Top 10 Profitable Indian Startups

Do you know India is the third largest startup ecosystem in the world? Yes, we are in the race along with China and the US. Although our startup ecosystem is still quite deep in water. But with novel technologies and unique business models, our startups have come a long way to get global recognition. In this article, you will get a thorough insight into the top 10 profitable Indian startups as of 2023.

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A Brief Overview

Details

1. Razorpay

Razorpay is an Indian financial technology company. It provides payment gateway solutions, payment processing, and payment settlement services for businesses of all sizes. Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar founded this company in 2013. Presently, it is headquartered in Bangalore, India. 

You will get numerous payment options in Razorpay like-

• Credit Cards
• Debit Cards
• Net Banking
• UPI (Unified Payment Interface)
• Mobile Wallets

Apart from this, you can also avail different payment-related features and services such as-

• Automatic Payment Reconciliation
• Automated Refunds
• Subscription Billing
• Invoice Management

We have covered detailed information about the Razorpay business model here. In that, we have described how it has processed over $50 billion in payment transactions for more than 5 million businesses in India. Prominent investors like Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and Market Partners back up Razorpay. Currently, its market valuation is $7.5 billion.

2. Info Edge

An Indian tech company that stands out in the market of online recruitment, education, and real estate segment is “Info Edge.” Sanjeev Bikhchandani founded this company in 1995. Presently, the headquarters of Info Edge is present in Noida, Uttar Pradesh (India). It operates in several segments such as-

• Online Recruitment Segment– You must have heard about the flagship recruitment website “Naukri.com.” It belongs to Info Edge! That’s not the only one. Apart from that, it recruits several other recruitment portals namely- Naukrigulf.com and Firstnaukri.com. 
• Real Estate Segment– Info Edge operates 99acres.com. This is a popular online platform where you can buy, sell, and rent various real estate properties in India. 
• Educational Segment– It operates a famous education portal i.e., Shiksha.com. Here you get information regarding different kinds of educational courses and institutions in India.

Apart from all these segments, it has done massive investments in famous startups like Zomato, PolicyBazaar, etc. As of 2023, its market valuation is $5.6 billion.

3. OfBusiness

It is a fintech platform that provides working capital and financial solutions to SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) in our country. In 2015 a group of five people laid the foundation of this company. Those were Asish Mohapatra, Vasant Sridhar, Ruchi Kalra, Bhuvan Gupta, and Nitin Jain. This start-up provides a wide range of financial products and services such as-

• Short-term working capital loans
• Long-term loans
• Supply chain finance
• Invoice discounting
• Other credit solutions

Their secret of success was the usage of data analytics and modern technology to assess the creditworthiness of SMEs. With this, they could provide customized financing solutions to small and medium enterprises. Also, they claim the disbursement of loans over INR 10,000 crores to more than 10,000 SMEs across various sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, construction, etc.

Also, it has partnered with numerous financial institutions like RBL Bank and ICICI Bank to expand its reach. Presently, its market valuation is $5 billion.

4. Nykaa

Nobody is unaware of the company “Nykaa,” especially when it comes to the indigenous beauty and wellness brand. Falguni Nayar founded this company in 2012. Since then, it didn’t stop expanding to become a one-stop-shop for beauty products. We have provided a thorough explanation of the Nykaa business model and the secrets of its success. Recently, like many D2C brands going offline, Nykaa also opened a chain of retail stores pan India. These stores were named as-

• Nykaa Luxe 
• Nykaa on Trend. 

Two years ago (2021), it went through an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and thus, was listed on the Indian stock exchange. 

As of 2023, the market valuation of Nykaa is $4.9 billion.

5. Zerodha

Zerodha is an India-based online discount stock brokerage firm. Over 100 million users place thousands of orders on numerous investment platforms on daily basis. Do you know it contributes over 15% of retail trading volumes in India? Additionally, it runs popular open online education and community initiatives. Here, the objective is to empower retail traders and investors, so that they can make wise decisions.

The duo Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath founded this company in 2010. And since then, it became one of the most popular and trusted brokers in India. Here, you will get information about-

• Stocks
• Derivatives
• Currencies
• Commodities

Zerodha proved itself as a revolutionary platform where an ordinary person can invest and trade in stock markets. It became a profitable and successful startup. Its market valuation is $ 2 billion. Thus, it played a significant role in the growth and development of the financial market of our country.

