The country’s startup ecosystem has struggled in 2022, and corporations have been looking for tactics to adapt and position themselves for good luck in a converting market.
In 2022, we feature over 320 promising startups that have gained traction despite headwinds in India’s tech ecosystem.
In short, this special edition brings you the startups of early-stage corporations covered last year.
Indian startups have been on a rollercoaster ride over the past three years. They were the first to be affected by the pandemic, followed by geopolitical uncertainties and the existing economic slowdown. However, generation adoption, strategic thinking, and a venture venture-led investment push (2021 turned out to be a record year for capital inflows) have helped keep the lights on for the startup ecosystem.
Overall, startups across the country have discovered tactics to adapt and innovate, positioning themselves for success in a converting market.
However, the trials and tribulations continued, and many companies (even mature ones) did not do much to impress their users in 2022. Instead, a multitude of early-stage startups rose and shine with answers that addressed problems of the real world.
Interestingly, the strategy playbook for Indian startups has also undergone a radical change in this critical phase. With the onset of an investment winter in 2022, startups abandoned their growth-at-all-costs strategy and focused on generating profits for a long-term bet. When customer spending declined, businesses embraced utilities and price increases to keep them coming back. And when the festival was fierce, we saw market consolidations like never before.
As always, Inc42 has carried the torch of the country’s startup ecosystem, and our flagship series, 30 Startups To Watch, is proof of that.
In the last 11 editions, we have featured more than 320 startups across industries, and in this special edition, 2022 In Review, we bring you startups from those 320 business entities.
The two most sensitive sectors with the highest number of startups on our 2022 lists are business generation and monetary generation. We have introduced over 90 business-generating startups in human resources, marketing and sales, inventory management and billing, and more. Similarly, we have indexed 88 fintech and blockchain startups operating in various sub-sectors such as insurance, lending, investment/wealth management, and lending.
Other sectors with numerous startups include e-commerce (61), fitness generation (17) and electric cars (9).
Most of those startups were introduced shortly after the post-pandemic tech boom and are seeded or underfunded.
Unfortunately, some of those startups have also fallen victim to difficult market situations and have shut down operations or laid off many employees.
As experts predict, the economic slowdown will most likely continue for at least two quarters until 2023. But despite cash shortages, drastic spending cuts, redirections and closures, there are reasons to be positive about the new year. .
“As the world falls into economic lethargy, Indian founders and groups will continue to build. Thanks to our experience in several cycles, we know that the right motivations drive founders who start their entrepreneurial adventure in these conditions. They will build business models with more core strength,” Nitin Sharma, spouse of venture capital fund Antler India and global head of blockchain at Antler, told Inc42.
According to him, the key themes in 2023 will be the rise of Gen Z founders, the rise of SaaS and deep tech, and the adoption of virtual public goods as startups focus on building global platforms rather than geographically expressed products.
As startups expand cutting-edge technologies and new business models in sync with changing requirements, exciting things await them. In addition, many will have strategic issues and product and market fits, leading to impressive expansion stories.
The regulatory landscape also continues to evolve, offering more opportunities for expansion as startups overcome barriers and explore new horizons.
As we look at the startups included in our 30 Startups to Watch in 2022, we take a closer look at their expansion and explore their plans for the future. Here’s a look at the achievements and vision of the top 20. However, we will have to stay. We keep in mind that industry regulations and the environment will continue to evolve in 2023 and new leaders will emerge.
Editor’s Note: The following list is intended as a rating of any kind. We have indexed the startups in alphabetical order.
Small, short-term loans are the primary business style of many fintech startups. But Mumbai-based Arthan Finance has noticed unprecedented growth. Inc42 introduced the MSME lender in January 2022, when it disbursed monthly loans worth INR five Cr. But the amount increased more than sevenfold, surpassing 35 Cr INR in December. In addition, the number of loans processed each month has exceeded 2,500, compared to 400 in December 2021. In total, it has awarded 300 Cr INR since its launch in 2018, of which 250 Cr INR were awarded in 2022.
Arthan also broke even in November, with the number of loan disbursements increasing almost tenfold year-on-year. Its assets under control have also quadrupled year on year from INR 25 Cr to INR one hundred Cr. Additionally, its branch network has doubled with the launch of operations in over 27 states and UTs, over two hundred cities and over 3000 codes PIN.
The lending technology startup has raised $6 million in equity and $10 million in debt investments from the Dell Foundation and other existing investors. Arthan will use this cash to lend to over 50,000 businesses and disburse loans of INR 750 Cr in 2023.
