NEW DELHI: India’s start-ups are believed to have garnered $10.14 billion in funding in over 1,200 deals in 2020 despite the global pandemic. A report by consulting firm HexGn have revealed that though investments received in 2020 is lower than the $14.5 billion raised in 2019, the number of deals were higher by 20 per cent. Seed-stage investment deals grew by 50 per cent from $ 353 million over 420 deals in 2019 to $ 372 million over 672 deals in 2020.
“This is a good sign for people looking to plunge into start-ups, as early-stage investors are now keen to back risk-takers early on,” the HexGn study said. Start-ups that attracted most funding in 2020 included Zomato ($1.02 billion), Byju’s ($922 million), Phonepe ($807 million), Unacademy ($260 million) and Ecom Express ($250 million).
The country’s start-up funding deals kept India in the fourth place globally behind the US, China and the UK. India has been locked in this position for the last three years. However, the start-ups were concentrated in three regions — Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Mumbai — which together accounted for 90 per cent of the start-up investments in India.
Bengaluru led with $4.3 billion in startup investments, followed by Delhi NCR at $3 billion and Mumbai came third with $2 billion. Sector-wise, e-commerce attracted the highest investment with $3 billion, followed by fintech at $2.37 billion and edtech at $1.52 billion, the report stated.