India has produced 33 unicorns this year, which is its most till date and far exceeds the number of unicorns that came out of China during the same period.
Based on Tracxn data, India first beat China in the annual unicorn count in 2020 — 17 against China’s 16. The difference widened this year — 33 against 19 from China.
However, China has the second-highest number of unicorns in the world at 177, which is more than twice India’s 72, data from Tracxn showed. In just five years, 2015-19, China produced 136 unicorns, which is more than 75 per cent of its total. In contrast, India’s unicorn numbers are surging only of late. During the decade from 2011-19, India produced only 22 unicorns.
Over 40% of Indian unicorns have been created in 2021
Sectors that shone
The sectors that saw a higher number of unicorns this year, on the other hand, are quite similar in both countries. Nine of India’s unicorns this year are from fintech and financial services, followed by seven in enterprise applications and enterprise infrastructure, and six in the consumer segment. Likewise, four of China’s unicorns this year are from enterprise applications and infrastructure, followed by fintech, food and agriculture tech, and consumer segments with three unicorns each.
Investment in most number of unicorns: Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global top the table
China’s slowdown
The marked decrease in the number of unicorns emerging in China of late could be due to the Chinese government’s attempts to tame private companies and entrepreneurs, and curtail monopoly. According to a recent Financial Times article, Beijing has been compounding investors’ concerns by “putting a new emphasis on a longstanding political slogan — known as “common prosperity” — to focus attention on the country’s deep inequality, and put some socialism back into the term “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.”
While these new measures could slow down growth and overseas investments in China, they could turn out to be a silver lining for India, with the country becoming more and more welcoming of foreign investments, innovation in technology, and a steady, robust growth in the start-up ecosystem.