Early stage funding in Indian start-ups doubles to Rs 693 cr

This was driven by a 22 per cent increase in the number of deals and a 70 per cent increase in deal size, said the report by InnoVen Capital, a leading venture debt firm.

The report revealed that investors are more open to funding start-ups in the pre-revenue stage, which is reflected in the share of pre-revenue funded start-ups increasing to 17 per cent this year from 12 per cent in 2018. This trend is driven by concept stage ventures launched by second time entrepreneurs and experienced first-time operators.

The report also revealed that investors continue to show preference to backing more experienced founders, with the proportion of founders with at least five years’ experience going up from 55 per cent in 2017 to 82 per cent this year.

“Early stage investment activity has been very robust this year, with increased deal flow, bigger transaction sizes and higher valuations,” Ashish Sharma, CEO, InnoVen Capital India, said in a statement.