New Delhi, May 27: As the ongoing funding winter and hiring slowdown continue to haunt the tech world, India saw a never-seen-before spurt in the number of startups being created across the spectrum in the last nine years that no other country witnessed.
Within a couple of years, India became the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, only behind the US and China.
The Indian startup ecosystem has been an unstoppable freight train. The tracks are firmly laid through corporate participation in the form of investments, acquisitions, and open innovation programmes, and government support, the momentum being fuelled by founders and funders alike, according to the latest report by Nasscom in collaboration with Zinnov, a management consulting firm.
Minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, said last month that the number of startups in the country has grown 300 times in the past nine years.
Addressing the National Innovation Awards event at the RashtrapatiBhavan in Delhi, Singh said that India was home to just 350 startups before 2014, which has grown to more than 90,000 now.
Despite the funding slowdown, India continues to be the third largest tech startup ecosystem globally, with over 1,300 active tech startups added last year, taking the total tally of active tech startups to 25,000-27,000.
India also added 23 unicorns in 2022 — the second-highest figure in the world.
“Despite the current downturns, opportunities abound for innovative companies that are leveraging emerging technologies to create actionable impact while prioritising business fundamentals overgrowth,” according to DebjaniGhosh, President, Nasscom.
In August last year, India crossed the 100-mark for unicorns.
In his monthly radio address ‘Mann Ki Baat’ celebrating the feat, Prime Minister NarendraModi had said that “the number of unicorns in the country has reached the figure of 100 and you surely know that a unicorn is a startup worth at least seven-and-a-half-thousand crore rupees. The total valuation of these unicorns is more than $330 billion, i.e., more than 25 lakh crore rupees.”
“Certainly, this is a matter of pride for every Indian. You will also be surprised to know that out of our total unicorns, 44 came up last year. Not only that, 14 more unicorns were formed in three-four months this year,” he had mentioned.
The Prime Minister emphasised that today India’s startup ecosystem is not limited to just big cities, as entrepreneurs are emerging from smaller cities and towns as well, which shows that in India, the one who has an innovative idea can create wealth.