The website revolution that was started in 1990 in India has contributed enormously to the establishment of startups. However, it was after 2010, that the startup culture slowly began to rise in the country inspiring professionals and millennials to launch startups besides permanent jobs. During 2016-2017, there were only 733 startups that surged in 2021-22 to 14,000. India emerged as a third country, with 83 unicorns worth USD 277.7 billion and 44 new startup businesses that became unicorns valued at more than USD 1 billion, after the US and China.
Apart from being a National Capital, the city of Delhi has become the startup capital of India too with more than 9,322 tech startups alone. The startup figures of Delhi surpassed the figures of Silicon Valley of India (Bengaluru). The startup in Delhi is a diverse market that has businesses that deliver food not just for people but also for dogs. Ranging from clothing, news consumption, and money transactions to dating and matchmaking, messaging and logistics, Delhi is a hub for startups with vast as well as fast-growing market space.
They say hard work is the key to success but we say consistent hard work is the key to success. Consistency is one of the major concepts to sustain and become successful in any domain of work, especially in business. With consistent players, the national capital rose into the heart of startup businesses. Curious to know about successful and consistent startups in Delhi? Read the below content to get inspired to become a startup owner.
Top 10 Successful startups in Delhi
Zomato
Initially launched as Foodiebay in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal, Pankaj Chaddah, and Gaurav Gupta, to search and review restaurants, it was renamed Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd in the year 2010. Being India’s biggest food delivery business and recognized in the global domain as the best company in the field of delivery, the company delivers food to people who place orders in restaurants using the Zomato mobile app. The Delhi-based startup company has also entered into events and grocery sourcing for restaurants and hotels. With over 55 million users, the company operates in over 20 countries. In 2019, the company was valued at USD 3.6 billion according to the HSBC report.
Snapdeal
Snapdeal is an online marketplace that sells multi-category products such as home and kitchen items, gadgets, beauty and cosmetics, sports and fitness products, books, music, media, gaming, and so on at an affordable price. It has buyers from around 3,700 towns across India and has 500,00+ independent sellers. Often praised for its concept of value for money, the company is one of the most efficient large-scale e-commerce platforms in India with a valuation of more than $800 million. The company was founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in 2010.
Inshorts
Inshorts is a news aggregator app that provides short news pieces of up to 60 words. The news content has categories like national, international, sports, politics, business, technology, entertainment, and so on. The short summary of news is aggregated from various national and international sources. Inshorts has over 10 million users and it receives 3 billion page views every month. The company was founded by Azhar Iqubal, Anunay Arunav, and Deepit Purkayastha in the year 2013. The company has funding of USD 164 million and a valuation of USD 550 million.
Dogspot
Delhi has startups that not just provide online food delivery for people but also for dogs. Dogspot is an online food delivery company that allows dog owners to order food for their dogs online. The company is the largest online store for pet supplies in India. The startup has made pet care easy. Business tycoons like Ratan Tata and Ronnie Screwvala fund the company for its progress. Dogspot was founded by Rana Atheya in 2007.
MobiKwik
MobiKwik is a Fintech SaaS startup that was initially started to provide a virtual mobile wallet usable at online and offline avenues of more than 2,50,000. MobiKwik has an average transaction size of Rs. 700. In 2012, the company introduced a digital wallet to make payments online and to pay bills. But now, the company offers loans, insurance, bill payments, IMPS money transfers, mutual funds, and DTH recharge services. The company was founded by the husband and wife duo, Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku in 2009.
Lenskart
Lenskart is an online optical store that sells glasses with prescription lenses at an affordable price. By 2020, Lenskart has earned revenue of more than 1,000 crores. The company’s products are computer glasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, etc. It has a valuation of USD 1 Billion and funding of USD 774 million. The company was founded by Amit Chaudary, Sumeet Kapahi, and Piyush Bansal in 2010.
Delhivery
Delhivery is a Delhi-based delivery and e-commerce logistics company. The startup provides transportation, warehouse, freight, and order fulfillment, especially maintaining the smooth function of the supply chain. The company has funding of USD 1.4 billion and a valuation of USD 3 billion. Delhivery is India’s one of the largest e-commerce logistics companies which were founded by Sahil Barua, Kapil Bharati, Mohit Tandon, Suraj Saharan, and Bhavesh Manglani in 2011.
Revfin
Revfin is a digital lending startup based in Delhi that is categorized under financial technology firm. It is one of the most advanced companies in the world in terms of digital lending. The company started to make loans more accessible and convenient for financially disadvantaged people. Having a funding value of USD 5.38 million, Revfin has a loan demand of over INR 10 crores per month. Having a valuation of $9.5 million, the startup was founded by Sameer Aggarwal in 2018.
Trulymadly
Trulymadly is a dating and matchmaking app in India just like Tinder. The app shows only limited results which is considered a perk, unlike Tinder which shows numerous results. Trulymadly app requires you to fill up the profile through questionnaires and based on your profile, it will link you to an ideal partner. The brand was founded by Sachin Bhatia, Hitesh Dhingra, and Rahul Kumar in 2013.
Stanza Living
Stanza Living is a technology-enabled housing concept that offers students and young professionals fully furnished apartments with services such as food, internet, laundry, housekeeping, security, and community interaction. Working in the domain of renting fully-furnished hostels for students, the company has a bed capacity of 55,000. Stanza Living enters into a long-term leasing agreement with property owners and developers, according to company rules, who change their property into a shared living unit. The company was founded by Anindya Dutta and Sandeep Dalmia in 2017 and now the company has a valuation of USD 4.92 million.
Conclusion
Now you can come to the conclusion that Delhi is one of the best startup locations in India since you might have come across at least half the startup names mentioned above. Delhi is called the startup capital not because of the enormous startups that the city has but because of the consistency with which the startup’s function.
There are more than 5,000 registered startups cropped up in the city between April 2019 and December 2021 as per the Economic survey of 2021-22. The startup hub of Delhi has over 7,000 businesses and 10 unicorns with a total worth of USD 50 billion by the end of 2020.
Hence, Delhi is a suitable marketplace for startups to flourish as it is expected that, if the right interventions are made, Delhi would be one of the Top 5 global startup hubs with 12,000 startups and 30 unicorns of USD 150 billion rough worth by 2025.