Startup funding plummets but India still one of top 3 funded geographies

NEW DELHI: While still ranking among the top three funded geographies globally (after the US and the UK), India’s funding trend mirrored the declining trend witnessed around the world in the first half of this year, a report showed on Wednesday.

The total funding in H1 2023 ($5.5 billion) declined by 24 per cent compared to H2 2022 ($7.3 billion), and a staggering 72 per cent drop compared to H1 2022 ($19.7 billion).

The number of funding rounds also experienced a substantial decrease in H1 2023 (536), with a drop of 43 per cent compared to H2 2022 (946) and 66 per cent compared to H1 2022 (1,586), according to Tracxn, a SaaS-based market intelligence platform.

“Despite India being one of the top-performing countries across the globe with respect to funding in the private sector, it is currently facing a deceleration in funding due to inflation and other macroeconomic factors,” said Neha Singh, Co-Founder, Tracxn.

Nevertheless, India still continues to be one of the fastest-growing economies.

“India's startup ecosystem ranked third in terms of funding in 2022, and it moved up to second in Q1 2023, and there is a tremendous amount of growth potential,” she mentioned.

Late-stage rounds in H1 2023 witnessed a decline of 71 per cent, amounting to $3.8 billion, compared to H1 2022.

Early-stage rounds secured $1.4 billion, reflecting a 44 per cent decline from H2 2022 and a significant 73 per cent drop from H1 2022.

Seed-stage rounds faced a similar fate, with a 41 per cent drop from H2 2022 and a 71 per cent fall from H1 2022, securing only $315 million in funding.

Despite these challenges, the first half of 2023 witnessed 14 funding rounds surpassing $100 million, marking a 17 per cent increase from H2 2022, said the report.

“The investment environment has seen a plunge in funding, but there is a revolution in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with an increased rate in the number of startups being formed, which is fuelling the country’s economic growth,” said Abhishek Goyal, Co-Founder, Tracxn.

Bengaluru emerged as the leader in total funds raised during this period, followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai.