Question

    Which of the following startup of India became 100th

    unicorn startup?
    A Lenskart Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    B Zomato Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    C Boat Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    D Neobank Open Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    E None of the above Correct Answer Incorrect Answer

    Solution

    The five-year-old Bengaluru-based neobank raised $50 mn in a Series D funding round from IIFL, Singaporean state holding company Temasek, American investment firm Tiger Global and another Indian firm 3one4 Capital. This helped its valuation cross the $1 bn mark. The funding comes just six months after Google, Temasek, Visa, and Japan’s SoftBank invested $100 million in the neobank startup. This funding signifies the enthusiasm in the Indian startup ecosystem, which is the world’s third-largest according to Economic Survey, 2021-22. India overtook the UK to reach the spot after the US and China, which added 487 and 301 unicorns respectively, according to Economic Survey, 2021-22. As of January 2022, a record 44 Indian startups achieved unicorn status which took the overall tally of startup unicorns to 83. With a total valuation of $277.77 billion, most of them are in the services sector, contributing over 50% to India’s GDP, according to the economic survey. Unicorns are those companies which have over $1 billion valuation. The startup is set to launch three new products in the SME lending space such as a revenue-based financing product for ecommerce businesses ‘Open Flo’, an early settlement credit offering ‘Open Settl’, and working capital lending offering for SMEs ‘Open Capital’. Open, founded by Anish Achuthan, Mabel Chacko and Ajeesh Achuthan, claims to power over 2.3 million SMEs with over $30 billion in annualised transactions working towards automating business finances for small and medium firms.

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