Meet the entrepreneurs who have made the move from dorm rooms to the boardroom!
Imagine this: you’re sitting in a dorm room, surrounded by textbooks and buzzing with student energy. One day, you suddenly have a lightning-quick inspiration – an inspiration that could lead to a billion-dollar venture. It sounds fanciful, but it’s not unprecedented. We’ve all seen Zuckerberg do the same thing with Facebook. Could the next big thing come from someone like you?
Across the world, many young entrepreneurs have transformed academic environments into hotbeds of innovation. In this article, we take a closer look at the journey of some of the most successful student-founded startups of the past decade.
1. Zepto (India)
Zepto founders: Kaivalya Vora (left) and Aadit Paricha (right)
Image by Nitu Singh LinkedIn
Founded by Adit Paricha and Kaivalya Vora, Zepto has been gaining attention for its lightning-fast grocery delivery service. Launched at the height of the pandemic in April 2021, the app promises to deliver groceries to your doorstep within 10 minutes. Paricha and Vora, childhood friends from Dubai who dropped out of Stanford University to pursue their vision, have rapidly risen through the ranks and were named to the IIFL Wealth Hoorun India Rich List and Forbes 30 Under 30 in e-commerce Asia in 2022.
The company’s efficient delivery system relies on “dark stores” – strategically located storage hubs that are off-limits to the public but are essential to speed up order fulfillment. Staff at these hubs are trained to pick and pack each order in under a minute, ensuring groceries arrive fresh and quickly. Zepto’s operations have rapidly expanded to several major cities in India, including Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Noida and Pune.
In a recent exciting expansion, Zepto opened a “Zepto Café” in Mumbai in April 2022, expanding its offerings to include ready-to-drink beverages and packaged snacks. According to data from Bobble AI Data Intelligence, Zepto’s user base grew by a staggering 946% between December 2021 and March 2022, outperforming competitors such as Blinkit, BigBasket, and Dunzo.
Zepto’s growth trajectory has been strong from the start, with an inflow of US$60 million in November 2021 led by Glide Brook Capital, along with contributions from Nexus Venture Partners and Y Combinator. After a massive US$665 million funding round in June this year, Zepto’s valuation has skyrocketed to US$3.6 billion, more than doubling its previous valuation of US$1.4 billion in less than a year. To date, Zepto has raised US$1.26 billion across eight funding rounds, indicating a bright future for this innovative company.
2. Canva (Australia)
Canva founders: Cliff Obrecht (left), Melanie Perkins (center), and Cameron Adams (right)
Image from Startup Daily
The story of how Canva grew from a university project into a $26 billion company is truly incredible. It all started when Melanie Perkins, a communications student at the University of Western Australia, became frustrated with the clunkiness of existing design software. Determined to make graphic design more accessible, she launched Fusion Books in 2007, an easy-to-use online tool for creating school yearbooks.
Building on this success, Perkins teamed up with Cliff Obrecht and former Google engineer Cameron Adams to further his vision. In 2012, they launched Canva with the goal of democratizing design. The platform quickly gained popularity, and by 2017 it had 10 million users and a $1 billion valuation, establishing itself as a tech “unicorn.”
Today, Canva is valued at $26 billion and is essential for anyone wanting to create eye-catching graphics. Its easy-to-use tools have democratized design, making it an essential skill across a variety of industries. Serving everyone from individual freelancers to large corporations, Canva is a perfect example of how a simple idea can revolutionize an industry, making professional design accessible to everyone.
3. OYO Rooms (India)
Ritesh Agarwal, the man behind OYO Rooms
Image by bhubaneswarbuzz.com on Pinterest
Launched by Ritesh Agarwal in 2013, OYO Rooms has revolutionised the budget hotel industry. A college dropout at the age of 19, Agarwal was inspired by his own experience and dissatisfaction with the varying quality of budget hotels. His entrepreneurial journey began when he received a $100,000 grant from the Thiel Fellowship, which led him to pivot from his initial project Oravel Stays to what would become OYO Rooms.
Agarwal’s vision was clear: to make hotel rooms standardized, affordable and reliable around the world. By 2018, OYO had expanded internationally, with a presence in countries such as China, Malaysia, Nepal and the UK. The venture boomed in 2019 when it raised $1 billion from SoftBank Vision Fund, valuing it at $10 billion. Today, OYO operates in over 80 countries, managing over 44,000 hotels and 1.2 million rooms.
Looking to the future, OYO is investing in technologies like AI and machine learning to optimize its pricing strategy and improve customer experience, as well as expanding into new business areas like long-term rentals and co-living spaces.
Four. DoorDash (US)
From left to right: Tony Xu (Co-founder and CEO), Stanley Tang (Co-founder and CPO), Ding Zhou (VP of Engineering), Andy Fang (Co-founder and CTO)
Image from Wired
In 2013, four Stanford University students (Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang, and Evan Moore) launched DoorDash with a simple yet powerful idea: they noticed a common problem plaguing local restaurants – the inability to efficiently manage delivery orders. From this observation, DoorDash was born, a platform that connects people with their favorite eateries and simplifies the delivery process.
The concept was as clear as it was innovative: Customers would place an order using the DoorDash app or website. Then, independent contractors called “Dashers” would pick up and deliver the food. This model not only brought convenience to customers, but also provided critical support to local restaurants. By 2015, DoorDash had expanded to 22 major U.S. cities and quickly became a major player in the food delivery industry.
DoorDash’s growth trajectory reached a high point in December 2020 when it went public in an initial public offering (IPO) at a company valuation of US$16 billion. It continued to grow thereafter, with revenues projected to reach US$8.6 billion in fiscal 2023, up 31% year-over-year. By 2024, DoorDash’s market cap is expected to soar to approximately US$46.56 billion, solidifying its dominant position in the space.
5. Bolt (Estonia)
Markus Willig, founder of Bolt
Image from Bolt’s website
Markus Villig was still a high school student in Estonia when he launched what is now known as Bolt in 2013. What started as a taxi-hailing service has since grown into a large transportation platform offering everything from traditional car-hailing to micromobility options like electric scooters and bikes, and even food delivery services.
From the start, Villig aimed to create an affordable and reliable alternative to traditional taxis in his home country. With a small team and limited budget, the startup quickly won over local users. By 2019, the company had expanded its reach and rebranded from Taxify to Bolt to reflect its broader vision. Today, the company has a presence in over 45 countries, mostly in Europe and Africa, competing with big players like Uber.
Bolt is also committed to environmental sustainability and is actively working to reduce its carbon footprint, including promoting the use of e-bikes and e-scooters in line with its goal of making urban mobility more sustainable.
The company recently secured a €220 million (US$235 million) credit facility to support its IPO preparations, funded by a global consortium of banks including Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, LHV, Luminor and Citi.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurship is thriving among students. The past decade has shown how impactful startups founded by young visionaries can be. Each of these five startups started with a simple yet powerful idea and has grown to offer a valuable, industry-changing service or product.
These stories are a call to action for anyone with a spark of an idea, regardless of age. So what’s your next big idea? Your next groundbreaking startup might be simmering in a notebook in class or brainstormed during a late-night dorm room chat. If you have a potential idea in hand, don’t wait. Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can. Innovate and see where your idea takes you!
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