Every day we wake in the morning and get ready to start our days sipping a cup of coffee or chai and thinking how we can make this day better than yesterday. For me going through a day has always been overwhelming because of the challenges those 24 hours can throw at you. There are no particular tactics or solution to avoiding the inevitable. If things are gonna happen, it will happen.

But the true mystery to solve our daily puzzles is actually not a mystery at all. I have taken a lot of time figuring this out and I will be more than happy to share this with you dear reader. Take one day at a time! Yes! This is it. We cannot tailor our future but can act on our present only. Our actions have and always will define our future. I cannot tell if there is something called ‘destiny’, but I can assure you that patience and gratitude will take you a long way when you are willing to be successful.

See! To me success is not just about a numerical figure, but the contributions I make towards society. I can totally agree that wealth always secures the future of an individual, but in order to witness wealth, we all have to earn it. You get the idea I feel! Earning wealth is correlated with earning respect, love and support from your company and your loved ones. At first, this might not seem to go as you have planned, but with time if we are all true to what we do, success is imperative.

Business Outreach Magazine has always tried to provide you with insights and information about the economy and developments around us. We as a team are dedicated to serve you with all the facts and figures to give you an idea of what’s happening. Today, we are here to discuss the startup companies in Gurgaon which have gifted India with some incredible projects and ideas which have revolutionized the face of the Indian economy.

List of Startup Companies in Gurgaon

1. Snapdeal

Snapdeal is an eCommerce founded in the year 2010 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. This website has its inception in an era when the whole idea of ‘ecommerce’ was at its budding phase. People were used to shopping offline or locally, where bargaining was considered an art. Although, the public had to go through the hassle of taking the time out to go outside and dedicate a time for buying their necessary items. That whole concept started to evolve with the onset of ecommerce websites and platforms like Snapdeal.

Kunal Bahl was an alumni of The Wharton School and Rohit Bansal studied in the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Snapdeal started on February 4th, 2010 as a website offering deals and discounts. Gradually, they became a marketplace in the online space in the year 2011. The focus of Snapdeal is valued based ecommerce, a sector that has a three times the size of the market of branded materials. The website has sellers who offer products at a price which is cost efficient and competitive than the local market. All types of regionally manufactured and branded products are being sold on the platform. About 500,000 sellers who are independently doing business on Snapdeal are from the fashion and household general items segment. It is calculated that people from about 3,700 out of 4,000 towns in India shop on the online platform.

Snapdeal was able to achieve funding from several rounds. The first funding of about $ 12 million was invested by Nexus Venture Partners and Indo-US Venture Partners in the year 2011. The next round of funding of about $ 45 million came from Bessemer Venture Partners and the other investors at around July, 2011. The third phase of funding of about $ 50 million was invested by eBay and the existing investors. After almost three years, in the year 2014 and in the month of February, Snapdeal got a major funding of about $ 133 million from eBay, Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Intel Capital and many more.

In the same year, Snapdeal received another investment of about $ 105 million from BlackRock, Temasek Holdings and some other companies. Around October, 2014, SoftBank invested a whopping sum of about $ 647 million which was the largest amount paid by any investment firm for Snapdeal. Again in August, 2015, companies like Alibaba, Foxconn and SoftBank fresh invested a capital of about $ 500 million in Snapdeal. There were also more investments being made in the following years, which made the capital strength of Snapdeal rock solid. Snapdeal also acquired a lot of companies starting with a Bengaluru-centric website called Grabbon.com.

In 2012, a Delhi-based online sports accessories retailer, esportsbuy.com was bought by Snapdeal. A fashion oriented digital discovery platform called Doozton.com was acquired by Snapdeal in around 2014. Snapdeal employees around 5,000 people. The year 2015 was marked as a year for Snapdeal making the most number of acquisitions. The company bought a stake from Smartprix.com, which is a website for product comparison. This was followed by acquiring Exclusively.in, which is a website to discover premium and luxurious fashion items.

