Recapping Inc42’s 2022: 5K Stories, Industry Events, New Products Mark Our Eighth Anniversary

We always knew 2022 would be special as it was the eighth year of Inc42’s existence and as we move closer to completing a decade, this year was another major milestone. It was full of groundbreaking stories, conferences covering critical sectors and enabling the founders and makers, launches of new products and IPs, and fast-paced growth to serve the booming startup and digital economy.

As usual, we have been on top of all the developments and have covered everything that matters in the world of startups from the lens of founders, investors and government stakeholders.

We published 5,000+ stories, 500+ longform narratives, 100+ exclusive stories, 20+ industry reports on key sectors and themes, and engaged with thousands of founders through our rich content.

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The year also saw three mega virtual conferences along with a series of roundtable discussions and founder meetups that brought the ecosystem closer and learn from each other in a tough year.

And building upon Inc42’s mission to accelerate Indian tech, we also ventured into live cohort-based programs with AngelX, a four-week programme for upcoming angel investors. We are following this up with the CapitalX program on running and managing a VC fund in January 2023.

Over the past year, we touched on everything that mattered to Indian startups — from the stock market for tech companies to layoffs at startups. We ran deep investigations into corporate governance, investor due diligence and founder disputes and broke stories around business model changes in 2022.

Eight years ago, when we started covering Indian startups, it was a fledgling ecosystem. Then buoyed by the launch of Startup India in 2016, we have touched newer heights every year.

This year’s announcement of a National Startup Day is another testament, and we saw it as a recognition of the startup economy and our mission which began in 2014.

All said and done, 2022 was a critical year, as startups looked to navigate the funding winter, and it left us with mixed emotions. We celebrated milestones such as India’s 100th unicorns and the shift towards sustainability, but also commiserated with more than 18K startup employees who were laid off due to this push.

With all eyes on 2023 now and unearthing new stories, here’s a look back at how Inc42’s 2022 went — our new launches, stories that mattered, our special projects and initiatives. We are thankful to the millions of readers who kept us going through this momentous year.

Stories, Trackers & Research

We continued our track record of bringing groundbreak analysis, deep investigations, interviews and innovative coverage of everything that matters to startups in the country. Nothing exemplifies this more than seeing our data and articles being used by the who’s who of the startup ecosystem.

The biggest vindication was the response to the announcement of neobanking startup Open becoming India’s 100th unicorn, which was celebrated widely across the ecosystem and beyond.

We have tracked the growth of the startup ecosystem and compiled data since 2014 and Given that there is no official list of unicorns in India, our data repository has become one of the most reputable sources for the startup ecosystem. After we broke the story of Open becoming India’s 100th unicorn, the landmark was widely celebrated by startup ecosystem stakeholders and our data was also quoted by government officials, including PM Narendra Modi.

Of course, we also had plenty to be proud of when it came to our editorial coverage:

• We broke several stories related to the unfortunate layoffs of over 18K startup employees and what was happening behind the scenes at these startups.

Explore Inc42's Layoff Tracker

• Throughout the year, Inc42 highlighted major issues pertaining to corporate governance and investor due diligence in 2022 through several deep-dives and longform stories:

• • • Tracking The BharatPe Saga
    • Uncovering The Zepto ‘Feud’
    • Zilingo’s House Of Cards
    • The Mismanagement At Bikayi
    • Slice’s Shaky Business Model
    • The BYJU’S Sales Conundrum

• Our signature ‘30 Startups To Watch’ series rolled on in 2022 where we highlighted more than 300 early-stage startups across 11 editions. The series completed its silver jubilee in 2022 with an unbroken run over two years and we continue to see hundreds of nominations from startups every month.

• Checkout 30 Startups To Watch Series

• Our revamped daily and weekly newsletters became the go-to place to get the most important stories of the day and week — from tracking tech stocks to funding updates and fresh takes on the week’s hottest debate every Sunday. Here are some of the standout newsletters from the past year

• • • BYJU’S & India’s Edtech Emergency
    • Musk & Mayhem @Twitter
    • Ola Electric’s Supersized Dream 
    • This Is What The Startup Funding Winter Looks Like
    • The ‘18 Hours’ Controversy Revives Startup Work Culture Debate
    • Quick Commerce’s 10-Minute Delivery Hits Dead End

