Indian startups attract $10.14 bn in funding in 2020: Report

Indian startups are estimated to have received USD 10.14 billion in funding across more than 1,200 deals in 2020 despite the COVID crisis, a report by consulting firm HexGn said. Even though the total investment received in 2020 is lower than that of 2019 (USD 14.5 billion), the number of deals were higher by 20 per cent, the report said. “Weathering negative sentiment, seed stage investment deals grew by 50 per cent from USD 353 million over 420 deals in 2019 to USD 372 million over 672 deals in 2020. This is a good sign for people looking to plunge into startups, as early-stage investors are now keen to back risk-takers early on,” the report noted. This can be attributed to the work done by Invest India, Startup India, AgNii and other agencies of the Indian government to boost investor confidence and entrepreneurial culture, it added.

This is the third year in a row that India has kept its number four position globally after the US, China and the UK. Globally, startups raised over USD 308 billion in funding, with the US garnering USD 165 billion. The report said Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Mumbai accounted for 90 per cent of the startup investments in the country, signalling concentration of angel investors and appetite in these regions. Bengaluru led with USD 4.3 billion in startup investments, followed by Delhi NCR (USD 3 billion) and Mumbai (USD 2 billion). In terms of sectors, e-commerce attracted the highest investment with USD 3 billion, followed by fintech at USD 2.37 billion and edtech at USD 1.52 billion. The biggest gainer has been the edtech segment that grew four times this year from USD 380 million in 2019. However, sectors like transportation and logistics, and travel and tourism saw more than 90 per cent drop in investments in 2020 as compared to 2019, it added.

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Startups that attracted maximum funding in 2020 include Zomato (USD 1.02 billion), Byju’s (USD 922 million), Phonepe (USD 807 million), Unacademy (USD 260 million) and Ecom Express (USD 250 million), as per the HexGn report. These numbers do not include funds raised by Jio Platforms (Rs 1.52 lakh crore) in 2020. The report noted that these numbers are early guidance and there could be changes as more companies make announcements on funds received.