Historic Boom For India Tech As Six Startups Become Unicorns In Four Days

It was an historic week for India's technology industry. In the space of four days, the country minted at least six new startups with a valuation of $1 billion or more.

It was an historic week for India's technology industry. In the space of four days, the country minted at least six new startups with a valuation of $1 billion or more -- what techies call unicorns because they're supposed to be such rarities. In rough order of size: The investment platform Groww raised money at a valuation of more than $1 billion, messaging bots startup Gupshup hit $1.4 billion, digital pharmacy API Holdings Pvt. was valued at close to $1.5 billion, app developer Mohalla Tech surpassed $2.1 billion, social commerce startup Meesho Inc. also reached $2.1 billion and financial-technology provider Cred rounded out the blessing of unicorns at $2.2 billion. For context, India had a total of seven new unicorns in all of 2020, according to market researcher CB Insights. In 2019, it had six. Global investors such as Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. and South Africa's Naspers Ltd. see growing opportunity in the country's startup scene. The nation of 1.3 billion people has seen the rapid adoption of smartphones in recent years, explosive growth of inexpensive internet services and a new generation of ambitious entrepreneurs.