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India has 67 unicorns, making it the third-largest unicorn ecosystem globally, behind the US and China, according to a report by Hurun Research.

Fintech, SaaS, and AI are among the top sectors contributing to India’s unicorns. However, India lags behind China and the US in the number of AI unicorns, with only one AI unicorn Krutrim, compared to 60 in the US and 37 in China, it highlighted.

“India currently has 67 unicorns. India’s startup ecosystem has slowed, with the number of unicorns down for the first time since the launch of our list. This is primarily fuelled by lack of investment into startups despite the recent stock market record highs,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, Founder and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.

“Another factor is that founders from India produced more offshore unicorns than any other country, co-founding 109 unicorns outside of India compared with 67 in India. Of the unicorns founded outside of India, significantly all were in the USA (95), led by the Bay Area, with 4 in the UK, 3 in Singapore and 2 in Germany,” he added.

The absence of unicorns in sectors like aerospace or spacetech, where both the US and China have advanced, presents a significant gap and potential opportunity for India, it added.

Additionally, China leads in sectors like new energy and semiconductors, where India lacks unicorns. This indicates areas where India needs to focus on domestic innovation to avoid falling behind.

Indian unicorns Swiggy and Dream11, each worth $8 billion, and Razorpay, worth $7.5 billion, are among the notable companies in the Indian unicorn market.

“While it’s encouraging to see the rise of Krutrim, India’s first AI unicorn, there remains a substantial gap when compared to the United States and China, which lead with 60 and 37 AI unicorns respectively. In fact, the top 3 sectors contributing to new unicorns in China hail from New Energy, Semiconductors and AI,” Junaid said.

“Notably, the aerospace or spacetech sector emerges as a critical frontier where India lacks unicorns, a domain where both the US and China have advanced with 10 unicorns each. This situation presents a crucial juncture for India. Failure to seize this moment risks India falling further behind the US and China in AI, New Energy, Semiconductors, and potentially Aerospace—a sector likely to rely on domestic innovation due to security considerations,” he added.

The report found that despite a slight decline from the previous year, Bengaluru remains one of the top cities for unicorns in India, along with Paris and Berlin, with 32 unicorns based there. San Francisco remains the world’s unicorn capital, followed by Singapore.

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Hurun Research called ‘Most Successful Unicorn Investors in the World 2024,’ identified 1,453 unicorns globally, with 430 gaining valuations, 171 new ones, 170 dropping, and 37 promoted. Out of these, 29 went IPO and 8 were acquired. The total value of these unicorns was $4.6 trillion, with 895 remaining unchanged. The unicorns were based in 53 countries and 291 cities.

The report highlighted that unicorns are primarily disrupting financial services, business management solutions, and healthcare, with 78% selling software and services, and 22% offering physical products.

ByteDance retains the top position with a valuation of $220 billion, followed by SpaceX at $180 billion and OpenAI at $100 billion. Notable newcomers to the top 10 include Canva and Binance, while Telegram and Revolut drop down the rankings.

Other notable unicorns include Ant Group, Shein, and Stripe.

Tiger Global Management leads as the world’s most successful unicorn investor, followed by SoftBank and HongShan. Sequoia dropped to fourth place, it added.