Snapdeal also acquired the mobile transaction platform Freecharge in the year 2015. An advertising company that deals with programmatic displays called Reduce Data was also bought by Snapdeal in the same year. In 2016, Snapdeal recorded a valuation of $ 6.5 billion which was again increased by $ 200 million. With the enormous amount of success, the company hired top executives like Anand Chandrashekharan from Aircel, Rajiv Mangla from Adobe, Jayant Sood from Airtel, and many others. 

Check out the official Youtube channel:

2. The Man Company

The Man Company is one of the top Gurgaon startups that specializes in men’s grooming products. The company aims to transform a man into a modern day gentleman by offering products which a man can get to help them with an evolved version of themselves. The company pledges to make high quality products that are suited for the body, skin and hair of men.

The idea of men pampering themselves is not a modern topic but dates back to the ancient times when Egyptian and Roman men used bathing milks, oils and fragrances. In India, men too indulged in pampering themselves with lip balms, face masks and perfumes. The era of men’s grooming kit has now transformed from just shaving creams and perfumes. The Man Company has been manufacturing products for men free from harmful chemicals. The ingredients in the products consist of natural materials which are handpicked by the experts and also have organic essential oils in it.

Products like shampoo, face wash, beard wash, soaps, shaving gels, fragrance and many more are offered by the company that encourages men to take some time off from their busy schedule and treat themselves with the good vibe of the company. The Man Company was founded in the year 2015 by Bhisham Bhateja, Hitesh Dhingra and Parvesh Bareja in Gurgaon, Haryana. The Man Company has an option where men can buy and deliver products as a gift and present it to their friends and close ones. The company took a close look at the mindset of men, where although they want to groom themselves to be the perfect gentleman, the idea of going out shopping for their favorite products is very taxing for them. This led to the option of a subscription model, where men can subscribe to the products they want and get them delivered according to their convenience.

The Man Company also started a beautiful initiative called ‘The Man Mag’, which is a blog where tips and ideas of men’s grooming are shared along with travel and relationship advice. There are about 250 employees working for the company. The Man Company started at a time when there were very limited options to men’s grooming products than that of women. Hitesh Dhingra has built a lot of companies and is considered as a serial entrepreneur. In 2015, Hitesh founded ‘Tyroo’ which was a context-based advertising platform. It became very popular in its sector. Hitesh founded Letsbuy.com which was a marketplace for consumer electronics. The company later got acquired by Flipkart. The Indian dating site ‘TrulyMadly’ is also co-founded by Hitesh. Bhisham Bhateja is an expert in project execution and client management. His years of experience made him set out for his first entrepreneurial venture with

‘The Man Company’. Being considered as an Angel investor, Parvesh Kumar is also an expert in design, manufacturing, cosmetic products packaging. The company currently operates in 22 cities and also sells their products in ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Nykaa, Flipkart and Myntra. There are also 30 offline outlets across the country. The Man Company has partnered with Shoppers Stop, Spar, Apollo Pharmacy and more than 500 salons in the country. The company also collaborated with web influencers and bloggers to promote their products among their followers and subscribers. The Man Company has raised a funding of about $ 17 million from major investors like Emami, which owns a 45.96% stake. There are other investors like the Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana and investment firm, Redcliffe Capital. The Man Company recorded an annual revenue of Rs. 45 crore in the year 2021. They are aiming to reach a revenue of about Rs. 225 crore and expand their portfolio of products with shavers and trim machines for men. 

Here is a link to their official Youtube channel:

3. Rivigo

Rivigo is one of the transportation-based Gurgaon startups that uses technology to handle its logistics platform. The company was founded by Deepak Garg and Gazal Kalra in the year 2014. Rivigo plans to make logistics work more efficiently and faster with the help of proper planning of operations, using data and culture. Several industries like ecommerce and automotive are being offered services by Rivigo. The FMCG sector is also being strongly supported by the company. It is an initiative by the founders to improve the quality of life of the truck drivers in India by offering them a scalable profession with benefits and growth through the motto of Rivigo.

