The year 2015 was a definitive year for the Indian internet industry. As the economy continued to grow at a healthy 6-7%, the sluggish Chinese economy meant investors are looking at India with renewed interest. Nobody cashed in bigger than the e-commerce players.
Experts believe that while the Indian e-commerce market is currently pegged at $5 billion, the figure might leap to as much as $40-50 billion by 2020. A 2015 PwC report even states that Tier 2 and 3 cities have seen 30% to 50% rise in transactions.
With the rural and semi-rural markets catching up to the trend, no wonder the likes of internet startups are pulling out all their stocks to acquire customers with hefty discounts and schemes. However, while all this might seem very recent, it all started a while ago.
Here is a list of top 10 Indian startups that are riding the startup wave, and how they started.
1. Flipkart
This Bangalore-based e-commerce company is already registered in Singapore. Sachin and Binny Bansal launched it back in 2007, and the company now has launched its own product range under the brand name ‘DigiFlip’! Flipkart is currently one of India’s largest e-commerce players.
2. Snapdeal
Online marketplace Snapdeal was started by Wharton graduate Kunal Bahl and IIT Delhi guy Rohit Bansal. The company now has top investors like SoftBank onboard and is the biggest local rival to Flipkart.
3. Paytm
This Indian e-commerce company is based in Noida, India. Launched in 2010, Paytm has expanded to mobile recharges and bill payments, e-commerce, bus travel and even online deals. It is giving Flipkart and Snapdeal a run for their money.
4. OlaCabs
OlaCabs, commonly called Ola, is India’s home-grown transport network company. Launched as an online cab aggregator in Mumbai, this Bangalore-based startup is among the fastest growing online businesses currently. It is also India’s answer to global taxi giants like Uber.
5. Oyo Rooms
Touted as India’s largest branded network of hotels, OYO Rooms currently operates in more than 160 Indian cities.
This company, founded by a rather young founder-CEO Ritesh Agarwal, has been branded as one among the next start-up unicorns. It is backed by investors like Softbank Group and Sequoia Capital.
6. Zomato
This restaurant search and discovery service was founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah. It also provides cashless payment, online ordering, table reservation, and point-of-sale systems.
Users have access to restaurant contact details, scanned menus and photos sourced by local street teams. User reviews and ratings also help.
It currently operates in 23 countries, including India, Australia and the United States.
7. ShopClues
This online marketplace in currently based in Gurgaon, India. It was founded in California’s Silicon Valley in 2011. It came to India as the 35th entry in the Indian e-commerce space and now has over 12,000 registered merchants, 2,00,000+ products and over 42 million visitors every year across 9500 locations in the country.
8. Practo
Practo is a comprehensive health app. It currently has over 1,00,000 doctors listed from over 310 Indian towns and cities. It has over 1.3 million pageviews and 30,000 appointments booked every month, with traffic growing at 24% month-on-month.
The company has seven offices, in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Singapore.
9. UrbanClap
UrbanClap is an online platform that helps customers find and hire service professionals. The idea is really picking up amongst India’s nuclear families, tanks to the ease it offers.
10. Lenskart
Lenskart is an online eyewear portal founded by Peyush Bansal along with Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi. They currently sell prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses and contact lenses.
The company has self owned and franchise stores across India.
This article was originally published in Business Insider India.