6. Gupshup

Gupshup is a conversational messaging and bot-building platform enabling different businesses to build and deploy chatbots. These are the software that the developers create to conduct automated interactions with humans in real time. Chatbot messaging solutions help companies to communicate with customers across various messaging channels. The founder of Gupshup, “Beerud Sheth” established this company in 2004. 

This company enjoyed humongous success and profits. Because almost every company launched in the past two decades greatly relies on automated chatting services. Especially to interact with potential customers in a friendly way.

Gupshup provides a wide range of features and tools including pre-built chatbot templates for various services like-

• Banking
• Insurance
• E-commerce
• Healthcare

Currently, its market valuation is $1.4 billion. It is a leading provider of conversational messaging solutions that help other businesses to increase their engagement with customers.

7. Amagi

Amagi is a global cloud-based technology offering cloud-based broadcast and targeted advertising solutions. The cloud-based platform of Amagi enables TV networks and content owners to create and manage linear TV channels and targeted advertising campaigns on multiple platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, and OTT.   KA Srinivasan and Srividya Srinivasan founded this company in 2008. Presently, it is headquartered in Bengaluru (Karnataka, India). It has offices in New York, London, and Hong Kong as well.

Its platform is highly flexible and scalable that allows broadcasters to launch new channels and advertising campaigns quickly in different regions and on multiple devices.

Some of the critical solutions of Amagi are-

• CLOUDPORT– It enables broadcasters to launch and manage advertisement campaigns on linear television channels.
• THUNDERSTORM– It is a targeted advertising platform that delivers personalized ads to viewers by using data and artificial intelligence.

Major clients of Amagi include some of the famous television networks that you are already aware of! Examples are-

• Discovery
• Fox Networks
• NBC Universal
• Viacom CBS

Did you know it won several industry awards for content delivery and advertisements? Among them, the most prominent one was the IBC Innovation Award in 2018. Thus, it helps content owners to smoothly adapt to the changing media landscape and to reach the target audience effectively within a short period. Currently, its market valuation is $1.4 billion.

8. EaseMyTrip

One of the startups that emerged as a top online travel company in India is EaseMyTrip. It provides a broad range of travel-related services like flight booking, hotel booking, holiday packages for tours, bus rentals, taxi fares, etc. Nishant Pitti and Rikant Pitti founded this company in 2008. The headquarters of EaseMyTrip is present in Delhi, India.

It is famous for its low-cost travel offering and user-friendly website. You can easily book any hotel or flight through its app. It has partnerships with several airlines, hotel chains, and transportation services. That’s why you can easily scroll through their website to get a smooth travel journey or vacation trip. Apart from its online website and app, it has numerous brick-and-mortar travel agents all over India. This online and offline combination of business aided in the rapid growth of this company.

Two years ago (in 2021) it went through an IPO and got listed on major stock exchanges of India i.e., NSE and BSE. As of now, its market valuation is $1.03 billion.

9. Zoho

Zoho Corporation is a software company that specializes in implementing software development and web-based businesses. Sridhar Vembu, Sreenivas Kamumuru, and Tony G. Thomas founded this company in 1996. Do you know the key founder Sridhar Vembu was also a recipient of the prestigious award “Padma Shri”? Zoho offers numerous unique features and a suite of integrated applications with which you can streamline the workflows to increase productivity.

It offers many applications for small and medium-sized businesses –

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
• Invoicing
• Email Marketing
• HR Management
• Accounting Software

The key highlight of this company is it achieved success through organic growth rather than acquisitions. Being a privately held company, it places a strong focus on customer service by offering consistent support to its customers. It serves multiple businesses and a wide range of industries across the world. Therefore, it has a global user base. Currently, its market valuation is $1 billion.

10. Oxyzo

In March 2022, the Oxyzo company was a shining star in the news headlines being a Unicorn of the country. It began its journey as a startup to provide financial solutions to small and medium enterprises, mainly serving the manufacturing sector. Oxyzo is a financial arm of OfBusiness which is a B2B commerce marketplace. It was founded by Asish Mohapatra in 2016. 

Although it started as a financing platform soon after it expanded by a diversified products suite with a larger customer base including SMEs and mid-corporates to thrive in the modern economy. Currently, the market valuation of Oxyzo is $ 1 billion.

Conclusion

We have described the top 10 profitable startups in India that have thrived in the Indian market in spite of various ups and downs. We have ranked the startups based on the market valuation as of 2023.