It is also one of the best startup companies in Gurgaon that gained unicorn status. Some of the most important investors in Rivigo are Trifecta and Elevations Capital. In 2019, Rivigo recorded a net valuation of about $ 1.09 billion. The truck driving industry is very stressful and laborious. The main objective behind Rivigo was to set the working hours for truck drivers to be between 5 to 6 hours. This would help the drivers work the day and return back to their families on the same day. Deepak worked at McKinsey and had experience in industries like engineering and automobiles. He noticed that in spite of a promising economy, the sales figures of trucks were not impressive. So he embarked on a road adventure to have a discussion with the truck drivers themselves and understand the reason for this problem.

Amidst the dream of creating a startup, Deepak met Gazal at a coffee shop. She recently graduated from the Stanford School of Business with an MBA degree and was looking to start a venture herself. Gazal wanted to enlighten herself about why people are not willing to be truck drivers in a country where unemployment is going through the roof. After carefully researching, Deepak and Gazal found that truck drivers are on the road for the most part of the year. They usually go home for only 4 to 5 times a year. At Rivigo, the system is highly transparent and efficient. Truck drivers or what the company calls, ‘pilots’ drive for a maximum of 8 hours in a day with a 45 minutes break in the middle of the day. This allows them to return home to their families and spend time with them. The company currently operates in 29,000 pin codes and owns about 3,000 trucks. Rivigo truly believes in being human that makes them unique from others. 

Here is the link to their Youtube channel:

4. CarDekho

Cardekho is an automotive Gurgaon startup that was founded by Amit Jain and Anurag Jain in the year 2007. The automotive retailing company gained a lot of popularity due to the format of the website which was detailed-specific and filled with information. Earlier, buying a car was very time consuming with getting quotations from dealers, sorting the best insurance and getting all the documents properly and in order. With the advent of the internet, the process has turned seamless and the online portals play a crucial role in this part.

CarDekho is one such platform where the customers get to know about the specifications, features and the total price of a car, whether it is new or a used one. It is a one stop shop for anything automobile. The website and other social media platforms of CarDekho gives access to several informative content about automobiles from features, recent car launches, prices, high quality pictures and many more.

CarDekho also has an e-store which sells accessories like floor mats, stickers, polishers, alloy wheels, car tyres, and several others. You name it and they have it. Some of the major investors of CarDekho are Sequoia Capital, LeapFrog Investments and HDFC Bank. In the year 2021, CarDekho made a net valuation of about $ 1.2 billion. The company employs around 1000 people and is further expanding. CarDekho partnered with Berkshire Insurance and BankBazaar.com to offer customers attractive insurance schemes and car loans. There is also a forum on the company website where experts answer queries related to automotive topics.

Amit Jain is an alumnus from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where he got a B.Tech degree after which he joined the Tata Consultancy Services. After TCS, Amit joined a company called Trilogy as a product manager. Amit also co-founded GirnarSoft which he continues serving along with CarDekho. Anurag Jain studied Integrated Masters of Technology in the subject Mathematics and in Computing from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. His career spans from being a consultant at i2 Technologies in Senior Systems to Sabre Holdings as a Senior Analyst. The main objective of CarDekho is to digitize the automotive ecosystem and help in the entire journey of the customers buying their first car. With immense success, the company expanded its branches with BikeDekho, MobileDekho and PriceDekho. 

Watch their Youtube channel for more insightful content:

5. OYO Rooms

OYO Rooms is a hospitality-based Gurgaon startups that specializes in leasing hotels and living spaces. The startup was founded by Ritesh Agarwal in 2012 and is headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. The company offers inexpensive packages for booking hotels which come with clean and hygienic rooms.

OYO has about 43,000 properties in about 800 cities that are from 80 countries. They have about 1 million rooms under the brand in countries like India, United States, the UK, UAE, Nepal, Philippines, Japan, Malaysia and many more. There are investors like Hero Enterprises, Didi Chuxing, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia India, SoftBank Group, Airbnb, China Lodging Group and Lightspeed India.

