Unicorns selfie: 'Startups club' discussion with Piyush Goyal continued till 11pm, says Paytm CEO

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma shared a selfie from the meeting, which lasted four hours, planned to set up a ‘Startup Club of India’.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Shark Tank India judges and Car Dekho founder Amit Jain, and boAt's Aman Gupta were among the leaders of 54 unicorns in India, or startups with valuation exceeding $1 billion, who met with commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday.

The discussion focused on the growth trajectory of the Indian startup ecosystem, the role of domestic capital in nurturing and scaling startups, and India's position in the international startup landscape. In a post on X, Vijay Shekhar Sharma said that the meeting carried on till 11 pm.

"Incredible meeting of Startup India founders with our minister Piyush Goyal sir! We started early evening and this selfie was taken post 11 pm. At this hour all are enthusiastically discussing making India the most powerful startup nation in the world," he wrote.

Incredible meeting of @startupindia founders with our minister Sh @PiyushGoyal sir! We started early evening and this selfie is taken post 11 pm. At this hour all are enthusiastically discussing making India the most powerful startup nation in world. #inspired and #motivated. pic.twitter.com/ZTFkKQB1Mq

— Vijay Shekhar Sharma (@vijayshekhar) January 17, 2024

"An idea was floated by the Minister to make a club of unicorns or association of startups, which was a good idea and we will try to make a club of unicorns or association of startups," the Paytm founder said. "With the association of startups, we can also come up with many solutions, like connecting with bankers and investors to get access to capital."

The meeting, which lasted four hours, planned to set up a ‘Startup Club of India’, to jointly raise issues with the government to improve the startup ecosystem in the country.

Other unicorn founders present at the meeting included cofounder of EaseMyTrip Rikant Pitti, founder of Droom Sandeep Aggarwal, Zomato's Deepinder Goyal, boAt's Aman Gupta, and representatives from Flipkart, Phonepe, Swiggy, OYO, and Zerodha.

Speaking about what was discussed in the meeting, EaseMyTrip's Pitti said, "We discussed domestic capital versus international capital and how to deepen the startup ecosystem in the country. We discussed the challenges we are facing. All the founders of Unicorns have made suggestions to the minister. I belong to the travel industry and recently we started a campaign 'nation first, business later', we discussed that as well."

Read more: Vijay Shekhar Sharma reacts to IndiGo passenger attacking pilot: 'Completely unacceptable'