CRED, upGrad, and Groww take top 3 spots in LinkedIn list of top 25 startups in India

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New Delhi: LinkedIn has released its 2022 LinkedIn Top Startups List for India, revealing the top 25 startups that have shown resilience in an uncertain market environment, and are continuing to innovate in 2022.

To compile this year’s list, LinkedIn looked at platform data from July 2021 to June 2022 across four pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement within the company and its employees; and how well these startups pulled talent from its flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list.

Topping this year’s list is unified payment interface CRED (#1). Valued at $6.4 billion, this young startup maintained its podium position on the LinkedIn Top Startups list, moving from #3 in 2021 to #1 in 2022. Besides gaining popularity for its quirky ads in the past two years, CRED is also setting new benchmarks for employee well-being by offering benefits such as ElderCare, egg freezing, and one-on-one support for mental wellness to its employees.

The next highest placing businesses on the list include upGrad (#2), one of India’s largest online higher education companies that curates vast upskilling opportunities for professionals and college students, followed by Groww (#3), an online investment platform that provides an objective evaluation of various investment opportunities through stocks and mutual funds.

This year’s list also features new entrants including e-grocery company Zepto (#4), full-stack car buying platform Spinny (#7), and insurtech startup Ditto Insurance (#12) – all of which are online platforms that are making financial, mobility, and essentials more accessible for consumers in India today. Fitness platform Ultrahuman (#19) and organic food marketplace Living Food (#20) also debuted this year’s list by enabling consumers to lead a conscious and healthy lifestyle.

With 13 out of the top 25 startups based out of Bengaluru, the city affirms its reputation as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’. In fact, 58% of all jobs posted by these startups on LinkedIn during the same period from August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022 were based out of Bengaluru.

Speaking on the list, Nirajita Banerjee, Managing Editor at LinkedIn News India said, “The Indian startup ecosystem displays great resilience as we continue to see the rise of new startups with 68% of entrants on the list appearing for the first time. These startups are navigating the uncertain macro environment by optimising their businesses for sustainable growth and taking a more prudent approach towards scaling their business. It’s also great to see young professionals embrace India’s startup ecosystem, with 56% of all hires in the top 25 startups being aged below 30, and 17% aged below 25, at the time of joining. This list is a great resource for job seekers excited by the opportunity to innovate, solve big problems, and grow their skills within these startups.”

Here’s a list of the 25 companies that made it to the LinkedIn Top Startups 2022 India list, in order of ranking: