Skip to main content

Sharp 61-85% fall in Tech startup funding in India's top 'business-friendly' States

Funding Tech startups in top business-friendly Indian states has witnessed a major fall, a data intelligence platform for private market research has said in a series of reports it has released this month. Analysing Tech startup data of Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi NCR, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, Tracxn Technologies Ltd, the Bengaluru-based research firm, finds that except for Kerala, funding witnessed a fall of anywhere between 61% and 85%.
The Tracxn findings come amidst Government of India seeking to give a major boost to startups in new and emerging technologies, quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanting to especially encourage them in Tier 2 and 3 cities. A Tech startup is defined as “a company whose purpose is to bring technology products or services to market. These companies deliver new technology products or services or deliver existing Technology products or services in new ways.”
Coming to individual states, the report said, “Total funding into Telangana Tech startups fell 78% to $99.2 million in 2023, from $459 million in 2022”, adding, “Seed-stage funding in 2023 stood at $14.1 million, an 82% decline compared with $78.4 million raised in the previous year. Early-stage funding fell 71% to $80.1 million in 2023. This space attracted late-stage investments worth $5 million in 2023, a massive decline of 95% from the $101 million raised in 2022.”
In a further breakup, it said, “The Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech sector secured total funding of $35.8 million, a decrease of 38% when compared with the amount raised in 2022. EdTech companies based attracted investments worth $33 million in 2023, which is an increase of 65% in total funding compared with 2022. The Enterprise Applications sector attracted investments worth $19.4 million, a plummet of 91% when compared with 2022.’
The Maharashtra report said, “Total funding into Maharashtra Tech startups fell 62.5% to $2.1 billion in 2023, from $5.6 billion in 2022”. Offering a breakup, it noted, “sector attracted seed-stage investments worth $108 million in 2023, a 73% decline compared with the $404 million raised in 2022”, adding, “Early-stage funding fell 70% to $415 million in 2023 from $1.4 billion raised in 2022. Late-stage funding in 2023 stood at $1.6 billion, a 59% drop compared with $3.8 billion raised in 2022.”
A further breakup showed, “The Retail sector witnessed a total funding of $483 million, a drop of 65% compared with the previous year. HealthTech companies based attracted total funding of $464 million in 2023, a growth of 14% from 2022. The Transportation and Logistics Tech sector in 2023 secured funding worth $453 million in 2023, which is a drop of 59% when compared with 2022.”
The Delhi NCR report said, the state’s “Tech startups fell 61% to $1.5 billion in 2023, from $3.8 billion in 2022”, regretting, this was the “lowest funding observed in this space in the last 10 years”. It added, “Seed-stage investments stood at $166 million, a decline of 51% when compared with the $342 million raised in 2022. Companies in this space secured early-stage funding worth $454 million in 2023, a 71% plunge from the $1.6 billion raised in 2022. A drop of 55% was observed in late-stage funding, from $1.9 billion in 2022 to $842 million in 2023.”
It further said, “Companies in the Retail space attracted investments worth $797 million in 2023, which is a 50% decrease compared with 2022. Funding into the Enterprise Applications segment stood at $273 million in 2023, a decline of 72% in funding compared with 2022. The FinTech sector secured total funding of $186 million in 2023, which is a plummet of 79% in funding compared to 2022, and an 84% drop in funding compared to 2021.”
Coming to Gujarat, considered by the Modi establishment a model state for industrial investment for other states to follow, the state report said, total funding into Gujarat Tech startups fell 66% to $139 million in 2023, from $412 million in 2022”. While calling Gujarat “among the best-performing states for providing a supportive environment for startups”, the report blamed the Gujarat decline on “global macroeconomic climate driven by tense geopolitical relation”, insisting, Gujarat was “the best performer in 2022 for the fourth consecutive year.”
But it regretted, even though seed-stage funding in 2023 stood at $38 million, an increase of 28% compared with $29 million raised in 2022, “Early-stage investments fell 27% to $66 million from $91 million in 2022”, adding, “Companies in this space attracted late-stage funding worth $34 million in 2023, a decline of 88% from $290 million in 2022.” 
The sharp fall in Gujarat took place despite the fact that “companies in the Transportation and Logistics sector in 2023 secured a total funding of $65 million, which is a 160% spike from the amount raised in 2022”, and Environment Tech companies based in Gujarat raised $64 million in 2023, a jump of 191% compared with 2022”, the report asserted. 

 The Tamil Nadu report said, the funding in the state’s Tech startups fell 85% to $255 million in 2023, from $1.7 billion, pointing out, “Seed-stage funding stood at $32.6 million, a decline of 47% compared with $61.6 million raised in 2022. Early-stage rounds fell 86% to $77 million in 2023 from $567 million in 2022. Companies in this space attracted late-stage funding worth $145 million in 2023, a drop of 87% compared with $1.1 billion raised in 2022.”
It added, “Companies in the Transportation & Logistics Tech space raised $160 million in 2023, a drop of 69% when compared with $511 million raised in 2022. The Environment Tech sector attracted investments worth $151 million in 2023, a drop of 70% from $501 million raised during the previous year. Funding into the Auto Tech space fell to $150 million in 2023 from $558 million in 2022.”
The Karnataka report said, the total funding into the state’s Tech startups fell 72% to $3.4 billion in 2023, from $12.2 billion in 2022, even though the Karnataka Tech startup ecosystem holds the first position in India in terms of overall funding to date and in 2023.
Pointing out that “Karnataka was the first state to introduce a dedicated Startup Policy in 2015, and as per the Economic Survey of Karnataka (2022-2023), the state has a per-capita income of Rs 3.01 lakh, the highest in India”, the report noted, companies in the Tech startup space “attracted late-stage investments worth $2.3 billion in 2023, a 74% decline compared with $8.9 billion in 2022. Early-stage funding in 2023 stood at $784 million in funding, a drop of 71% from the $2.7 billion raised during the previous year. Seed-stage funding fell 54% to $294 million from the $643 million raised in 2022.”
A further breakup showed that “the FinTech sector in Karnataka secured a total funding of $1.15 billion in 2023, a decline of 51% compared with $2.4 billion raised during the previous year.‍ The Retail sector witnessed total funding of $956 million in 2023, a decline of 56% compared with the $2.16 billion raised in 2022. Companies in the Enterprise Applications sector attracted investments worth $928 million in 2023, a plummet of 68% from the $2.89 billion raised in 2022.”
Revealing that Kerala was the only state in 2023 where Tech startups funding rose, albeit by15%, to $33.2 million in 2023, from $28.9 million in 2022, the report said, “Seed-stage funding accounted for 78% of the total funding raised during the year. This space attracted seed-stage investments worth $26.2 million in 2023, a surge of 40% when compared with the $18.7 million raised during the previous year. Early-stage funding fell 32% to $7 million in 2023 from $10.3 million in 2022. The Kerala startup ecosystem has not recorded any late-stage funding in the last five years.”
A further breakup in Kerala Tech startup funding showed that “the Food & Agriculture Tech sector saw a 266% spike in funding to $7.4 million in 2023 from $2.0 million in 2022. The Retail sector secured total funding of $3.9 million in 2023, while the sector witnessed only $1.12 million in 2022. The EdTech sector saw a funding of $3.47 million in 2023 which is 52% less than the same period in 2022 which had $7.2M in funding.”

Comments

TRENDING

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.