Top 5 Indian Startups to Watch in 2019

Based on popular demand, I release another version of the "Top 5 startup in india". This time I will focus on Indian startups.

India’s Startup Environment

India is an incredibly unique environment for startups and entrepreneurs in general. First of all, China is an important factor in the financing and control of many new Indian companies. In 2015, Alibaba invested in Paytm through its subsidiary Ant Financial. In 2017, Tencent acquired large stakes in Flickrart and First.

Japan is also a serious provider of finance in India. Japan’s Softbank has invested more than $ 8 billion in new business in the country, with a target of $ 10 billion by 2024, which is now surprisingly conservative.

India’s business start-up environment is also highly divided between high-finance companies and those struggling to raise capital.

I am surprised to learn that India currently hosts 26 monopolies (new companies worth more than $ 1 billion) with five new singles who joined the club in 2018 (the most recorded in one year in India).

Although this publication will not address any of India’s 26 companies with a rhinoceros, if you are interested in getting more information, Inc42 has issued an extensive annual summary for 2018 for each of which I recommend: India Top 5 startup in india? This year?

Like China, India has strong demographic and economic trends that drive growth not only in its new business but also across the country in favor of the economy. The Indian economy is growing at a very healthy annual rate of 7.2%.

While the definition of "Indian middle class" is controversial among researchers, the growth of technology, consumer welfare and quality of life is not debated. Just a quick statistic to show how things are changing: There are more than 450 million smartphone users in India today, compared to 86 million users five years ago.

Initial funding in India reached a high level in 2015 before retiring for several years. In 2017 and 2018, funding exceeded 2015 levels, led by many major investments in Unicorn mentioned above.

According to Inc42 Datalabs, new Indian companies raised $ 9.6 billion in 2018 (up to 12/22/18) in 717 agreements, compared to $ 13.5 billion in 885 agreements in 2017.

Total funds for 2017 were skewed by Flipkart, Ola and Paytm, who raised $ 6,500 million in four sets of funds.

How Did I Choose This Top 10?

As you have seen, India enjoys an incredible healthy start-up environment and a fast-growing economy. I had to go deep enough to find new companies (probably) that you did not hear.

However, many of these new companies will be family names in the coming years, not just in India!

The Top 5 Indian Startups to Watch

1. Ask Arvi: Insurance via Chatbot

India’s life insurance sector is the biggest in the world with over 360 million policies and is expected to increase between 12–15% over the next five years. The country’s insurance market is expected to quadruple in size over the next 10 years from its current size of $60 billion.

Ask Arvi has positioned themselves as a technology layer on top of all major Indian insurers. At worst, they will be a great acquisition target for any of those massive companies.

Offices In: Mumbai

Total Funding: Not disclosed

2. CoWrks: WeWork for India

CoWrks is a leader in the growing joint manufacturing industry in India which includes such great players as Awfis and Innov8. While there are many players in space, India’s demographic and geographic composition means we are just starting out.

The heavy WeWork team includes 23 sites in India, with presence in Mumbai, Gurgaon and Bangalore. Look for WeWork to start getting the most successful Indian co-action players, including CoWrks.

Locations in: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad

Total funding: not disclosed

3. Dr. Insta: Teledoc + ZocDoc + CVS for India

Dr. Insta’s business model is simple. It is bundled for many medical specialties and offers "visits" from video or phone through their mobile applications.

If necessary, they can refer patients to American doctors. For a second opinion, visit or test in person. In addition, they can fill prescriptions through their pharmacies, making them an integrated and soon-to-grow store in 2019 Indian Startups.

Offices in: Gogogram

Total Funding: $ 7MM

4. Flock: Slack competitor, founded in India

Flock is not shy about it: they are a direct competitor to Slack. Having a simple look at your product shots on your website certainly assures it.

Why put Flock on the top 10 list?

All companies that faced Slack failed miserably (see HipChat, Jive, Microsoft Teams, etc.)

The first price Flock comes at 64% cheaper than Slack. For teams and emerging companies sensitive to the price, this is MAIN.

Secondly, Flock has achieved a wide range of followers, not only in India, but worldwide, with more than 100,000 companies using enterprise chat application. While this dwindles compared to Slack, it makes them a viable competitor (and a great target for the acquisition).

Offices in: Bangalore, Mumbai

Total funding: $ 45MM

5. overcart: Returns management

Optoro, a return management platform based in the USA.collected., More than $ 244 million since its foundation in 2010 and has an assessment close to the territory of Unicorn.

Overcart started early in its journey, but is trying to offer the same improvements to its inventory (and impressive growth) to India.

Offices in: Gururam

Total Funding: 3MM $

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy this publication, I think you will enjoy the book "Building Digital Products".

Starting How Can Startups Retain Their Best Employees articles a staff life can also be difficult because each deadline could lead to a company collapse. This means that many employees choose a more stable job with a former company.