From Resilience to Resurgence: ET Soonicorns Summit 2024 returns to Bengaluru with a sharper focus on startup reinvention

Three Indian companies have attained unicorn status in 2024: tech-enabled logistics startup, Porter; fintech software platform, Perfios and generative AI startup, Krutim. All three are headquartered in Bengaluru, the city that continues to command its top position as India’s premier startup hub with the Karnataka state capital receiving total funding of $70.4 billion in a decade, according to a report by market intelligence platform Tracxn.

However, despite India being the third-largest startup economy in the world with 1,17,254 registered entities under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade as of December 31, 2023, only two unicorns—a valuation of $1 billion—were created in 2022. This is in stark contrast to the impressive tally of 45, just two years ago. Is the ‘unicorn bubble’ past its prime; are unicorns a dwindling phenomenon now? Or is an alternative story being written anchored in the tenets of resilience, robustness, and resurgence? Is the frenzy over for good paving the path to profitability?