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• Inc42’s quarterly reports, global comparisons, industry landscaping, market sizing and opportunity analysis, founder and investor surveys, and funding data have become a definitive source for the startup ecosystem. Here’s a glimpse of some of our key reports this year:

• • • Unicorns Of India: Decoding India’s 100 Unicorns Report
    • State Of Indian Fintech Repor
    • State Of Indian Ecommerce
    • The State Of Indian Startup Ecosystem Report
    • Indo-Japan Startup Connect Report 

Explore Inc42's Reports

• Engaging with policymakers and shining a light on issues faced by startups through interviews and hard questions. Here’s a glimpse:

• • • No Law Prevents Startups From Crypto Or Web3 Innovation: Rajeev Chandrasekhar 
    • Telangana Aims To Be A National Leader In Web3.0: Telangana IT Principal Sec Jayesh Ranjan
    • The State Of Kerala Startup Ecosystem Report 2022
    • Digital Rajasthan Yatra

• 2022 In Review: The ninth edition of our year-ending review series is back and we have a whole new home for it. Click here to take in the goodness.

• All-New Unicorn Tracker: We revamped our much-loved Unicorn Tracker to present insights and data related to all 108 Indian unicorns under one roof.

12,000+ People Engaged Through Conferences, Meetups, Mixers & More

Inc42 also hosted three groundbreaking flagship events this year — The Makers Summit, a third edition of The D2C Summit, and the inaugural Fintech Summit — with plenty of on-ground activities to reconnect with the startup ecosystem after a two-year hiatus on physical events.

Through the course of these summits, we brought together over 200+ industry leaders, startup founders and policymakers to engage with over 12K+ individual attendees. We hosted the likes of Open cofounder and COO Mabel Chacko, TV Mohandas Pai, chairman of Aarin Capital Partners, Dr Amar Patnaik, Rajya Sabha MP (BJD) and member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance; former SEBI chairman UK Sinha, boAt’s Aman Gupta, among others.

Physical events made a return with Founders Meetup organised in association with Google Cloud, where we hosted the likes of Mensa Brands founder Ananth Narayanan, Easemytrip founder Prashant Pitti, as well as the inaugural edition of Focal Point where we hosted SoftBank India country head Manoj Kohli to discuss the state of hiring and recruitment in the startup ecosystem.

And besides this, we hosted Mixers for the startup ecosystem in the major hubs of Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, a tradition which has continued since 2015.

Fast42 Off To A Flying Start

Starting in January, we launched our first Fast42 edition, where we identified India’s fastest-growing D2C startups after a months-long process of jury selection, interviews and thorough vetting. We went through over 500 applications to arrive at our selection of the final 42.

Now we are in the process of identifying the next 42 D2C disruptive brands with the second edition of Fast42. With the launch being planned for early next year, we hope to discover not just the brands that are high on the growth curve, but also emerging brands that are waiting to break through.

Programs For Investors: AngelX &CapitalX 

One of the reasons Inc42 has become an authority and a voice of the startup ecosystem is that we always go one step beyond to enable the ecosystem. In 2022, one of those steps was AngelX, where we took on the challenge of widening India’s angel investor pool.

The unprecedented programme saw 58 fellows undergo a four-week course helmed by the very angel investors they want to emulate. We saw the likes of Dr Ritesh Malik, Pallav Nadhani, Sanjay Mehta, Rajesh Sawhney, Sanjeev Bikhchandani mentor fellows through this programme.

Following up on this success, CapitalX will kick off in January 2023. The enthusiasm around the micro VC model has spurred CapitalX where we would enable investment analysts, entrepreneurs, and angel investors, to learn the art and the science of building and managing a micro VC fund from the very people who have successfully navigated this journey.

The Return Of Alumni @ Inc42

On the people front, Inc42 has grown from 40+ employees in 2021 to over 60 in 2022, with several Inc42 alumni joining us back to carry the journey forward and the cause of enabling startups.

Of course, our ambition has also grown several times over since 2021 and as we inch forward into 2023, we are looking to bring more talented professionals across our operations.

Apply For Open Positions At Inc42

So that was 2022 for Inc42. We hope you had as much fun reading and following us as we had in bringing the world of Indian startups to your phones and laptops. Look forward to that and so much more in 2023.

As usual, a very happy new year from everyone in the Inc42 team. Have a great 2023!