OYO is a unicorn company in India which recorded a net valuation of $ 9 billion in July, 2021. Around the year 2012, Ritesh founded Oravel Stays, which he later changed the name to OYO. He received a $ 100,000 funding from the Thiel Fellowship from Peter Thiel who was the co-founder of Paypal. This was a 2 years program that opened a lot of doors for Ritesh to take his idea to great possibilities. By 2019, the company gave jobs to 17,000 people from all around the world.

OYO helps owners to lease their assets under the brand and enroll in the chain of hotels. General Managers are appointed by the company to supervise operations and ensure high standards of customer experience. This helps create several job opportunities all over India and South Asian regions. OYO also founded about 26 institutes that provide training to enthusiasts from the hospitality sector. In 2019, in the month of April, OYO launched a programme called OPEN, which helped hotel partners achieve business goals. Co-OYO app provided the tools for hotel partners to get acquainted with customer metrics.

In 2021, OYO partnered with Yatra, EaseMyTrip and Airbnb to build the Confederation of Hospitality, Technology and Tourism Industry (CHATT) which is an Indian body for the tourism sector of the country. OYO appointed top level executives like ex-SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar as strategic advisor and paralympian Deepa Malik as an independent figure in the group of directors. OYO received several fundings over the years of its success. In 2019, an investment of about $ 100 million was made by Chinese vehicle hiring company, Didi Chuxing.

In a series F funding that took place in 2019, OYO raised $ 1.5 billion from Sequoia India, SoftBank Group and Lightspeed Venture Partners. A strategic long term deal was signed between Microsoft and OYO in September, 2021. Over the years, OYO acquired a lot of companies and projects. In 2016, around March, OYO bought the Qlik Pass team which was assembled by Rahul Gupta and Rishi Swami. The team was responsible for leading the department of data science.

OYO also bought Weddingz.in, which is an online platform based in Mumbai that deals in wedding venues and vendors. With this acquisition, OYO entered a $ 40billion wedding sector. OYO collaborated with Airbnb in 2019. In this partnership OYO Rooms will be made available on Airbnb platforms. About Rs. 1,400 crores were invested by the company to develop more infrastructure and update technological support in the India and South Asian regions.

In 2019, OYO heavily invested in acquiring Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas for $ 135 million by partnering with a US real estate agency named Highgate. 

Head to the official Youtube channel for more information:

6. The Urban Company

The Urban Company, formerly known as UrbanClap, started back in November,2014. Its main goal was to commercialize the home services industry. There are no major companies which strategically organize this sector. The friction present between the end customer and the labor is huge and is run mostly by middle-men.

This tends to create inefficiency and lacks transparency and trust. The home service industry relies largely on referrals from friends and families where the desired outcome is subjective. It is estimated that about $ 30 billion is spent on such services. But the experience is not satisfactory for both customers and professionals. There is a scope for increase of about 1.5x- 2x than what it is today. The Urban Company aims to revolutionize the industry by enabling 1 million professionals to be their own boss and earn decent wages without the hassle of middle-men.

The micro entrepreneurs have access to a broader market, and will be introduced to financial systems like bank accounts, loans, personal insurance, etc. The professionals will also be introduced to soft skills training via app and training centers. This business strategy promises fixed and transparent pricing along with on-time delivery of high quality services. The company is defined by the 80:20 strategy where 80% of the earnings will be directed towards professionals and 20% will be re-invested in the brand. The end goal is to think beyond just profits and believe in lasting.

This company with the value it has to offer for the stakeholders appears to be noble and contributing. Selling a company makes it a product and Abhiraj Singh Bhal- Co-Founder of The Urban Company, thinks of this initiative as a brainchild. Currently, the company has hired around 20,000 professionals. But the ultimate goal is to attract around 1 million service professionals by 2025. This will be possible only if the company is properly scaled and helps it be more sustainable. While considering appointing a professional, the company follows a series of protocols and background checks. This is a platform, where the consumers will open their doors to unknown individuals, who are skilled at their respective trade.

