DID YOU KNOW that the concept of unicorns has its origins in ancient India?

Around the 4th century B.C., a Greek physician named Ctesias wrote in his book, Indica, of “wild asses with white bodies, red heads, and dark blue eyes, with a horn on their forehead”. Though Ctesias’ account was likely a blend of hearsay (fusing details of multiple animals, including the Indian rhinoceros), and a concoction of tales from those who traversed what was then known as the Indus Valley, it has since become a part of contemporary folklore, permeating not just the world of literature but modern-day finance as well.

In the lexicon of Silicon Valley, unicorn owes its origin to Cowboy Ventures founder Aileen Lee who coined the term in 2013 for private entities with valuations of more than a billion dollars. Her findings were: of the 60,000 software and internet companies funded in the past decade, only 0.07% (39) were unicorns. Today, that statistic reads 1,600 — though the ambit is now beyond just tech — with a majority residing in the U.S. OpenAI, on the back of its $100-billion fund-raise in February this year, remains the second-most valued private entity at $730 billion with Elon Musk-owned SpaceX as the Numero Uno, valued at $800 billion. In comparison, India is home to 124 unicorns (as of end-2025), accounting for 6% of the global total, positioning it as the third-largest unicorn ecosystem after the U.S. (1,104) and China (249).

“Businesses have become large across sectors unlike in the past when it (unicorn status) was concentrated in consumer sectors,” says Neha Singh, co-founder, Tracxn. Global venture capitalists such as Tiger Global Management, Peak XV Partners and Accel continued to be the top investors in these unlisted firms.

To get a sense of the landscape of unicorns, Fortune India teamed up with Tracxn, the Bengaluru-based data intelligence platform. But the key criterion was to only feature those billion-dollar companies (excluding those housed within Indian conglomerates) that had a fund raise over the past three years to get a better understanding of how vibrant the ecosystem is. While Ctesias let his imagination run riot while conjuring up his version of a unicorn, we chose to be subjective about the list of companies that came through after applying the three-year filter. Those eliminated include firms from the gaming and crypto space.

What came through following the exercise is a curated list of 41 unicorns (unlisted) that collectively are worth nearly $127 billion, with two Walmart-owned entities, Flipkart and PhonePe, taking the top two spots, followed by Zepto, OfBusiness, and ShareChat (see The $1 Bn+Club). In December 2025, PhonePe processed over 9.7 billion transactions, valued at over ₹13.5 lakh crore, nearly half of the total value of UPI transactions in the country. “One of the things we are most proud of is that we have had investors like Walmart and General Atlantic, and all our investors have backed us with patient capital, enabling us to take a long-term view, avoiding ‘local maxima’ and instead, building for sustainability,” says Rahul Chari, founder and CTO, PhonePe.

Similarly, Zepto pioneered the 10-minute grocery delivery model in India, when bigger rivals were focussed on bringing delivery times down to less than an hour. “Five years ago, quick commerce didn’t exist in its current form. Many models were tested, but in 2020-21, Zepto found a clear product–market fit. We pioneered the delivery hub model, building dense, proximity-led infrastructure that became the industry blueprint,” Aadit Palicha, co-founder and CEO, Zepto, tells Fortune India).

The list, however, features only 39 ranks as companies that share similar valuations have been bunched up with the same ranks. While arguably some names have seen valuation changes with some investors marking down investments within their portfolios, Tracxn, in line with other similar database providers, has gone with valuation confirmed by the startups. “In the case of some companies where it was not a priced round, or involved the issuance of convertibles, valuations have not materially changed,” explains Singh.

India’s unicorn tale is fundamentally a financial infrastructure story with fintech overwhelmingly dominating with 14 companies — nearly a third of all unicorns — reflecting India’s massive push towards digital payments, lending, and financial inclusion. What’s heartening is that the next tier includes healthtech, logistics, foodtech, adtech, real estate, and B2B businesses, each representing meaningful clusters of innovation. “Over the past decade, the opportunity basket has diversified,” says Singh, suggesting that the next wave of unicorns could emerge from almost any sector.

The public test

Proving the theory that a lot of pre-IPO valuations are disconnected from market reality, of the 22 unicorns that went public, five companies (One 97 Communications, Ola Electric Mobility, Swiggy, Pine Labs, and Brainbees Solutions) have seen their pre-listing valuations plummet between $1.5 billion and $7.6 billion. And six companies (Honasa Consumer, Go Digit General Insurance, Amagi Media Labs, Delhivery, Urban Company, and Physicswallah) have seen a drop between $31 million and $812 million.

