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Startup

How this Indian Unicorn Startup Empowering the Financial Ecosystem for Businesses

Gone are those days when transferring money was a long and tedious process. The procedure was long and it required a person to visit the branch office of his bank, followed by filling forms and then standing in never-ending queues.

However, today, it is just a matter of a simple swipe of our fingers thanks to the platforms that have made the online money transfer effortless.

The rise of technology has paved way for a world that offers a lot of opportunities and an open space for various sectors to prosper. One such sector is that of fintech or the online payment industry and today, we are going to talk about Razorpay that has joined the list of billion-dollar companies and became one of the unicorn companies in India in 2020.

An IIT- Roorkee graduate, Harshil launched Razorpay in 2014, along with his fellow Roorkee alumni Shashank Kumar. Razorpay lets its users access multiple payment options like Debit cards, Credit cards, net banking, and even wallets such as Ola Money and Airtel Money.

When Razorpay was launched, its founders had just one aim in their minds- they wanted to make the digital payment processes simpler for small businesses.

Now seven years down the line, Razorpay still has that customer-first approach that made the brand a prime choice for enterprises at all stages. However, it has achieved the status of one of the Unicorn companies in 2020.

In October 2020, the Bengaluru-based brand became one of the unicorn companies. The company managed to raise $100 million in funding which was led by Sequoia and GIC. The existing investors such as Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, and Y Combinator also took part in the funding.

“Most payment platforms take their APIs from banks. Then, they integrate with banks and build a further layer. Hence, they all look similar. But with Razorpay, we got to build the product first, keeping bank integration as the black box. We discussed what the merchants want and what our customers demand. We answered these and built our product,” said Harshil Mehta, CEO, and Co-founder of Razorpay.

Though it took Razorpay seven years to achieve the unicorn status, the company has claimed to turn cash flow positive with 2.6X growth in its revenues. Razorpay`s revenue grew from Rs 193 crore in FY19 to Rs 509 crore during FY20.

This Unicorn startup has launched a neo-banking platform RazoPayX last year to help small businesses in managing their finances. The brand has claimed to serve around 10,000 businesses within the twelve months of its launch.

Razorpay serves many international brands, including the likes of Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook, along with many national enterprises like Zerodha, Jio, and Hotstar. It also serves Indian startups like Khatabook, OkCredit, and Meesho along with SMEs and freelancers in multitudes.

As we said, it took Razorpay seven years to reach where it is now. It takes strong determination, effective brand strategies, a unique business model, and a lot more to take your business to new heights.

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Business motivation

A Success Story of Indian Startup that Braved the Pandemic to enter the Elite Unicorn Club!

In 2020, when the global pandemic of COVID gave birth to revenue crunch and economic slowdown due to the resultant lockdown, some Indian Startups acquired the status of Unicorns.

11 Indian startups in 2020 managed to brave the storm and raise funding to gain a valuation of more than $1 Billion to enter the elite Unicorn club. Today, in our Unicorns 2020 series, we are going to talk about ‘FirstCry’.

The successful startup FirstCry achieved its unicorn status after a decade since its inception. This Indian startup achieved its status in2020 by acquiring a funding deal of $400 million from SoftBank and raising its valuation to $1.2 billion in February, last year.

Founded by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha in 2010, this Pune-based startup is an online and offline platform that offers a wide range of products for babies, kids, and moms. Supam Maheshwari, an IIM Ahmedabad pass out did engineering from Delhi College of Engineering began his entrepreneurship journey, early in his career.
His first company was an e-learning company called Brainvisa Technology. However, Brainvisa was acquired by Indecomm Global for $25 million in 2007.

Now a successful startup, Initially, FirstCry was full of struggle! Supam was facing challenges on an individual level, as he was about to become a father. His occupation at that time required him to travel abroad, frequently.

Many times, he would carry stuff for his new-born baby girl as the products available in the foreign country was more trust-worthy. Some of the products that he brought from abroad, did not exist in the local Indian market.

Hence, The idea of FirstCry was conceived with a desire to resolve the problems of millions of Indian parents who struggle to find the best product for their babies and kids.

Today, FirstCry has emerged as an undisputed leader in the omnichannel baby and mother care products segment. The brand offers more than two lakh baby and kid`s products across 2,000 brands. It has more than 300 stores, spread across 125 cities.

While the first tranche of $300 million has already been received by the company, the remaining Rs 703 crore ($100 million) has been reserved by SoftBank and is expected to be released on the second anniversary of the transaction in January 2021.

‘When failures hit you, you hit the failures back with Bounce Back’. FirstCry is the best example of how an Indian startup can succeed with a clear goal and a concrete business plan. For more such inspiring stories, visit www.badabusiness.com .

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