With an aggressive push towards empowering the MSME sector and boost innovation, India currently boasts to be the world’s third largest startup ecosystem with a staggering 38 Unicorns (startups with a valuation of more than $1 Billion). Being the world’s third largest startup ecosystem, India hosts 41,061 startups creating over 4,70,000 jobs and the momentum does not seem to slow down even by the forces of the pandemic as even under such economic duress India managed to establish 12 Unicorns in the span of a year. Moreover, if the past is any indication of what is about to come, India at the best of its economic times would be a bigger playhouse for startups and entrepreneurs. With that being said, let’s look at some of the most promising startups of 2021.
Ather Energy
With the entire auto industry in the middle of a massive technological transformation, Ather Energy comes off as the disruptive market force pioneered by the likes of Tesla and Polestar in the western markets. India’s electric vehicle market is slated to enjoy a CAGR of 30% in the coming years, Ather being the latest and most innovative player in the highly competitive and the world’s largest two-wheeler market receives the first movers’ advantage in terms of spearheading the EV revolution on India’s streets and back alleys.
Admittedly, 2020 tested the young company’s resolve. One of the primary issues faced by Ather Energy came from the tough product-market fit. Costing INR 1.13 Lakhs for an electric two-wheeler in a price sensitive market such as India made little to no sense. CEO Tarun Mehta quotes-
It was of course not without our share of mistakes: at launch we were scared of the price ourselves and tried hiding behind the INR 99k sticker. luckily for us, the market beat the heck out of us.
However, at the close of the year there was some progress as the profit margins saw a shade of green for the first time. Continuing on the same momentum, the company is looking to expand its sales profile at the moment with a strong focus on improving efficiency and managing its costs through economy of scale. Truly excited to see how India embraces the electric vehicle revolution and adopts a cross-functional model across the industry.
CoinDCX
Unless you have been living under a rock, you surely have not missed the crypto currency bandwagon. Launched in 2018 CoinDCX is pioneering the still nascent Indian Crypto Market. With over 1 Lakh active monthly users and a staggering $ 40 Million daily trading volume, CoinDCX is India’s largest Crypto Exchange Platform.
The company’s USP emerges from the availability of trading in multiple different cryptos amounting to more than 200 in total. This means you have the option to trade a lot more exotic altcoins than just Bitcoins (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). So, if you want in on the Dogecoin action and hedge your bets against Elon Musk’s tweets, CoinDCX is just about your only option in India.
However, this carries an element of risk running into buying and trading scam coins. But one of the most ingenious features of CoinDCX is its offer for leveraged trading to its users. With the maximum leverage level being 20x, this feature without a doubt can lead to extraordinary returns but equally massive losses as well.
Given how scam ridden the entire crypto exchange industry is, CoinDCX achieves confidence by having 95% of the funds kept on multi-signature cold wallets and only 5% of all the funds kept on hot wallets. Cold wallets as the name suggests are completely off-line modules whereas for the hot wallets CoinDCX makes use of geographically distributed industry defining hardware security modules.
Space Tech Startups
Humanity has been fascinated with space for as long as it has been around. Astrology and astronomy are famously ancient scientific developments, however some of the recent giant leaps came about in the last half century with the space wars between the erstwhile USSR and USA. India, although joining late to the action has made tremendous progress thanks to the likes of Dr. Sivai and other such actionable scientists who are on a mission to elevate India to new heights. Let’s look at some of the space tech startups aiding ISRO achieve its missions.
- Bellatrix Aerospace
Founded by Rohan Ganapathy and Yashas Karanam in 2015 and headquartered in Bengaluru, Bellatrix Aerospace is an Indian Private Aerospace Manufacturer and one of its kind small satellite company. Among the company’s achievements is its research on use of liquid methane as a fuel in its Aeon engines. The company has worked with ISRO to develop India’s very own electric propulsion system with water as a fuel source. - Skyroot Aerospace
Founded in January 2017 by former ISRO scientists, Skyroot is one of India’s earliest spacetech startup. With innovations such as Dhawan-1 upper stage cryogenic engine to lift heavier systems such as Vikram-II all the while being a 3-D printed part and designed with regenerative cooling configuration, Skyroot aerospace is truly leading the charge in terms of being a private launch service provider as well. The company is also working with aforementioned Bellatrix Aerospace to use the Orbital Transfer Vehicle with their indigenously developed Vikram Series of Launch Vehicles.
Vikram Rocket Test Fire - Agnikul Cosmos
Chennai based Agnikul Cosmos backed by Indian business tycoon Anand Mahindra is developing low-cost satellite launch vehicles. Raising a staggering INR 23.4 Cr in pre-series A funding round, the company claims to have developed India’s first private small satellite launch vehicle Agnibaan capable of carrying upwards of 100 KG payload to Low Earth Orbits with a modular engine configuration. Much of the company’s work is shrouded in secrecy under the newly proposed IN-SPACe entity allowing Agnikul Cosmos to work with ISRO to get access to technical information and facilities required to move forward with their launch vehicle development.
The Bottom Line
A study of the emerging startups is not just an enumeration of some highly successful companies making it big by being first movers or industry disruptors. It’s a study in what’s to come. Historically, famous companies to the likes of Microsoft and Apple heralded the arrival of the age of personal computing. We can say the same for some of the more prolific startups of today. By knowing what comes tomorrow, you can prepare yourself and be a better-informed citizen. One such industry wide revolution for instance, is happening in the field of Agri-Tech, read our feature length cover by clicking here.