To reduce India’s dependence on exports and fossil fuels, the government needs biofuels to account for 20% of the country’s total energy by 2030. Among the cleantech startups working in this direction, let us cite BuyOFuel , founded in Coimbatore, which brings together biofuel suppliers, consumers and waste manufacturers (waste biomass is transformed into biofuels).
When Inc42 indexed the startup in May 2022, it had over 1,000 users. That number nearly doubled to 1. 8K over the next six months, as BuyOFuel introduced its Android and iOS apps in June to grow its user base. It claims that 90% of its users are active and repeat customers, and the company has noted that its monthly profits have doubled since May 2022.
The cleantech platform has recorded transactions involving 30,000 tons(MT) of waste and biofuels since May, replacing 10,000 tons of fossil fuels. It plans to launch a sustainability dashboard for corporations with its ESG reporting based on global greenhouse fuel protocols.
BuyOFuel also works with small businesses to generate a normal source of income from the sale of waste and thus identify a sustainable market. It is recently operational in parts of western and southern India, but aims to enter northern India in 2023 and generate an annual turnover of INR 200.
After fair financing took a backseat in 2022 due to economic difficulties, debt crowdfunding (P2P lending) has become a viable option for many businesses. Since Inc42 indexed Capitall in February 2022, the crowdfunding-based loan origination startup has to capitalize on this emerging trend to grow its business.
The Bengaluru-based company has amended its set of underwriting rules for MSMEs as well as startups, which were its only customers till September. Between September and December, the MSME sector accounted for 30% of its monthly loan disbursements.
Throughout the year, Capitall welcomed over 1,500 new investors, funded nine companies and signed loan terms of INR 1. 5 Cr. He has also married a P2P spouse, NBFC.
Capitall claims a 35% year-over-year increase in gross margins in 2022. Its flagship metrics included a 120% monthly expansion in loan disbursements, a 72% recurring borrower rate, and a 30% increase in average investment. amount consistent with the transaction, while 45% of users recommended new clients. It also claims 0 arrears/late payments and 25% accrual on the average loan amount.
In 2023, the startup aims to generate an initial round, achieve INR 10 Cr in monthly disbursements, and have INR 30 Cr in assets under control (AUM) from its investor community. It will diversify investment opportunities by adding options of steady sources of income, introducing Tier 2 cities to expand its MSME visitor base, and bringing in foreign investors to enable the world to invest in India’s developing economy.
New Delhi-based Chargeup needs to boost the adoption of electric cars through its network of battery-swapping stations, which will reduce anxiety about diversity and ease of use. When Inc42 launched the startup in April, it served 1. 2 thousand drivers through its more than 150 interchange stations in Delhi-NCR.
Although it is yet to expand its connections beyond the region, the number of switching stations has increased to more than 200. Currently, the startup records 1 Lakh switches per month and serves more than 2000 vehicle drivers.
Chargeup recently raised a $7 million Series A round from Capital A, Anicut Capital, and several angel investors to expand it to another 20 cities and grow its user base to over 50,000 by 2023.
Since being featured in the fintech edition of Inc42 (July 2022), investment tech startup Elever has added new financial targets to its offerings, adding vehicle purchases and early retirement plans. Notably, the company announced five stock-only portfolios in November for the long term. Passive term investments for its 3. 5 thousand users.
The Bangalore-based startup plans to launch 15 to 20 more exclusively stock portfolios by March this year. It has also begun beta testing monetary plans to develop assets under management (AUA) and increase conversion rates. Currently, it has an AUA value of INR 3. 5 Cr, with a committed SIP per month of INR 26 Lakh.
The startup recorded more than 25,000 app downloads and more than 3,000 registrations between August and December, representing a month-on-month expansion of 119% and 58%, respectively.
In 2023, Elevate will promote money generation plans and equity methods based on tactical models such as object and sector rotations. It will also offer B2B (data retained) starting in the second quarter of 2023 and aims to serve 50,000 consumers by the end of the year, raising $60 million in AUA.
Suitable SaaS to digitize restaurant operations when they were partially operational due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As dining (and all other establishments) became fully operational again, the benefits of this generation were warmly identified and actively sought. As a result, foodservice SaaS specialists like Explorex have continued to thrive.
Featured through Inc42 in July 2022, the Bengaluru-based startup has temporarily noticed immediate expansion in the food and beverage industry. For example, more than 50% of its visitors’ restaurant bills were processed on its Internet platform. In four months, the company processed $1. 5 million worth of invoices, representing a 25% increase in monthly billing volume. It also added 150 dining venues to its consumer portfolio between July and December 2022 and operations in Mumbai and Delhi, expanding its presence in 15 Indian cities.