For the end-to-end process to go smoothly and the consumer satisfaction is impeccable, a professional on successfully clearing the background check is called for an interview to validate their credentials and enroll themselves for extensive training. There are instances where they might even be asked to sit for a written exam. Statistically, after training ends, 20% – 30% people get selected. The professionals are also strictly advised to maintain a rating between 4.2 – 5 stars. This is a consumer focused business and relevant training is also imparted from time to time for the workforce to stay updated in their trade. Urban Company heavily supports analyzing data for sustainability. This helps the initiative to improve their consumer support and research.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed with National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) to equip, train and certify professionals across India and be a part of ‘ Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana’ (PMKVY). Abhiraj also expresses the company’s preparedness towards cybersecurity. They have partnered with HackerOne, a security firm where ethical hackers are welcomed to break in the system and identify loopholes. With being well funded, Urban Company is crossing benchmarks and inspiring budding entrepreneurs to venture out on their dreams. The idea is to build a company based on ethics and trust which will always turn out to be successful. The Urban Company has investors like Prosus Ventures, Vy Capital, Dragoneer, Wellington Management, Steadview Capital and Tiger Global. The company recorded a net valuation of about $ 2.1 billion in the year 2021 and it gave the Urban Company unicorn status.

Head to their Youtube channel here:

7. Mamaearth

Mamaearth is a Skincare and Wellness Gurgaon startups that was founded by Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh in the year 2016. The company emerged at a time when the cosmetic industry was at a concerning phase for producing products made of chemicals and hazardous materials. Mamaearth came as a breath of fresh air with its portfolio of products made organically and toxin-free. The idea of creating a brand like Mamaearth is self-explanatory. Products that are natural and made out of organic products are beneficial for the customers.

Using these products will enhance the health of their skin, hair and overall beauty. This initiative itself leverages the fact behind the success of the company which has American certification. Baby products have always been questioned about their ingredients. This is where Mamaearth comes which makes baby products that are ‘Made Safe’ certified and following every safety regulations. With the vision to make safe baby products, the company takes pride in upholding their ethics and to be a company that is based in India. This surely makes us feel that Mamaearth is one of the best startup companies in Gurgaon. The company gradually expanded its portfolio of products suited for parents, grandparents and adults.

Varun Alagh is an expert from the FMCG industry. He studied electrical engineering from Delhi College of Engineering. After that he graduated from XLRI in Jamshedpur with an MBA degree in Marketing and Finance. Varun started his career working for companies like Coca-Cola, Hindustan Unilever and Smirnoff where he was designated with leadership positions. He took that amount of expertise with him and founded Honasa Consumer Private Ltd. which is Mamaearth’s parent company. He handles brand management with his key skills. Ghazal did BCA from Punjab University in the subject of Information Technology.  She worked at NIIT as a Corporate Trainer and later established Dietexpert in the year 2012. This was followed by the founding of Honasa in 2016. She also specializes in Modern and Applied Arts which she studied from New York Academy. Varun and Ghazal were conscious about the ingredients of the products they used during their stay in the US. The couple were expecting a baby when they were in India and were out in the market looking for toxin free baby products. Unfortunately, they were not satisfied with the baby products that were readily available in the market. They even started to buy baby products from the US. This method naturally turned out to be very expensive. The couple figured that this is a common issue for every Indian parent. And after hard work behind research and development and building an efficient team, Mamaearth was formed. Mamaearth wanted nothing but the good health of babies. And the company’s honest approach promoted itself among the parents. Investors like Sequoia Capital and Sofina backed the company. In 2021, during the month of December, Mamaearth made a net valuation of $ 1.1 billion.

Watch more insightful content in their official Youtube channel:

8. Delhivery

Delhivery is a logistics Gurgaon startup that was founded by Bhavesh Manglani, Kapil Bharati, Mohit Tandon, Sahil Barua and Suraj Saharan in the year 2011. Delhivery has 7,500 partner bases, 85 centers of fulfillment, about 70 hubs and delivery centers of more than 3000. The company’s two-third revenue is acquired from providing delivery and logistics services to several ecommerce platforms.

