Indian startups received a record funding of USD 10.9 billion across 347 deals in the third quarter of 2021, according to a PwC India report. This is twice the amount of funding received in Q3 of the calendar year 2020 and an approximate increase of 41 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2021. An increase in funding activity was witnessed across all sectors in terms of value and volume.
However, FinTech, EdTech and SaaS are the top three hot investment sectors in the calendar year 2021 (CY21), together accounting for approximately 47 per cent of the total funding activity, the report – Startup Perspectives – Q3 CY21 – said. In the first three quarters of 2021, investments worth USD 4.6 billion in the FinTech space were recorded, which is an increase of approximately three times from USD 1.6 billion in 2020.
Investments worth USD 2.5 billion for 53 deals closed in the FinTech segment were recorded in the third quarter of CY21 alone across various stages of investment, it said. Approximately 84 per cent of the funding activity was driven by growth and late-stage deals. Around 61 per cent of the total deal activity consisted of early-stage funding rounds for USD 1.6 billion (average ticket size per round USD 4 million), the report said.
Bengaluru and NCR continue to be the key start-up cities in the country, together contributing around 76-78 per cent of the total funding activity in the first three quarters of both CY20 and CY21, followed by Mumbai and Pune, it said.