Explorex has processed more than 3 million orders for INR 150 Cr since its launch in 2020. It also won 4 awards from the food and beverage and SaaS industries and earned an initial circular of $5 million.
The startup has partnered with Pine Labs (for payment gateway) and Axis Bank (to help restaurants get business loans). It will focus on visitor acquisition, product progression and expansion across India in 2023.
Agritech startup Falca Solutions has digitized many critical purposes of classic agribusiness since 2018 and is indexed on the Inc42 list in October 2022.
Over the next two months, the Bengaluru-based startup tested its f-Hire to connect farmers with farm machinery tenants and onboarded over 11,000 farmers.
In December, Falca bought maize, soybeans, wheat and rice from three districts of Madhya Pradesh for export. It also secured $2 million in debt financing and entered into source contracts for 7,000 tonnes of maize and 30,000 tonnes of paddy rice from major brands and exporters of agricultural products, respectively.
The startup claims to have an annual turnover of over INR Cr in 2022 and an active farmer base of 100,000.
Falca aims to make an annual profit of INR 300 Cr in 2023 by expanding its operations to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It will open more than 60 physical centers to accommodate more than 150,000 farmers by the end of this year.
Pandemic or not, fine jewelry is selling, but the way of doing business has gone from the classic to the virtual, to business continuity and growth. Goldsetu, the Noida-based SaaS startup, is leading this virtual transformation. Create virtual storefronts for jewelry retailers, automate workflows, and offer source chain services.
When Inc42 included it in the list of 30 startups for February 2022, Goldsetu was in the pre-revenue stage. The startup has since added a B2B sourcing channel for its more than 5,000 retail partners (up from more than three hundred since it signed up). , allowing them to source materials, parts and products from pan-Indian suppliers. The startup claims that more than 2,2000 stores actively purchase through its B2B website.
The SaaS player also acquired B2B jewelry e-commerce company BuymyJewel for an undisclosed amount for a deeper foray into the B2B space and raised $1. 1 million in seed investment in October 2022. A month later, it stated have achieved a turnover of INR 3. 8 Cr thanks to their activity and usage based transaction fees and said they were on track to reach INR 5. 2 Cr in December.
Goldsetu has ambitious plans for 2023, adding the launch and progression of a home chain credits product. It will also expand its presence in 4 states to generate a monthly profit of $10 million.
When we introduced Gurugram-based Kosh in July 2022, the employee lending technology startup used to transact loans worth INR four Cr every month, but in November 2022, the amount has almost doubled to INR 7 Cr.
Meanwhile, Kosh has also introduced an instant messaging feature on its Android app, allowing borrowers to talk to the team or use their channels to locate monetary solutions. One of those channels focuses on task search, a way to attract crowds and expand the number of visitors. retention up to 30%.
The startup has added new B2B consumers such as SIS, GarageWorks and Numer8 to its staff with credit assistance. It has also partnered with new NBFCs like Apollo Finance, Arvog Finance and Arthmate to expand its loan portfolio.
Kosh plans to increase its monthly loan disbursement to INR 35 five times by the end of 2023. It is also running more features within instant messaging (Kosh Chat) for users in the completion, saving, and task search spaces. to grow your operations.
Loan origination platform Moneyboxx was featured in the January issue of Inc42 and achieved new milestones during the year. To start with, the Mumbai-based startup, which provides unsecured loans in a range of INR 70,000 to 3 Lakh, has extended loans worth a total of INR 155 Cr to over 22,000 consumers in 2022. Among such borrowers, 45 % were women. marketers and 35% were new to the world of credit, the startup said.
Its active visitor base more than doubled to more than $19,000, and one-year loan disbursements increased by as much as 184%.
Moneyboxx has an AUA of two hundred INR and a network of 50 branches across six states. It also raised INR 35 Cr in equity in June from undisclosed investors to expand its operations. Additionally, it has signed loan partnerships with SBI, Tata Capital, two other NBFCs and a small finance bank (no details have been provided in those cases) to increase its AUA.
The virtual finisher is an AUA of INR 350 Cr till the end of the current financial year and expects to reach INR 1000 Cr till March 2024. It will also double its branches till the end of 2023.
