Unicorns Feel Funding Winter Chill; See Fall In Numbers

Valuations of Quikr and Paytm Mall have dropped below $1 billion. OYO and Olacabs have seen a drop

- Shivani Shinde

The drying up of funds for a number of start-ups is affecting the firms' unicorn status across the globe. The past six months have seen the valuations of 147 unicorns drop, of which 71 were from the US and 29 from China, according to the latest Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2022.

Eighty-one unicorns from across the globe saw their valuations drop below $1 billion-the threshold for a start-up to be labelled unicorn-from last year. Of these, 36 where from the US and 35 from China.

Though India has not seen many unicorns drop off the list in the past year, a few have seen a decline in their valuations and hence are getting dropped off the list. According to data provided by Tracxn, India has seen almost seven start-ups falling of the list since the country first reported its first unicorn. These include Paytm Mall, Blinkit, Shopclues and Quikr. Some of the others who fell off the list and shut shop include Hike.

The valuation of firms like Quikr, and Paytm Mall have dropped below $1 billion. Shopclues and Blinkit were acquired for a fraction of their billion-dollar valuation.