Three edtech firms feature in LinkedIn top 10 startup list

Edtech firms upGrad and Unacademy, fintech firm Cred, and home services provider Urban Company, along with six other startups, have been featured in professional networking platform LinkedIn’s annual top startups list.

SaaS startup Whatfix, edtech startup Unschool, payments platform Razorpay, information technology and services company Zigram, conversational artificial intelligence platform Yellow Messenger, and health and wellness brand Pee Safe also made it to the list, Abhigyan Chand, editor of LinkedIn News India, announced in a blog post on Tuesday.

The Covid-19 pandemic has swept across the globe, upending both business and personal plan, he said in the blog post. 

“Startups have not been immune, but many have found ways to navigate these changes — or pivot all together — and some have even thrived. Our 3rd annual top startups list reflects 10 companies that have remained resilient during a tumultuous time, continuing to attract investment, employees and attention,” he said.

The 2019 list included health and fitness startup Curefit, insurance provider Acko, edtech firm WhiteHat Jr and student housing startup Stanza Living, among a total of 25 startups. The list also included Razorpay and upGrad, which have been featured this year as well.

Read: Hiring up 35% from April to June; competition for jobs doubles in 6 months: LinkedIn

The list for 2020 was compiled by editors and data scientists, who gathered information from actions generated by LinkedIn’s 69 million members in India, the post said. Variables such as employee growth, jobseeker interest, member engagement with the company and its employees were factored in, it said. 

The panel also took into account how well the startups pulled talent from its flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list, which mentioned the 25 companies that Indians want to work and stick around in, the blog post said.

Only companies that are seven years old or younger, have at least 50 employees, are privately held and headquartered in India were considered.

A quick look at the ten startups that made it to the 2020 list:

upGrad: Founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli and Ravijot Chugh, UpGrad  is an online higher education platform that offers industry-relevant programmes. The Mumbai-based firm employs 1,233 people. It raised $6.7 million in a debt funding round from IIFL Income Opportunities Fund (Series II) last month.

Cred: Set up in 2018 by Kunal Shah, Bengaluru headquartered Cred offers its users rewards for paying credit card bills through the app. It currently has 288 employees.

Unschool: The one-year-old Hyderabad-based company, founded by Rahul Verma, is an e-mentorship platform that allows students, graduates, young professionals and entrepreneurs to create an online learning ecosystem that fits their needs and industry demands. It employs 125 employees.

Unacademy: Founded in 2015 by Roman Saini, Gaurav Munjal and Hemesh Singh, Unacademy is an online education technology company based in Bengaluru. Originally created as a YouTube channel in 2010 by Munjal, the firm now employs 1,500 people. It recently became a unicorn following a $150 million fundraise.

Whatfix: Set up by Khadim Batti, Vara Kumar and Vispi Daver in 2014, the SaaS-based platform provides in-app guidance and performance support for web applications and software products. It helps companies create interactive walkthroughs that appear in web applications. The startup has an employee strength of 350.

Razorpay: Razorpay was founded in 2013 by Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur. It  is a payments solution provider that allows businesses to accept, process and disburse payments with its product suite. It has 796 employees and is headquartered in Bengaluru.

Zigram: Established in 2018 by Abhishek Bali, Zigram operates in the data asset space. It looks to help clients build and manage data assets across use cases, thus boosting revenue and reducing the cost of doing business. It is based in Gurugram and employs 86 employees.

Yellow Messenger: Founded in 2016 by Jaya Kishore Reddy, Rashid Khan, Anik Das and Raghu Ravinutala, the startup provides enterprises with an AI platform to build conversational experiences for customers and employees. It is headquartered in Bengaluru and has 310 employees.

Pee Safe: Founded by Vikas and Srijana Bagaria in 2017, the hygiene products company sells isopropyl alcohol-based toilet seat sanitizers, menstrual products, intimate washes and wipes, and sweat pads. It also offers anti-pollution face masks. Pee Safe is based out of Gurugram and employs 150 people.

Urban Company: Set up in 2014 by Abhiraj Bhal, Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan, the Gurugram headquartered company connects end users with professionals and provides wellness and home maintenance services. It has 1,300 employees.