Oben Electric, one of the early players in the electric motorcycle space in India, was indexed through Inc42 in March 2022. At that time, the startup had just announced its flagship product EV2W Rorr. But during the year, it saw significant traction and over 17,000 bookings in India, UAE, Germany, UK and many other Southeast Asian countries.
The Bengaluru-based electric vehicle startup pocketed $4 million in an expanded pre-Series A circular with plans to raise $50 million in Series A investments for additional studies and four additional product launches. With the money from the previous cycle, you will be able to satisfy existing orders. , increasing its production capacity and expanding its distribution network. Deliveries of Rorr are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023.
Over the past year, privately held care brands offering vegan (cruelty-free) and eco-friendly products have caught the attention of “woke” consumers and led to the expansion of D2C startups like Mumbai-based Plix Life. Featured in the January issue of Inc42. On the list, this one specializes in plant-based products, adding health, wellness and weight loss products, as well as workout supplements.
The logo has now advertised hair care and skin nutrition categories for everyone, resulting in a three-fold increase in sales. Its new product diversity includes ingestible sunscreens, hair growth supplements, and topical and drinkable skin care products. Plix has also brought dermatologist-tested vegan hair growth serums, which are best-selling products, the company claims.
Plix sells more than 60 SKUs across six categories on its website, online marketplaces and retail stores, and its visitor base has grown to more than 1. 5 million in the last year.
The startup forecasts an ARR of INR 180 Cr until March 2023 and aims to reach INR 350 Cr in annual profits until the end of the year. It will expand its wellness and private care diversity in 2023 and sell its products in more than 10,000 stores.
Poshn, based in New Delhi, is focused on repairing a damaged source chain, making it less difficult for farmers and institutional buyers to sell and buy, respectively. Since its introduction in May, the start-up of the agri-based chain, which was established two years ago, has expanded its offering beyond food cereals and added new categories, adding nuts, milk and wood pulp.
Poshn offers more than 1000 products, manages more than 400 PINs and lately works with more than 500 wholesalers. It has partnered with primary institutional buyers such as Jubilant FoodWorks, Swiggy, Blinkit, Dunzo, Reliance Retail, and many others.
The startup claims five-fold year-over-year earnings growth, while new categories account for 30% of its earnings. It has an annual rate of $100 million in FY23 and recently raised $2 million in risky debt from Alteria Capital to succeed. billion dollars in ARR in the next fiscal year.
Amid a pause in equity funding, SaaS and D2C companies with recurring profits are turning to for-profit funding to meet their capital needs. Recur Club, founded in New Delhi, is a trading platform that helps businesses with recurring profits market their contracts/subscriptions. to increase the budget temporarily and without complications.
When Inc42 indexed it in March, it subsidized more than 400 corporations that exchanged their recurring subscription profits for advance capital. In December 2022, Recur Club’s visitor base grew 2. 5 times to over 1000 visitors. It also claimed assets under administration (AUA). value INR 3000 Cr, an increase of 200% month on month.
In April, the fintech startup raised $30 million from InfoEdge Ventures and others to launch its operations in the United States and Singapore. It has also partnered with IVY Growth Associates to allocate up to $10 million to the venture capital fund’s portfolio companies. Recur Club’s plans to fund 500 new IVY-backed businesses over the next few years. It also aims to succeed with more than 2000 consumers in 2023 and increase its AUA to $1 billion.
Bangalore-based neobank SALT aims to make global expansion simple and affordable for everyone, a concept widely praised when the company was featured in the fintech edition of Inc42 in June.
The startup focuses on three areas: inbound remittances (peer-to-peer and peer-to-peer), investment flows to India, and overseas business expansion. While it did not provide the main points on the expansion of the first two segments, SALT worked with more than 300 Indian corporations between June and December, allowing them to expand their operations to more than 50 countries.
It also created communities on WhatsApp and Telegram for small businesses to perceive how to manage their operations abroad. In addition, it plans to more than double the number of partner corporations by 2023.
Between 2023 and 2025, SALT will expand its usage instances to make P2P and P2M fund transfers as undeniable as UPI, offer cross-border banking responses, and automate compliance procedures.
Indian MSMEs struggle to access expansion capital and tap into potential consumers due to a lack of generation adoption. With an e-marketplace and a suite of monetary and logistical responses, Bangalore-based Solv has solved the challenge and served more than 273,000 MSMEs since then. Its launch in 2020.
When we indexed the startup in April 2022, Solv had more than 200,000 microentrepreneurs and planned to onboard another 100,000 by the end of the calfinishar year. With the support of Standard Chartered, it has now expanded its offering to “soft line” companies. , those specializing in “textile” products such as clothing, footwear, fashion accessories and furniture.
