India’s start-up economy had been thriving, growing with a lightning speed producing over 100 Unicorn startups in the last decade. From Fine-tech Giants to Health-driven AI based entrepreneurs, India has positioned itself as one of the world’s most Dynamic Innovation hubs. India saw its first unicorn in 2011 and has never stopped after that, with the combined valuation of the unicorn startup of $385 billion, India has positioned itself as one of the fastest growing startup economies. Fueled by booming digital class, continuous support by government, increasing trust of investors and rapidly expanding consumer base, Indian start-ups are on their way to transform industries and redefine business models with their unique minds.
In this thriving world, where ideas burn bright and fortunes shift in a blink of an eye, the stakes are high and the landscape is ever-shifting. Funding rounds can be brutal, market trends can reverse overnight, and only the most daring and innovative players manage to stay ahead. Nowhere is this battle fiercer than India, and in this brutal battle, a new wave of start-up rises— “soonicorns”- ready to claim Their Billion dollar crown, to achieve the status of a unicorn Startup.
Let’s have a look at these future unicorns of India, who look forward to achieving their billion dollar dream by the end of 2025. Noted down below are 10 soonicorn startups , paving their way through the hurdles to achieve what they want.
- Paymate
Founders: Ajay Adiseshann
Founded Year: 2006
Current valuation: $954 Millions
Sector: Fintech
Funds raised in 2024: $58.7 millions
Headquarters: Mumbai, India
Founded in 2006, Paymate is India’s one of the first fintech companies for the supply chain ecosystem, focused on streamlining payments, invoices, credits for enterprises Paymate provides a large range of payment solutions for businesses and individuals.
- CleverTap
Founders: Sunil Thomas, Anand Jain, Suresh kondamudi
Founded Year : 2013
Current valuation: $775-800 millions
Sector: Saas (customer engagement and marketing automation)
Funds raised in 2024: N/A $225 millions overall
Headquarters: San Francisco, USA
Founded in 2013, CleverTap is a customer engagement and retention platform that leverages AI-driven analytics to help businesses personalize user experiences. CleverTap offers Mobile marketing Automation, customer journey Mapping, real time analysis, personalized messaging and engagement. With their strategic moves CleverTap is on its way to become the next unicorn of India.
- Pocket FM
Founders: Rohan Nayak, Nishanth KS, Prateek dixit
Founded Year: 2018
Current valuation: $750 million
Sector: Entertainment and Media
Funds raised in 2024: $103 million
Headquarters: Bengaluru, India
Founded in 2018, Pocket FM is a fast growing Radio OTT platform that offers audiobooks, podcasts and audio series in various Indian languages, with over 100,000 hours of content Pocket FM provides a great range of stories in multiple genres and styles attracting Millions of users all across India.
- kredit bee
Founders:Madhusudan Ekambaram, Karthikeyan Krishnaswamy, and Vivek Veda
Founded Year : 2018
Current valuation: $700 million
Sector: Fintech
Funds raised in 2024: $9.4 million
Headquarters: Bengaluru, India
Founded in 2018, Kredit bee is India’s one of the most prominent digital lending platforms, offering personal loans to young intelligents and self-employed individuals. It delivers seamless, fully digital loan disbursal service through its mobile app.
- E-com Express
Founders:. T. A. Krishnan (CEO),K. Satyanarayana,Manju Dhawan, Late Sanjeev Saxena
Founded Year : 2012
Current valuation: $878 million
Sector: E-commerce delivery.
Funds raised in 2024: $33-34 million
Headquarters: Gurugram, India
Founded in 2012, E-com Express is a leading logistics and supply chain solutions provider specializing in e-commerce deliveries across India. It has built a pan-India delivery network, covering over 27,000+ pin codes, and is a major player in the booming online retail logistics sector. With India’s rapid growth rate of E-commerce, E-com Express is set to be an unicorn soon.
- Bookmyshow
Founders:Ashish Hemrajani (CEO),Parikshit Dar, Rajesh Balpande
Founded Year : 1999
Current valuation: ~$900 million
Sector: Entertainment And online ticketing
Funds raised in 2024: $250-300 million by KKR
Headquarters: Mumbai, India
Founded in 1999, Bookmyshow dominates India’s online booking market with over 200M+customers and services in 650+ towns and cities. The company offers booking services for movie, concert, live events and performance, sports events. With Their strategic mindset Bookmyshow has revolutionized how Indians experience entertainment.
- Giva
Founders: Ishendra Agarwal, Nikita prashad
Founded Year : 2019
Current valuation: $234 million
Sector: D2C (jewelry and luxury E-commerce)
Funds raised in 2024: $39-40 million
Headquarters: Bengaluru, India
Founded in 2019, Giva is dominating the silver jewelry market with their unique and beautiful design,with a focus on affordable luxury and eye-catching design Giva also provides gold-plated and diamond jewelry. Giva is rapidly expanding its online and offline services with 100+ experience stores across India. Even though its current valuation might speak of concerns about it being a soonicorn, but with their ultimate strategy Giva will soon become a unicorn like Bluestone.
- Leap scholar
Founders: vaibhav singh and Arnav kumar
Founded Year : 2019
Current valuation: $700-800 million
Sector: Fintech and edtech
Funds raised in 2024:
Headquarters: Mumbai, India
Founded in 2019, leap scholar (previously known as leap finances) is a fintech and edtech startup company helping Indian students study abroad by offering student loans, scholarships, and career guidance. It operates a tech-driven financial ecosystem supporting students at every stage of their international education journey. With over 1M+ students studying abroad leap scholar is solving the financial barriers faced by aspiring students.
- Adda 247
Founders: Anil nagar
Founded Year : 2016
Current valuation: $170-200 million
Sector: Edtech
Funds raised in 2024: N/A ($61 millions total)
Headquarters: Gurugram, India
Founded in 2016, Adda 247 is a leading platform in Edtech sector, specializing in government job exams preparation like UPSC, Banking, Railways, Teaching and also admission exams like NEET. With regional content by specially chosen educators, affordable pricing and availability Adda247 is on its way to become a dominant player in Edtech sector after Edtech Giants like Byju’s and Physics Wallah.
- Battery smart
Founders: pulkit khurana, Siddharth sikka
Founded Year : 2019
Current valuation: $340 million
Sector: EV start-up
Funds raised in 2024: $65 million
Headquarters: Delhi, India
Founded in 2019, Battery Smart is revolutionizing India’s electric mobility sector with its battery-as-a-service (BaaS) model, enabling quick and cost-effective battery swapping for electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers. By eliminating charging downtime, the startup is accelerating EV adoption in the last-mile and urban mobility space. Currently operating in 30+ cities battery smart plans to scale 10,000+ swap stations by 2026.
As 2025 unfolds, the country is on its way to produce new generation unicorns across Fintech, Edtech, Ev sector, Saas and E-commerce. These soonicorns are not just chasing a billion-dollar dream, they’re solving real-world challenges be it financial or sustainable solution for the environment.
The unicorn hunt is far From over, it’s just beginning!