Delhivery was previously known as SSN Logistics Limited that provided fast delivery services to the local regions of Gurgaon. Food and flowers were their product of delivery during the time of their inception. It was from a period when ecommerce in India was rising exponentially and the founders thought it as an opportunity to work something out in this sector. In 2011, Urban Touch, an online retailer dealing with beauty and fashion accessories became the first client of Delhivery. In the same year, the company opened its logistics services to more ecommerce platforms and further expanded their business. The year 2019 was important for Delhivery as it received a huge funding of about $ 413 million from SoftBank. In 2021, the company got another amount of funding of about $ 277 million from Fidelity. This skyrocketed the company’s valuation to about $ 3 billion.

Spoton Logistics that dealt with the B2B sector was acquired by Delhivery in the year 2021 for $ 210 million. A remotely controlled aircraft system group called Transition Robotics which is based out in California was acquired by Delhivery in the month of December in 2021. Delhivery announced its initial public offering (IPO) of Rs. 5,235 crore ($ 690 million) which went to a valuation of Rs. 35,283 crore ($ 4.6 billion). Sahil Barua holds the position of CEO in the company with the co-founder Kapil Bharati who is designated as the CTO of Delhivery. Sandeep Barasia was made the Chief Business Officer in the year 2018. Sandeep handles P&L in the department of warehousing, freight services and parcels.

Ajith Pai was the former CFO of the company. He got hired as the COO of Delhivery where he manages Human Resources, operations division, engineering and the financial division. The Indian Institute of Technology alumni, Amit Agarwal got appointed as CFO. Earlier he handled the finance department as vice-president. Delhivery has SoftBank as the investor holding the most stakes of about 22.78% followed by Nexus Ventures at 9.23%. Investors like The Carlyle Group, CPP Investment, Tiger Global Management and Times Internet hold a stake of about 5%. In about 13 rounds of funding, Delhivery secured an amount of about $1.4 billion until the month of December in 2021. 

Here is a look at the company’s Youtube channel:

9. HealthKart

HealthKart is an online fitness Gurgaon startups that was started in 2011 by Sameer Maheshwari and Prashant Tandon. Everyone desires to live a healthy and fit life. They want to keep themselves strong and positive so that they do not miss out on all those special memories that life gives us. Healthkart is one such startup companies in Gurgaon that offers products and several services to help an individual achieve their fitness goals.

Some of the products under the portfolio of the brand includes protein supplements, fitness accessories, fitness gears and many more. Their products are international and maintain high standards in quality and authenticity. Healthkart makes their products accessible through both online and offline stores. There are certified expert nutritionists who guide customers with personalized diet plans.

Muscleblaze by HealthKart is a very popular product that serves the fitness enthusiasts of the country. The company has about 1.5 million customers who are dedicated towards the vision of HealthKart. This is a one stop shop for customers where they get access to trainers, protein and vitamin supplements and nutritionists.

Both Prashant and Sameer are graduates from Harvard and Stanford and could have gone their way with high paying corporate jobs. But they wanted to contribute their expertise and knowledge towards the public healthcare sector. Prashant and Sameer consulted with several doctors and healthcare institutions before venturing for their project. India had a pain-point when looking at a well organized healthcare industry. Together they founded Bright Lifecare Private Limited. Healthkart had its inception under this mother company.

HealthKart also partnered with logistics companies like DTDC, Shadowfax, FedEx, India Post and many more. The company has investors like Intel Capital, Sequoia Capital and Sofina. In 4 rounds of funding, HealthKart got an amount of about $ 61 million from its investors.

Take a look at their Youtube channel:

To conclude, it is not the destination that is the goal, but the journey itself. It can be boring and monotonous to do the same work everyday. But do not get overwhelmed by the optimistic side of social media. Rather, believe in realism and work on it. Planning about one day at a time is always beneficial than plunging into a pile of to-do lists for a week.

These high paying Gurgaon startups of modern India have paved the way for future generations to create their own destiny. It is crucial to accept rejections and learn from it. Who would have thought of having a premium service from such companies from the internet would have been possible. Things are turning out to be beautiful and India is getting reborn again.  

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