But surprisingly eight companies saw their valuations gain between $1.7 billion (Ather Energy) and $21.1 billion (Eternal) and three companies (Nazara Technologies, Fractal Analytics and BlackBuck) clocked gains over $100 million to $709 million, which shows that businesses that had a network effect and a robust product or business model have gained credibility in the public markets.

However, profitability remains a concern for most unicorns. In fact, profitability remains the exception, not the norm, among Indian unicorns. Of the 95 private unicorns that disclosed financials as of FY24 or FY25, only 30 are profitable, underscoring the structural difficulty of achieving scale with sustained margins, according to Tracxn. The same goes for the 41 unicorns, who collectively have clocked ₹2.18 lakh crore revenue, but cumulative losses of ₹14,920 crore.

The 22 listed unicorns — whose cumulative worth is $116 billion — registered ₹1.24 lakh crore in cumulative sales, and losses of more than ₹6,944 crore. The range of revenues span between ₹427 crore and ₹20,243 crore. Only 12 companies have shown profits in the range of ₹66 crore to ₹1,824 crore, while the remaining 10 have shown cumulative losses of ₹11,436 crore. No guesses here as the only two companies with the highest revenues are Eternal and Swiggy at ₹20,243 crore and ₹15,448 crore, respectively.

Eternal a.k.a. Zomato has only gained ground, moving beyond food delivery to quick commerce thanks to the acquisition of Blinkit, which has since emerged as the jewel in the company’s crown. Not surprising then to hear Albinder Singh Dhindsa, founder and CEO, Blinkit, who has since taken over as group CEO of Eternal following founder Deepinder Goyal’s departure, telling analysts in a recent earnings call: “Currently, we feel that we are the only ones who are meaningfully contributing to increasing the market size… Usually, you will see much faster market growth and all players gaining share, but we’re not seeing that kind of competition.”

Meanwhile OYO, which gave budget hotels a fresh lease of life, has been through a journey of course correction. From a staggering loss of ₹3,937 crore in FY21, the company has returned to the black with a net profit of ₹230 crore in FY24. Momentum continued into FY25, when profit after tax rose 7% year-on-year to ₹245 crore, on the back of stronger revenue realisation, better cost management, and operational restructuring done over the past few years. “We started the business over a decade ago with a strong focus on providing clean and comfortable accommodation in the budget segment, where there was a clear gap in branded offerings. Over time, as customer aspirations and incomes grew, we saw a strong demand for premium- and mid-market travel experiences,” founder Ritesh Agarwal tells Fortune India.

Incidentally, all the big names — PhonePe, Zepto and OYO — in the list of 41 unicorns are going to go public this year. In 2026, already two unicorns, Amagi and Fractal Analytics, have got listed after seven companies went public in 2025 and six in 2024. The trend to go public has gained momentum over the past couple of years, which according to Singh of Tracxn, works both for the founders and investors. “One of the things that has changed in the late stage is that instead of raising capital through private venture capital, companies now focus on providing good liquidity to existing investors and ESOP shareholders, given the robust domestic capital pool.” Not surprising that in 2025, India witnessed only 14 funding rounds of $100-million plus, compared to 19 such rounds in 2024.

For now, the litmus test for unicorns going public will be about proving why new-age businesses will be wealth creators of tomorrow, as shown by Eternal and the like. There are some founders such as Pavan Guntupalli of Rapido, who tells Fortune India why the company is not going public in a hurry. “When you are running an operationally profitable business and you have cash, there is less reason for anybody to get anxious. These triggers (listing) come when you are bleeding through your nose… when you’re not seeing any signs of profitability near term. The kind of investors we have are super long-term and see value in what we do,” says Guntupalli.

While the current geopolitical turmoil may dampen market sentiment, getting investors to buy the long-term story rather than for a listing pop is what will ensure the Indian unicorn tale is believable and not a myth. While the rush to public markets may not play out as it did in recent years, because of a volatile market, the unicorn factory seems to be humming along steadily. Last year saw the addition of 11 new unicorns, while two new entrants, Neysa and Juspay, have joined the club since the year began.

It seems the unicorn express has slowed at the exits, but stays on track.