Bengaluru might be the silicon valley of India but there are many tech startups in Mumbai as well.
In fact, I am surprised that Mumbai is performing better than Pune in the number of startups. I was expecting Pune to be the leader in the tech startups of Maharashtra.
My reasoning was based on the number of high-quality colleges and IT hubs present in Pune. But I was wrong.
However, it seems that most of the students and tech enthusiasts settle for IT giants in Pune instead of showing interest in working for a startup.
Forbes created a list of cities for starting up in India and Mumbai stood at the third position after Bengaluru and Delhi NCR.
The highest number of flourishing startups makes Mumbai the startup hub of Maharashtra. If you are someone who is looking to work for a startup based in Maharashtra, come to Mumbai.
List of Tech Startups Based in Mumbai
Upstox
Founder: Ravi Kumar
Year of Establishment: 2009
Total Funding: $29 Million
Upstox is an online trading platform that allows you to buy stocks. It even allows its users to invest in mutual funds. It has several products like calculators, tools, and even resources.
Even I am using Upstox as one of my investment platforms and the process to register was smooth and paperless.
Ratan Tata\’s Tiger Global has invested in this FinTech startup.
Upstox uses the following technology to operate its business:
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | HTML5, ASP.NET, jQuery, AngularJS, Firebase |
| Operations | Calendly, Criteo |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics, CleverTap, Hotjar, VWO, Mixpanel |
| Marketing | Google Tag Manager, MGID |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, WordPress, Cloudflare, Errorception, Nginx, Disqus |
| Customer Support | FreshDesk, NodeBB |
Toppr
Founders: Zishaan Hayath & Hemanth Goteti
Year of Establishment: 2013
Total Funding: $112.1
Toppr is one of the leading EdTech startups in India that has a collection of every course and training possible. It is specially focused on kids and students.
Primary courses include topics like coding, competitive exam, and academic subjects.
Toppr uses artificial intelligence-based machine learning algorithms on top of its strong infrastructure to create personalized learning paths for millions of students.
Here are the technologies used by Toppr to operate its company and platform.
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | HTML5, Cloudinary, Django, ReadSpeaker |
| Operations | G Suite |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics, Optimizely, Branch Metrics, Matomo |
| Marketing | Google Tag Manager, Mandrill, Zemanta, Parse.ly, Facebook |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, WordPress, Cloudflare, Globalsign |
| Customer Support | FreshDesk, Intercom |
JioSaavn
Founders: Rishi Malhotra, Vinodh Bhat, and Paramdeep Singh
Year of Establishment: 2006
Total Funding: $131.6 Million
Does Saavn Music need any introduction? It\’s a famous music streaming platform that supports English, Hindi, and Indian regional music.
JioSaavn works on the freemium business model. The free version of JioSaavn has ads.
The paid version of JioSaavn has several benefits like adless music streaming, unlimited downloads, the highest audio quality, exclusive content, and other offers.
Reliance Jio acquired Saavn for $1 billion and rebranded the app as JioSaavn.
Currently, JioSaavn is using these tools to run its platform.
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | HTML5, Google Maps, PHP, OpenSearch, jQuery |
| Operations | G Suite, Slack, GoDaddy Professional Email |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics |
| Marketing | Google Tag Manager, GumGum, Google Doubleclick, Twilio Sendgrid, Sharethrough, Yeildbot |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, Apache Web Server, GoDaddy DNS, JW Player, Pixalate |
| Finance | Stripe |
Nykaa
Founders: Falguni Nayar
Year of Establishment: 2012
Total Funding: $145.9 Million
I am sure most of the ladies know about Nykaa. It is a famous beauty and fashion eCommerce store.
Nykaa is another unicorn startup in India that has crossed $1 billion in terms of valuation. Popular actresses like Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt have invested in this startup.
Nykaa uses the following technologies –
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | HTML5, Github, Laravel, Lightbox, jQuery, Prototype, Modernizr |
| Operations | G Suite, Criteo, Barilliance, Unbxd, Magento |
| Analytics & Data | Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics, Branch Metrics |
| Marketing | Google Adwords, Facebook, Bing, Taboola, WebEngage, Hupso, Sociomantic, Buffer, Boomtrain, AppsFlyer |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, WordPress, Cloudflare, JIRA |
| Customer Support | Zendesk, Nudgespot |
Nazara Technologies
Founder: Nitish Mittersain
Year of Establishment: 2000
Total Funding: $146.4 Million
Nazara Technologies is completely focused on gaming. It\’s a group of multiple gaming companies that own popular games.
