B2C e-commerce startups fastest to attain unicorn status

Bengaluru, Jan 11 (KNN) The e-commerce business-to-consumer (B2C) startups are fastest to achieve the unicorn status as compared to those in online gaming and software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry, according to PwC’s CY22 Start-up Perspectives report.

As per the report, the e-commerce B2C firms, on an average, take about 3.8 years to attain unicorn status, followed by logistics and autotech startups, which take about 6.3 years, and media and entertainment startups that take an average of 6.8 years to achieve USD 1 billion valuation.

“Historically, the average time taken by an Indian startup to touch USD 1 billion valuation has been around seven years," it said.

Presently, the most number of unicorns produced in India are by the software-as-a-service industry with 20 active unicorns followed by fintech, which currently has about 16 active unicorns.

The report noted that across sectors, 21 startups entered the unicorn club in calendar year (CY) 2022, compared to 42 in 2021, amid a broader funding slowdown in the ecosystem.

Becoming the most funded sector during the year, SaaS startups made up for about 25 per cent of total funding activity in India, seeing a jump of over 20 per cent year-on year (YoY) in funding value to about USD 6 billion, as average ticket sizes in the sector grew to USD 18 million from USD 15 million in CY21.

Following this, fintech firms commanded over 20 per cent of total funds raised in the given period amidst a 40 per cent YoY decline in investment activity in the sector. Only four firms, however, attained unicorn valuations, including OneCard, and Yubi.

The steepest decline in funding during CY22 was witnessed in e-commerce business to consumer (B2C) at 71 per cent and edtech at 54 per cent.  (KNN Bureau)