India Loses 4 Unicorns Amid Blanket Ban On Real Money Gaming Sector

Mumbai: India has lost four unicorn companies and has missed out on multiple future unicorns due to its recent stringent regulations for the real money gaming (RMG) sector, revealed a latest report. The report also highlighted that Maharashtra has contributed 14 unicorns, including 11 solely from Mumbai.

The RMG sector in India is facing one of its worst phases due to the enactment of Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which imposed a blanket ban over online games which involve real money. While the move is said to make a loss of approximately Rs12,000 crores of annual revenue to the union government, the latest report by ASK Private Wealth and Hurun India revealed that India has lost four unicorns and various future unicorns which were from the RMG sector. According to Hurun India, unicorns are startups founded in or after the year 2000 with a valuation of $1Bn or more.

The report highlighted that the new law has hit the valuations of India’s most prominent RMG companies, four of which had gained unicorn status. This included Dream11 with 260Mn users, Games24x7 with 120Mn users, Gameskraft with 30Mn and Mobile Premier League with 90Mn users. While there are multiple companies which carried the potential to gain unicorn status a few years later, the report recognised Zupee as a one of the dropouts that was likely to gain unicorn status in three years and WinZO Games which dropped out of the run to become a unicorn company in the next five years.

"The new regulation has significantly impacted valuations of RMG giants. While the bill may build trust and stability for the industry in the long run, in the short term it has reduced investor confidence. For RMG Unicorns and Future Unicorns, staying compliant and adjusting quickly will determine their success in this new environment,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, founder and chief researcher at Hurun India.

The report identified that India is home to 73 unicorns as reported until July 1, spanning diverse sectors from technology and mobility to finance and sustainability. It also identified 46 companies as gazelles, which can gain unicorn status in three years, and 104 as cheetahs, which can gain unicorn status in five years. The report highlighted that Ai.tech became India’s fastest unicorn in 2025, registering a valuation of $1.5 Bn in under three Years.

The report also highlighted that 14 out of the 73 unicorns are headquartered in Maharashtra. Notably, 11 of the Maharashtra-based unicorns are located in Mumbai whereas three are based out of Pune.

“This distribution highlights Mumbai’s position as a diversified hub, with representation across FinTech, SaaS, EdTech, E-Commerce, CleanTech, and consumer businesses. Pune, on the other hand, has established itself as a centre of excellence in Logistics, SaaS, and FinTech, thereby complementing Mumbai’s breadth with its own depth of innovation. Together, these two cities reinforce Maharashtra’s role as one of the leading hub for unicorn creation in India,” said a researcher from Hurun India.

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