India.
Indian startups have raised a whopping $7.8 billion in the first four months of 2021, on pace to top 2020's robust milestone of $10B -- during the pandemic.
As of March 2021, India produced over 26 unicorn startups with a total valuation of almost $80 billion. Paytm, a FinTech startup, is the unicorn with the highest valuation of $16 billion. The average age of an Indian unicorn is 7 years. Our in-market intelligence estimates that once the global markets stabilize post-Covid, the Indian startup ecosystem will have the capacity to produce one unicorn per week. Growth in deal volume has continued to signal strong fundamentals for India’s ecosystem into 2021 and beyond.
The exit ecosystem in India has become much more fertile recently as a result of changes to public offering laws, exemplified by the recent listings of Zomato and Easy Trip, and the upcoming listings of Policybazaar, Nykaa and PayTM. This is significant because 1. it demonstrates that successful exits can now be achieved, representing the completion of the investment cycle in India and 2. as a result, an increased amount of capital will soon be deployed by the first wave of VCs, as well as founders who have had successful exits, making the market that much more mature — and therefore less risky for investors.
Sectors
FinTech, HealthTech, EdTech, InsureTech, AgriTech and EnergyTech.
Startup Ecosystem
India maintained its robust position among the top five startup ecosystems globally, with 7,000 new startups founded in 2020.
The total investment value in 2019 rose to $45.1B, the highest on record, with the largest amount of VC investments and an increase in the number an average deal value of $100M+ deals. The top 15 deals constituted more than 35% of the total deal value. As in previous years, the total share of buyouts and late-stage investments increased, featuring a few large individual buyouts.
The Indian startup ecosystem remains strong with 12 additional companies achieving ‘unicorn’ status in 2020, elevating India’s unicorn cohort to a total of 37, only behind the US and China globally. The number of active participating funds continued to grow in 2020 and investors expect local and global VC/PE firms to represent the biggest competitive threat through 2021.
Currently, out of the more than 110,000 startups in India, with only nine percent funded, there is significant room for further investment.
Technology
Advanced tech startups focused on creating solutions in segments such as artificial intelligence, analytics, augmented reality, blockchain, and internet of things had a significant increase in growth of approximately 50% in 2018.
This is driven by factors such as better infrastructure for digital transactions, government initiatives for financial inclusion, an increase in internet penetration, and innovative new technologies accelerating the pace of payments, lending, and digital banking.
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