The slowdown in unicorn creation may be there for the next two months too

• No Indian startup achieved the billion dollar unicorn status in the month of April 2022.
• At least one Indian startup entered the unicorn club every week between the months of January to March this year.
• Several experts business Insider spoke to noted that this is just a minor slump and it was bound to happen.

No Indian startup achieved the billion dollar unicorn status in the month of April 2022, which seems quite shocking given the pace that was set in the first quarter of 2022.

Time period	Unicorns created
2020	11
2021	44
January-March 2022	14
April 2022	0

At least one Indian startup entered the unicorn club every week between the months of January to March this year, as Indian startups raised over $10 billion in funding, as per Venture Intelligence. Everyone believed that the pace for 2022 has been set and India could easily create more unicorns compared to last year. So this slowdown does look out of place.

However, experts and venture capitalists of the Indian startup ecosystem do not seem to think that way. Several experts business Insider spoke to noted that this is just a minor slump and it was bound to happen.

The deals may still be happening but are not being formally announced at the moment, Vikrant Varshney, managing partner of SucSEED Indovation Fund, noted.

He explained that the investment in startups usually takes 5-6 months. The high investment trend emerges when the deals get accumulated over these months and are finalised together. It takes another “2-4 months after the investment committee gives a go ahead to close and announce the deal,” he added.

However, this slowdown may be a thing for the entire April to June quarter. This quarter may be comparatively slow, Madhur Singhal, managing partner and chief executive officer (CEO) of Praxis Global Alliance, noted.

Gaurav VK Singhvi, cofounder of investment firm We Founder Circle, further explained that the startup market has been witnessing an upward trend from the last 18 months and “now for a few months it looks a little slow”. He also specified that the trend would be quite positive in the long term and more unicorns may be created this year.

“Rising interest rates, deeper focus on corporate governance of startups, higher intensity of due diligence and altering investment thesis of some investors (across stages) to ensure that their portfolio companies are built on solid foundations of trust and have sustainable business models (read: that burn less) have only elongated the deal cycle. Hence, the apparent slowdown in startups achieving the unicorn status is actually just a speed breaker,” Shahan Sud, an investment professional at Indian Angel Network, said.

“The macroeconomic trend has continued to remain strong, and the investment flow continues to be unabated. This factor would boost the industry and allow it to recover in terms of unicorn Startups,” Singhal added.

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