The B2B e-commerce startup has not disclosed its benefits, but claims that it will have increased fivefold by 2022 thanks to deliveries of 3 million bulk orders.
In June 2022, it introduced Solv Atom, a subsidized invoice financing service through 12 lead partners and 12 FI partners, and also raised $40 million in Series A funding, led through SBI Holdings and SC Ventures.
D2C lifestyle and home décor brand The June Shop was on Inc42’s list of 30 startups to watch in August 2022. At that time, it presented 7,5000 products in more than 20 categories, with interior design as its pillar. In the past four months, the Kolkata-based startup has added many new products to its line of iPhone cases, diaries, and newspapers, resulting in a two-fold increase in orders and a 1. 5x increase in revenue.
It also upgraded its online page and servers to ensure ease of use, which increased the conversion rate by 30% and helped increase traffic to 200,000.
The June Shop announced a 20% month-over-month expansion in its user base and an average 35% month-over-month increase in monthly sales of new products. The startup D2C saw a sharp increase in its Black Friday sales in November, followed by a month of December marked by sales. magazines and newspapers.
In 2023, the logo aims to introduce more in-house designed lifestyle products and expand its visitor base by adding sustainable products made in India.
Traya appeared in the May 2022 issue, but the Mumbai-based hair care logo has since added categories and products to improve the overall effectiveness of its offering. These come with a night lotion for others with dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis (flaky scalp and skin). ) and psoriasis; a variety of products to prevent hair loss in women and an Ayurvedic variety of bowel conditioning products to treat problems such as chronic constipation, acidity and bloating (these can also cause hair loss).
As of December 2022, the logo is promoted on Amazon India, where its hair vitamin is one of the highest-rated products. The sales of the hair vitamin product alone generated a profit of INR 30 Lakh for the startup.
Traya claims to have treated more than 2 Lakh Indians since its inception in 2019 (1 Lakh was recorded in May-December 2022) and to have increased the duration of his team from 60 to 200.
Overall, D2C Logo saw 20% month-over-month revenue growth, with more than 50% coming from repeat customers. Additionally, 40% of its profits came from product promotion and marketing expenses, up from 10% in May.
In the future, Traya will expand answers to hair quality. A variety of Ayurvedic products are also being studied to meet the nutritional desires of women facing the postpartum phase, menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome, anemia, and much more. In addition, it will expand an app to help users 24 hours a day. It also acquired a U. S. company (name withheld) to expand its global presence in 2023.
D2C wellness brands have thrived in the wake of the pandemic thanks to their focus on holistic healing. After going public in August, the Kolkata-based startup introduced sleep gummies to aid muscle rest and pain recovery. These FDA-approved gummies are designed for sleep cycles and engage muscle and nerve relaxants to help users wake up refreshed and energized.
Sleep gummies have gained popularity and are among the top 4 sensible sleep supplements on Amazon India less than two months after their launch. The startup recently promoted on Nykaa and claimed over 35% repeat purchases and monthly gross profit of INR 50 Lakh as it recorded 50% month-on-month growth.
The logo also introduced an angel tour, but the main points were revealed.
What’s Up Wellness is targeting an annual profit rate of INR 18 Cr in 2023 and plans to launch 10 more products in two new categories. As a component of its ESG activity, it has donated 1% of its profit stream through Give India to fund 60 women through the Every Girl in School programme.
After exiting the logistics sector in late 2021, ZFW Dark Stores, a Delhi-based e-commerce provider, announced a same-day intercity delivery service for D2C brands and other e-commerce companies. Inc42 acquired it in January, after which it added 50 more D2C customers in five markets: Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. In fact, it has ventured into the last two markets in 2022 alone.
The startup has seen a 20% month-on-month expansion in order volume and lately serves over 60 D2C brands, with a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $60,000. Additionally, it has signed contracts worth $100,000 with a multitude of brands, which will run until March 2023.
It recently partnered with ZYPP Electric to integrate electric cars into their fleets and move towards a sustainable delivery system. It already has an electric fleet in Delhi-NCR.
ZFW closed two investment rounds: $1. 2 million in one round and an undisclosed amount ahead of the Series A from South Asia Technology Partners, RiSo Capital, SEA Fund and angel investors. The cash raised will be used for pan-India expansion, adding primary state capital, investments in generation and expanding its portfolio of logos to two hundred until 2023.
Edited via Sanghamitra Mandal
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