With 16 unicorns (startups valued at more than $1 billion) and more than $11 billion in funding, primarily from US-based investment companies (as of June 30), the year 2021 has demonstrated that Chinese investment is no longer required in a “self-sufficient” India in the new normal.

In 2020, Indian startups began rejecting Chinese financing, as Indian corporations and wealthy individuals, as well as international investors, banded together to support domestic firms.

In the first half of 2021, investors have pumped at least $11 billion into Indian IT firms in over 600 deals, which is growing at an exponential rate.

Tiger Global, a US-based investment firm, has surpassed another US-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, as the top investor in the expanding Indian startup/unicorn sector.

Nasscom, the leading organization of the IT industry, predicted that India would have 50 unicorns by the end of 2021. The country has already surpassed that figure, which is now 52.

Digit Insurance, InnovAccer, Cred, Meesho, Gupshup, Pharmeasy, Groww, Urban Company, Mohalla Tech (ShareChat and Moj), Chargebee, Moglix, Infra. Market, Zeta, Five Star Business Finance, BrowserStack, and logistics firm BlackBuck are the latest entrants to the $1 billion value club.

In a mobile-first country where internet and digital access are rising by the day, the list will only grow in the coming months.

Chinese investors invested $3.9 billion in India in 2019, up from $2 billion in 2018. This investment scenario changed in May of last year, amid clashes and skirmishes between Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

As a result, Chinese investment in Indian enterprises plummeted to $263 million over 15 transactions in the first half of 2020. Sensing the mood, homegrown tech entrepreneurs began to explore for financing overseas, and their requests were answered.

According to media estimates, approximately 150 Chinese investment bids totaling more than $2 billion were stalled in the pipeline.

The rise of new unicorns and IPOs, according to Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, heralds the entrance of the golden age of the Indian consumer internet startup ecosystem.

“As a dynamic mobile-first nation, India's digital economy has grown on the strength of strong digital infrastructures, such as expanding smartphone penetration, low data prices, and soaring app downloads,” Ram told IANS.

“Over the past year, the epidemic has provided further fuel to digital consumption. Startup entrepreneurs from urban and aspirational India are responding to the needs of the digital economy by solving for a variety of distinct use cases,” he added.

Following the successful IPO, Zomato's shares rose about 80% on the first day of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange, bringing the food delivery platform's market value to nearly $13 billion.

“The enormous response to our IPO gives us confidence that the world is full of investors who realize the magnitude of investments we are making and take a long-term view of our business,” said Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato.

The new-age consumer tech-driven firms that touched the daily lives of millions during the pandemic have jumped on the investment bandwagon and are reaping the benefits.

“As India and the rest of the world struggle to recover from the epidemic, India's consumer internet ecosystem is in the grip of a perfect storm. Recent startup triumphs will raise investor appetite for risk-taking and attract global investors, according to Ram.

According to Nasscom-Zinnov research, the Indian IT startup base grew by 8-10% year on year last year, with over 1,600 new firms and a record number of 12 additional unicorns — the most ever in a single calendar year.

That record has already been beaten in the first half of this year, and the great Indian IT startup narrative is poised for a significant leap in the second half of the year.