Gupshup and Sharechat, messaging platforms, have joined the list of ten Indian startups to become billion-dollar valued companies or unicorns in the first four months of 2021, in what is a historic moment for the Indian ecosystem.
Of this, six turned unicorns this week on consecutive days.
Gupshup, a messaging platform with operations in Mumbai and US, has raised USD 100 million from Tiger Global at a valuation of USD 1.4 billion and is eyeing a public listing soon.
Founded in 2004, the company’s last funding round was in 2011. It reported an annual revenue run rate of USD 150 million in 2020.
Gupshup is the 10th unicorn in the first four months of 2021, compared to 11 in 2020. Apart from Gupshup, Groww,
Sharechat, PharmEasy, Meesho, and CRED became unicorns this week. The others who made the list this year include Digit Insurance, Innovaccer, Infra.market and Five Star Business Finance.
Earlier in the day, regional language social network, ShareChat was valued at USD 2.1 billion in its latest USD 502 million funding round.
The round has been led by Tiger Global Management, Snapchat parent Snap Inc and existing backer Twitter and Lightspeed.
Launched by three IIT Kanpur alumni- Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Singh in 2015, ShareChat was among the early players in the regional language content and social media space in India, a space with dozens of players in the last year.
ShareChat gained early traction and saw investors including Lightspeed, Elevation Capital (SAIF Partners), Shunwei Capital and Xiaomi invest.
The ban on Chinese apps was also among major factors why ShareChat witnessed unprecedented support and investment and the company saw traction like never before.
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