almost 20% of the total premiums of the startup.
The startup even has the plan to get into another round of funding very soon in the coming months. The purpose of that round of funding will be an expansion in the new verticals.
About the newly turned unicorn startup
Founded in the year 2016 by Varun Dua, Acko is a private sector general insurance company in India. The startup has received its license from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India in the year 2017. It is an online-based startup and all the operations of the startup are conducted through the digital platform.
The partnerships of the new unicorn startup which have been held previously are as follows-
The startup came into a partnership deal with Ola Cabs and launched an in-trip insurance program in more than 110 cities in India.
The startup also came into partnership with Amazon India, so that it can provide mobile insurance plans on the website of the retailer
It also came into the partnership with HDB Financial Services to provide insurance covers to the HDBFS customers at no extra cost with EMI cards
Amazon Pay and Acko entered into a partnership agreement to offer their customers auto insurance policies.
The products in the portfolio offered by the startup are motor insurance, in-trip domestic insurance, and mobile insurance. The other investors of the startup are Amazon India, Accel, Elevation, Ascent Capital, and Binny Bansal- the co-founder of Flipkart. More than 70 million users have bought products from the startup.
The startup is the second insurance tech startup, after Digit Insurance, that has turned into a unicorn. It has around 2 million customers and the startup is planning to double that number in the next three years. It even has the aim of reaching gross premiums worth USD 160 million, which is equal to INR 1200 crore by the end of December 2021. This target if achieved will be more than double of last year which was INR 450 crore.
The startup is going upward and we wish it a bit of good luck and a bright and successful future ahead.
EDITED AND PROOFREAD BY: NIKITA
