India’s year of the unicorn: Startups in spotlight of 2021 tech boom

A shopkeeper weighs vegetables at a grocery store where QR codes for Paytm (behind C), an Indian cellphone-based digital payment platform, are displayed in Mumbai. Overseas funds invested more than US$35bil in Indian startups in 2021 – a tripling from 2020, according to data compiled by Tracxn – buying into everything from fintech and health to gaming. — AFP

MUMBAI: Sumit Gupta has had a big year – turning 30, getting married and seeing his startup become one of India’s newest tech unicorns.

Hampered by the coronavirus pandemic and too busy expanding and getting funding for his cryptocurrency platform CoinDCX, his team finally grabbed a few days on the beach in Goa to celebrate recently.