Though third-largest, India well behind US, China in terms of startup ecosystem

When compared to India, the US has about 20,148 startups, according to AngelList, a US website tracking startups and angel investors. While the figures for the total number of startups in China were not available.

According to the Nasscom's annual report, India has 24 unicorns in total, while China and the USA have 206 and 203 unicorns, respectively. The global total of unicorns is 494, as per a Hurun report.

According to the report, the average time taken by a startup to turn into a unicorn in India and USA was 6 to 8 years, while in China, a startup, on an average, took 4 to 6 years to become a unicorn.

In terms of valuations, the average value of a unicorn in India was about $3.2 billion, while it was about $3.5 billion and $3.8 billion for USA and China, the report said.

"China and the US dominate with over 80 percent of the world's known unicorns, despite representing only half of the world's GDP and a quarter of the world's population," Hurun Report chairman Rupert Hoogewerf was quoted as saying in a PTI report.

China has the world's three most valuable unicorns — Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, app maker ByteDance and ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, which have a combined value of $280 billion.

From the US, Airbnb and coworking space operator WeWork made to the list, which also included lesser-known startups such as Zume, a California-based automated pizza delivery company. From India, sports platform Dream11 made to the list.

Those that come after India in terms of best startup ecosystems are UK, Germany and Israel, which have 21, 11 and 7 unicorns, respectively.