According to the latest report by NASSCOM and Zinnov, the Indian startup ecosystem raised $24.1 billion worth of equity investment in 2021 and is all set to grow to 200 unicorns by 2025. 

Launched by Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal and NASSCOM president Debjani Ghosh, the report titled ‘Indian Tech Start-up Ecosystem: Year of The Titans’ highlighted that of the total raised investment, 61% was raised by 42 companies that became unicorns.

As per the report, in 2021, Indian startups raised over 2x of what they raised in 2019 and 3x of the investment raised in 2020. With the country witnessing massive growth in the number of unicorns last year, NASSCOM has zeroed down on 135 soonicorns which it expects will reach unicorn status within the next 2-3 years.

Key Points from the NASSCOM report:

• Around 40% of startups founded in 2021 are based outside the top startup hubs in the country.
• 12-15% of Indian startups have at least one female co-founder. 
• Almost 36% of female-founded startups focus on areas like edtech, healthtech and retail tech sectors.
• Established startup centres like Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Mumbai account for 71 per cent of all startups. 

Speaking on the growth of Indian startups, NASSCOM President Debjani Ghosh said,

“The performance of the Indian startup ecosystem in 2021 has proved the resilience and dedication being put by multiple startups across segments. The ecosystem has grown immensely and positioned itself as a vital contributor to the growth of India’s digital economy.”

The report highlighted that more than 2,250 tech startups have been founded, taking the total base to about 26,000 in 2021. 

Commenting on the report, Piyush Goyal said that 2021 was a year that defied all odds, and 2022 will be the breakthrough year in which India will unlock immense exponential value.

Piyush Goyal added that India at 100 will be renowned as a startup nation. The Union Minister also urged the startup ecosystem to leverage deep tech to build solutions for local and global markets in the areas of AI, IoT, big data, data analytics, Blockchain, virtual reality, 3D printing, drones, and tap into the potential of tier two and three cities.

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