In addition to supporting the economy and creating new industries, startups have the capacity to transform the public’s opinion of the country in general.
As soon as a business goes public, it becomes a legitimate money-making machine, benefitting not only the founders but also the employees and shareholders.
1. Make My Trip
Make My Trip, founded by IIM Ahmedabad alumni Deep Kalra, is a game-changer in the tourism business. In 2000, it was introduced to the American public with the intention of satisfying the requirements of NRIs travelling between India and the United States. In 2005, it began selling aeroplane tickets in India. After a while, Make My Trip became publicly traded on NASDAQ and, the following year, made three acquisitions. It’s won several awards and acclaim from people all around the globe.
2. Flipkart
This one would be familiar to everyone. Flipkart was able to dominate the Indian e-commerce business early on, which led to enormous success for the company a few years ago. Both Sachin and Binny Bansal attended IIT-D, and because of their experience with Amazon, they decided to bring the same model to the Indian market. Back in 2007, they just sold books, but today you can buy just about everything there, from CDs to stationery to personal care products. Myntra was purchased for close to INR 2,000,000,000.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones VenturSource published on Thursday, Flipkart.com has a value of $11 billion, putting it in the top five worldwide billion-dollar startup club.
3. Zomato
Zomato has been an enormous success since its 2008 debut. The list includes more than 331,200 eateries across 19 nations. Two years after launching as Foodiebay.com, it was recognized as one of India’s most promising startups in the digital space. Over the next two years, it rose to prominence on a global scale.
The creators, Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, set out to pave a road seldom travelled. Zomato started out with zero capital; their expansion was painfully slow. Zomato quickly turned the tables and is today what it is because of this.
4. redBus
Since its inception in 2006, redBus’s popularity has skyrocketed. This startup’s success may be attributed to its creative concept to make purchasing bus tickets simpler for the average person by allowing them to do it online, alongside hotel reservations. This concept was conceived by three BITS Pilani students named Phanindra, Sudhakar, and Charan after one of them, Phanindra, was prevented from making the traditional trip home for Diwali due to a lack of available bus seats. Considering that they were all employed at well-known multinational corporations at the time, launching redBus.in was a significant gamble for them. The gamble paid off, however, and the rest is, as they say, history.
5. Housing.com
The goal of the twelve IIT-B alums who created Housing.com, a real estate search engine located in Mumbai, was to increase openness in the city’s property market. Housing.com’s impressive expansion has been exponential. It’s only been out for two years, but the reception it’s gotten is incredible. Housing.com overcame significant challenges to attain massive success. Since its inception in 2012, it has completed four investment rounds.
6. InMobi
InMobi, a now-huge mobile ad network, was founded in 2007 thanks to the savvy business decisions and original thinking of its founders. Harvard Business School graduate and former McKinsey consultant Naveen Tewari left the consulting firm to start his own company. It had its own unique challenges before ultimately succeeding. There was scepticism about the company’s prospects because of its global reach.
Despite the difficulties, it has met with widespread approval and is currently one of China’s most prominent mobile advertising platforms. Its journey from a startup to a multinational corporation is impressive.
7. FreeCharge
FreeCharge, an online marketplace, was launched by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon in 2010. It has eliminated the cost of mobile phone recharging by giving users store vouchers for the same amount. The fact that purchasers and merchants alike benefit from it is a significant reason for its popularity. FreeCharge, like any startup, had a number of challenges since many didn’t take the service seriously because they felt it was too good to be true. There were concerns among some stores that the word “free” might damage their reputation.
FreeCharge, however, has managed to work through most of these issues. They’ve recently established partnerships with studios like Sony Pictures, YRF, UTV, etc.
8. Ola Cabs
Who would have believed it would be this simple to reserve a taxi only a few years ago? Now that Ola Cabs is available using a taxi is cheaper than taking an auto rickshaw. Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, former employees of multinational corporations, co-founded Ola Cabs.
Bhavish got this thought following a disastrous road trip in a rental automobile over the weekend. He hoped that by doing so, he may help customers get clarity and ease. Ola Cabs, one of India’s most prominent ride-hailing services, raised $210 million in October, putting its worth at roughly $1 billion.
9. Teach For India
Teach For India is a non-governmental organization (NGO) within the broader Teach For All movement that strives to provide every kid in India with a high-quality education. ShaheenMistri established TFI in 2007 with the firm conviction that every kid deserves and can succeed in a top-tier academic environment. TFI offers a fellowship for this purpose, through which recent graduates and young professionals may work as full-time instructors in schools serving students from low-income families for a period of two years. There are now 910 Fellows and 660 Alumni of Teach For India working to end educational inequality across seven different locations in India.
10. Make A Difference (MAD)
When it comes to MAD, the tagline “Don’t Stop BELIEVING!” is entirely warranted after over a decade of business. It enlists the help of the next generation’s leaders in the fight against educational disparity. Jithin C. Nedumala, Gloria Benny, and Sujith Abraham Varkey, the founders of MAD, went to a boys’ Home in Cochin in 2005 to volunteer their time. They believed there was a need to do more for the kids in shelters since they were skilled and had goals. They often visited to spend time with the kids and eventually moved in with them. There, the MAD tale began.
Several different programs seek volunteers to tutor youngsters from low-income families. Approximately 2100 MAD volunteers are now educating nearly 5200 youngsters in India. Many other international groups have acknowledged its effective work.
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