Scaling Success: A Glimpse into India's Startup Boom with Leap to Unicorn Season 1 Highlights

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If you're an entrepreneur with a vision, India's Startup ecosystem is the place to be right now. India is on the path to becoming the third largest economy in 2030, and nurtures the third largest startup ecosystem. In 2022 itself, we added 19 new unicorns and have around 80000+ recognised Startups, 4537 Funded Startups, and 100 Soonicorns with a total valuation of over $180 billion. India isn't just thriving in its metros: Smaller cities such as Indore, Jaipur, Raipur and Chandigarh are becoming breeding grounds for entrepreneurs, offering benefits over big cities and emerging as startup hubs.

The Indian Govt has had a huge hand in making this happen. Through numerous programs, the government has been working to improve the business ecosystem overall. In particular, the startup ecosystem through a number of initiatives and policy drivers that are encapsulated under the Startup India umbrella.

Moneycontrol, CNBC-TV18 and IDFC FIRST Bank have had ringside seats to this transformation. As entities that are deeply invested in India's economic landscape, they came together to create Leap To Unicorn, a platform for early-stage start-ups that provides mentoring, networking, and fundraising opportunities for India’s most promising startups through a meticulously planned journey.

In its first season, Leap to Unicorn saw a fantastic turnout of over 5500 registrations, around 600 of which went through a 4-week interactive virtual bootcamp. Through multiple rounds of shortlisting, the top 6 start-ups received a funding intent of around Rs. 60cr from investors LetsVenture, 3one4 Capital, Venture Catalyst, GetVantage & Peercheque.

As a conclusion to Leap to Unicorn Season 1, the top 100 event was held in New Delhi on 20th Nov, to felicitate the top 100 startups of the campaign. The event gave the startup founders an unparalleled opportunity to connect with industry leaders and dignitaries, including chief guest, Jeet Vijay CEO, Meity Startup Hub, in addition to finding synergies with other founders, and an opportunity to share their own journeys and insights. The event also heralded their arrival on the national stage through a commemorative edition of Forbes magazine profiling the top 100. The event also served as a launch for a beautiful coffee table book that takes another look at these 100 startups from a different, but no less insightful lens.

Following the felicitations, IDFC FIRST Bank Founder, MD & CEO, Mr Vaidyanathan and Moneycontrol Deputy Executive Editor Chandra R Srikanth kicked off the evening with a spirited fireside chat that spanned Mr Vaidyanathan's own journey as a founder to the value that startups that build in the economy. He drew attention to the million jobs created by India's over 100,000 startups, and commented on the high quality of these jobs and the ripple effects they create. Moreover, startups are also driving inclusivity. To quote Mr Vaidyanathan, "One of the biggest issues that India struggled with for the last 60-70 years is being able to be inclusive in everything it does. For instance, Financial Services once catered only to the top of the pyramid, medicine even, was limited to the upper end. Even education only some of us could afford! This digital ecosystem is helping people irrespective of where they fall on the socio-economic spectrum. Services go down the pyramid and I think that is one really big value add from startups."

Snapdeal & Titan Capital Cofounder Kunal Bahl enthralled the audience with a masterclass on How to Start Right. Kunal began with the key aspects that investors look for in startups. In essence, the want founders of a certain quality and demonstrated ability - people who have accomplished something in their own right, even if in a different field. He doesn't count academic success as a factor here. The second relates to realistically sizing the market opportunity. Investors tend to appreciate founders who target a specific, often smaller, and more manageable segment within a potentially vast market. This shows a realistic approach to resource utilization and strong market domination strategy from the outset. Finally, founders who crack the code on positive unit economics will always stand out. The ability to generate profits at a unit level from day one, irrespective of whether it's a B2B or B2C model, is highly valued.

“The challenge for founders lies in truly believing that their product or service meets high-quality standards and ensuring they invest enough rigor in its creation before presenting it to customers. When this commitment is met, attracting customers becomes a natural outcome. In my experience, a high-quality product or service has never struggled to find customers—this hasn't happened before, and it's unlikely to happen in the future.”

This was followed by a keynote address by Jeet Vijay CEO, MeitY Startup Hub, who spoke about the evolving funding scenario for startups and how special initiatives are helping the best startup ideas find investors.

This led seamlessly into the final panel for the night: a discussion between Miss Shanti Mohan, Co-Founder, LetsVenture & Trica; Ms. Shweta Rau, Founder and General Partner, White Venture Capital; Mr Prem Bhartasarthy, Managing Partner, Pontaq; and Mr. Rohit MA, Managing Partner PeerCapital, on their reasons for Backing Early Stage Startups.

As each panelist built on each other's reasons for investment, it ended the event on a high, positive note. In true startup fashion however, Moneycontrol, CNBC-TV18 and IDFC FIRST Bank aren't resting on their laurels. Leap to Unicorn Season 2 is open, and calling for entries. Register here https://bit.ly/LTUSeason2 to leapfrog your startup on its unicorn journey.