BENGALURU: With the technology stealing all the lime light, there are plenty of startup companies that have emerged in India and are slowly expanding their presence globally. These startups not only provide their service for the Indian firms, but also to global companies countries also embrace the technology offered. According to a New York-based venture capital tracker CB Insights, eight Indian companies have made it among the 107 global firms and have entered the ‘unicorn’ club with valuations up to $1 billion or more reports Times of India.

There are 65 companies that are from the US, 13 companies from China and India have 13 unicorns respectively. The UK has five companies which made it to this league, while Israel and South Korea have two each. Chinese handset maker Xiaomi led the global charts, commanding a valuation of $46 billion, while taxi-hailing app Uber was valued at $41 billion.

The company that topped the charts is E-commerce biggie like Flipkart, which raised nearly $2 billion last year with pecking order valued at $11 billion, followed by e-tailer Snapdeal at $2.5 billion and taxi-hailing app Ola valued at $2.4 billion. Alibaba-backed mobile marketplace One97 Communications that runs digital wallet service Paytm has touched $2 billion in valuation, the report said.

Other companies which joined the list include data analytics firm MuSigma, online classifieds service Quikr and mobile advertisement platform InMobi recording valuations of $1 billion each. "Globally, the number of unicorns has increased significantly. With private equity and hedge funds showing interest, many startups want to remain private without worrying about the pressures of delivering quarterly profits," said Parag Dhol, managing director, Inventus Capital Partners.

Among Indian companies, six out of the eight unicorns are consumer-internet startups. "When you have consumers using your products and services, you are creating an inherent value. When you have a huge customer base with no substitutes, the valuation soars," said Ambareesh Murthy, founder and CEO of online furniture marketplace Pepperfry.