Not just gaming but Nazara Technologies is also involved in wallpapers, themes, games, and multimedia for mobile devices.
The most important point about this startup is that India\’s big bull of the stock market, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has invested in this company.
Nazara Technologies is one of the most valuable tech startups in Mumbai with some notable products like World Cricket Championship 3, Sportskeeda, Kiddopia, Carrom Clash, etc.
This gaming-oriented company uses the following tools and technologies to run its platform and business.
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | Amazon Gamecircle SDK, HTML5, Firebase, PHP, Modernizr |
| Operations | Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Outlook, Google Drive |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics, Amplitude |
| Marketing | Google Tag Manager, InMobi, OneSignal |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, WordPress, GoDaddy SSL |
| Finance | PayPal, Google Wallet, Amazon Payments, Square |
Acko General Insurance
Founder: Varun Dua
Year of Establishment: 2016
Total Funding: $215 Million
Acko General Insurance is an InsurTech startup that provides all kinds of insurance services.
The tools used by Acko General Insurance are as follows:
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | HTML5, Bootstrap, AngularJS, Modernizr |
| Operations | Asana, Trello, Microsoft Office 365, DropBox, Slack |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics, Fullstory, Amplitude, VWO |
| Marketing | Google Tag Manager, Taboola, WebEngage, Unbounce, AddThis, ShareThis |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, Gravatar, WordPress, Cloudflare |
| Customer Service | FreshDesk, TypeForm, FreshSales |
BookMyShow
Founders: Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar, Rajesh Balpande
Year of Establishment: 1999
Total Funding: $224.5 Million
BookMyShow is the largest online ticketing platform that offers showtimes, movie tickets, reviews, trailers, concert tickets, and events near Mumbai.
Technically, BBM is one of the oldest tech startups in Mumbai but it was not using technology heavily as it does now.
The major purpose of this start-up was to bring the concept of online movie ticketing to India. It has partnerships with all major Indian production houses and studios with real-time ticketing for major cinema chains like Inox, Big Cinemas, Cinemax, Fun Cinemas, etc.
India is a country where entertainment is given utmost value. To cater to the demand of more than 25 million active monthly users, BookMyShow uses the following technologies:
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | HTML5, Google Maps, Cloudinary, FlexSlider, Firebase, jQuery, ReadSpeaker |
| Operations | Asana, G Suite, Criteo, Slack, Microsoft Office 365 |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics, CleverTap, VWO, PubNub, Pusher |
| Marketing | Google Tag Manager, 360 Polaris, Revcontent, Mandrill, GumGum, Quantcast |
| DevOps & IT | Cloudflare, Errorception, Entrust, Pixalate, New Relic, Nginx, Wistia |
| Customer Service | FreshDesk, UserVoice, Hotline |
Hotstar
Founder: Ajit Mohan
Year of Establishment: 2015
Total Funding: $226.8 Million
Hotstar is the leading OTT video streaming platform. It is one of the tech startups in Mumbai with high global exposure.
It works on a freemium model where free content comes with ads. On the other hand, premium plans come with an adless experience and exclusive content.
Although, Hotstar was a part of the Star network from 2000 it started operating as a separate entity in 2015. That was when OTT platforms started booming in India.
In 2019, Disney acquired Hotstar and it became Disney+ Hotstar.
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | Adobe Flash, Bootstrap, AngularJS |
| Operations | Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Outlook, Proofpoint |
| Analytics & Data | Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, Clevertap |
| Marketing | Google Tag Manager, Segment, Paytunes |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, Akamai, New Relic |
| Finance | Stripe |
BillDesk
Founders: Karthik Ganapathy, M.N. Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal
Year of Establishment: 2000
Total Funding: $241.4 Million
BillDesk is one of the oldest tech startups in Mumbai with a finance background. It offers a comprehensive bill presentation, payment & management solution to its customers.
Their primary customers not only include merchants and business owners but there are large billers like electricity, water, insurance, and other service providers.
BillDesk uses the following technologies –
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| DevOps & IT | Entrust |
| Operations | Microsoft Office 365 |
| Analytics & Data | NETcore |
This is not a complete list because of obvious reasons. No company publicly discloses all the technology services they use.
