Software as a Service or SaaS has been making waves for quite some time in India. Today, when it comes to the largest SaaS ecosystem worldwide, India is ranked third after the United States and China. The SaaS unicorns in India in 2024 are spread across a wide range of industries, such as technology, healthcare, finance, e-commerce, gaming, education, HR, and more. These startups are known to incorporate advanced tools and technologies and top-notch business models to move ahead of their competitors.
It is estimated that the value of future unicorns of India will be worth $58 billion which is 1.8% higher than that of last year. With more and more Indian companies achieving the unicorn status, customers can rest assured that they will benefit from the best and advanced facilities. SaaS unicorns in India have truly elevated the industries and are nothing less than game-changers. Here is our list of top 10 SaaS Unicorn Startups in India.
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Amagi Media Labs
Amagi Media Labs was established in 2008 and it is a cloud-based CTV ad insertion software. With an entry valuation of $1 Bn, this SaaS company achieved the unicorn status in March 2022. It offers a wide range of services that allows local advertisers to insert ads and reach their target audience. The platform also offers an analytics feature which is useful in determining key metrics like total viewership, unique views, content load time, etc. With the help of this platform, OTT and TV broadcasters and content owners can use various digital and traditional video platforms to deliver, distribute, and monetize their video content.
Current Valuation – $1.4 Bn
Location – Bengaluru
Hasura
Hasura is a cloud-based graghQL API development platform that allows its users to build modern and scalable real-time applications. Established in 2017, this platform enables developers to connect with databases to generate APIs. Hasura achieved the unicorn status in February 2022 and was established by Rajoshi Ghosh and Tanmai Gopal whose aim behind building this platform was to boost web application development. Some of the key features of this platform include API security, caching, authorization, error tracking, etc. It also offers key insights into the API performance.
Current Valuation – $1 Bn
Location – Bengaluru
Uniphore
Ravi Saraogi and Umesh Sachdev established Uniphore, an AI and cloud-based platform that offers conversational service automation services, in 2008. Uniphore has developed a customer service platform that is powered by AI and automation technologies with the aim to use voice to bridge the ga between people and machines. Uniphore has also developed two AI solutions in the speech analytics and virtual assistant sectors, namely, auMina and akeria. It became the eight unicorn of India in February 2022 and has acquired five organizations – RedBox, Colabo, Jacada, HEXAGONE, and Emotion Research Lab. This platform offers a variety of services in the fields of conversational assistant, conversational analytics, and conversational security.
Current Valuation – $2.5 Bn
Location – Chennai
DarwinBox
DarwinBox was established in 2015 by Jayant Paleti, Chaitanya Peddi and Rohit Chennamaneni. This platform falls under the SaaS-HR industry and offers an extensive enterprise HR-software solution. It was developed with an aim to enable businesses to automate the entire employee lifecycle, from start to end. It enables companies to manage all their HR functionalities, such as recruitment, payroll, talent management, employee engagement, rewards and recognitions, time and attendance management, people analytics, etc., – all from one unified platform. It also offers various training resources like webinars, videos, live online sessions, documentation, etc. It has an impressive clientele of more than 1.5 million employees across 650+ organizations belonging to more than 90 different industries. It entered the unicorn club in January 2022.
Current Valuation – $1 Bn
Location – Hyderabad
Fractal
Fractal belongs to the SaaS-Analytics industry and was established by Ramakrishna Reddy, Abhicine, Pradeep Suryanarayan, Pranay Agarwal and Nirmal Palaparthi in 2000. It offers analytics, AI and other top-notch technology that helps businesses in their decision-making processes. The platform uses datasets to generate insights and summaries which can be used by the businesses to analyze their business data. Fractal caters to a wide range of industries, including insurance, healthcare, retail, and finance. It achieved the unicorn status in 2022. Some of its flagship products include Qure.ai, Crux Intelligence, Theremin.ai, Eugenie.ai and Samya.ai – all of which has resulted in Fractal becoming one of the leading players in the field of AI.
Current Valuation – $1.4 Bn
Location – Mumbai
MindTickle
MindTickle is a cloud-based sales enablement software that was founded in 2011 by Deepak Diwakar, Mohit Garg, Krishna Depura and Nishant Mungali. It offers sales training tools to sales representatives by leveraging AI and also offers key features like sales content management, sales forecasting, digital sales rooms, and more. It achieved the unicorn status in 2021. This platform enables fast-growing startups to leverage their offerings and prepare their sales teams in an efficient manner. MindTickle integrates with Salesforce, Google, Veeva, Active Directory, OneLogin, Symplified, and more.
Current Valuation – $1.2 Bn
Location – Pune
Druva
Druva is a cloud data platform that offers solutions related to data backup and protection. It was founded in 2008 by Milind Borate, Jaspreet Singh and Ramani Kothandaraman with the aim to offer data solutions and protection to various businesses. Druva offers an easy-to-use product which includes a single dashboard allowing businesses to manage their availability, governance and backup – all one from one single platform. Their two core products are InSync which is their endpoint backup platform and Phoenix which is their remote server backup product. Druva achieved the unicorn status in 2019 and it supports deployment in on premise, public cloud and private cloud. This platform enables the management and protection of data across various devices and includes key features like remote wipe, mobile backup, geolocation, data encryption, etc.
Current Valuation – $2 Bn
Location – Pune
Zenoti
Zenoti is a cloud-based salon business management software which was established in 2010. Zenoti has its presence in more than 50 countries and is used by thousands of customers belonging to service industries like salons, spas, cosmetology clinics, medical spas, etc. It offers web-based and mobile application software and leverages AI, predictive analysis, and communication tools. The platform enables its users to seamlessly manage a wide range of functionalities, such as employee management, inventory management, payments, membership, reporting and analytics, etc. It entered the unicorn club in 2020. Zenoti is ideal for use by firms of all sizes.
Current Valuation – $1.5 Bn
Location – Hyderabad
Postman
Postman, established in 2014 by Abhijit Kane, Abhinav Asthana, Ankit Sobti, is a platform that offers API development solutions. The users can develop and use the APIs and various tools for various purposes, such as design, documentation, testing, mocking, discovery process, etc. In short, Postman makes its easier for developers and businesses to build, test, and debug their APIs. As of April 2022, Postman had a reported 20 million registered users and 75,000 open APIs, which according to the company, is the world’s largest public API hub. Postman is currently the most valued SaaS startup in India, and it joined the unicorn club in 2020.
Current Valuation – $5.6 Bn
Location – Bengaluru
BrowserStack
BrowserStack offers cloud-based software testing suite solutions and was founded by Ritesh Arora & Nakul Aggarwal in 2011. Available in around 135 countries and used by over two million developers, this platform developers to easily test various websites and applications across different browsers. From allowing users to debugging and resolving software issues to capturing logs that include text, video recording, screenshots, network, and console, this platform enables users to do all this and more. It includes key functionalities, such as accessibility testing, test management, test observability, etc. The primary aim of the company was to limit the price, time and protection overheard with regards to testing. It achieved the unicorn status in 2021 and was the second Indian unicorn in the SaaS category in 2021.
Current Valuation – $4 Bn
Location – Mumbai
FAQs
Which was the first Indian SaaS unicorn?
The first Indian SaaS unicorn was Freshworks, founded in 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy. The primary aim behind establishing the company was to setup a company that specialized in IT help desk support. It entered the unicorn club in 2018 and today has a valuation of $4.32 Bn.
What does SaaS stand for?
SaaS stands for Software as a Service. It offers a cloud-based method of providing software where users don’t have to purchase a software and instead can access the applications on the internet. SaaS enables users to easily connect and use the software on a pay-as-you-go basis and enhances the convenience and accessibility of the software. Some of the common SaaS examples are email, calendaring, collaboration tools, etc. There are several popular SaaS applications like Salesforce, Zoom, Spotify, Slack, Netflix, Google Workspace, etc.