PepperFry
Founder: Ambareesh Murty
Year of Establishment: 2011
Total Funding: $245.3 Million
PepperFry is an online marketplace with a dedicated niche of furniture and home decor. It has a wide range of collections that consists of lamps, mattresses, furnishing, etc.
Everything started with a website and a strong delivery chain. However, Pepperfry has recently started establishing itself in the offline market as well.
But to operate its online business, Pepperfry uses the following technologies:
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | HTML5, PHP, Adobe Flash, Bold Commerce, Modernizr |
| Operations | G Suite, Microsoft Office 365, Magento, Unbxd |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics, CleverTap |
| Marketing | Amazon SES, Blueshift, Facebook, Google AdMob, Sociomantic, WebEngage, Google Tag Manager |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, Akamai, Soasta mPulse |
| Customer Service | LivePerson |
InCred
Founder: Bhupinder Singh
Year of Establishment: 2016
Total Funding: $254.4 Million
Location: BKC, Mumbai
InCred is a FinTech startup that is focusing on providing consumer loans, home loans, education loans, and SME lending.
It uses powerful technology to ensure quick loans without any hassle.
InCred uses the following technologies to run its operations and platform.
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | Bootstrap, jQuery, Modernizr |
| Operations | G Suite |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics, Fullstory |
| Marketing | Mandrill, Google Tag Manager, Segment |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, Gravatar, WordPress |
PharmEasy
Founders: Dharmil Sheth & Dhaval Shah
Year of Establishment: 2015
Total Funding: $328.5 Million
PharmEasy… PharmEasy… Take it easy PharmEasy…
I bet you read that in the same chorus. That\’s how catchy it is!
It is an online healthcare aggregator that lists several products related to healthcare. From delivering medicines to healthcare products, it has everything.
Not only medicines but PharmEasy helps you to book appointments for lab tests and health checkups. It provides heavy discounts on all pharma products.
This HealthTech startup uses the following technologies –
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | HTML5, Github, MySQL, PHP, jQuery, Django, Sublime, Redis |
| Operations | G Suite, Criteo, Slack, Squadcast |
| Analytics & Data | CleverTap, Hevo |
| Marketing | AppsFlyer, Taboola, Mandrill, Google Tag Manager |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, Gravatar, MediaElement.js |
| Customer Support | Zendesk, FreshDesk |
This is not a complete list because of obvious reasons. No company publicly discloses all the technology services they use.
Dream11
Founders: Bhavit Sheth & Harsh Jain
Year of Establishment: 2008
Total Funding: $385 Million
Dream11 is an Indian fantasy sports platform that allows users to play fantasy cricket, hockey, football, kabaddi, basketball, and many other games.
Users need to spend some money to participate in the games and winners get some rewards. This led to several controversies that come under gambling.
It is the first gaming company in India to land into a unicorn club, which means that it has crossed a valuation of $1 billion.
Dream11 uses the following technologies –
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | Ruby, Express, PHP |
| Operations | – |
| Analytics & Data | Segment, Google Analytics, New Relic, Google Amp Client ID |
| Marketing | DoubleClick.Net, Sendgrid, Zendesk |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS |
| Customer Support | Intercom |
UpGrad
Founder: Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, Ravijot Chugh
Year of Establishment: 2015
Total Funding: $500 Million
UpGrad is a popular EdTech startup that covers a wide range of online courses. Its courses are specialized in digital marketing, product management, entrepreneurship, data analytics, data-driven management, and digital technology management.
The company has partnered with several renowned Universities like IIT Madras, Duke Corporate Education, NMIMS, Deakin University, and many more.
It is the most funded tech startup in Mumbai been backed by IIFL Asset Management.
UpGrad uses the following tools and technologies to run its platform and business.
| Team | Tool |
|---|---|
| Developer | Adobe Flash, Bootstrap, Django, Adobe Flash, HTML5, ExpressJS, MySQL, PHP, jQuery |
| Operations | Google Drive. Slideshare, Slack, Sokrati |
| Analytics & Data | Google Analytics, Clevertap, Hotjar, Optimizely, Pusher, Branch Metrics, Lucky Orange, Mixpanel |
| Marketing | Google Tag Manager, Hellobar, Autopilot, Instapage, Segment |
| DevOps & IT | Amazon AWS, Gravatar, WordPress, GoDaddy DNS, Rollbar |
| Customer Service | Drift, Intercom, SurveyMonkey |
Tech startups in Mumbai are booming with time due to the friendly atmosphere and better nurturing. Some of them really made it big!
