Investments in Web3 to cross $1 trillion in next 10 years: Nasscom study

BENGALURU: With over 320 million active users worldwide, the cryptocurrency surge globally has set the stage for accelerated Web3 adoption, says a latest report.

Nasscom on Wednesday released a study with Hashed Emergent on The India Web3 Startup Landscape on the sidelines of the Nasscom Product Conclave held in Bengaluru.

Web3  incorporates concepts such as metaverse, blockchains and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Interest in Web3 is being led by decentralised finance (DeFi) and NFTs. Cryptocurrency trading is a subset of blockchain-based solutions.

The focus on Web3 grew rapidly in India in 2015-17 with the launch of Ethereum, but grew phenomenally in 2020-21 after the national cryptocurrency ban was lifted.

The report says the country's Web3 start-ups have focused less on purely speculative cryptocurrency trading. Instead, they are focusing on building diverse Web3 solutions across all major application areas. At present, only 29% of current solutions include cryptocurrency token trading.

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According to the report, Web3 start-ups in India have grown to over 450 in the last two years, and they have raised $1.3 billion investments till Q12022, and is expected to cross $1 trillion in the next 10 years.

Web3 has produced four unicorns so far and between 2021 and 2022 alone, the country registered over 170 new Web3 start-ups,over 50% CAGR growth since 2015.

Globally, venture capital funding in the blockchain and cryptocurrency market in 2021 stood at $30.5 billion, and there has been 15x growth in VC funding for crypto and blockchain start-ups since 2015.

"Investments in Indian Web3 and Web 2.5 start-ups have also soared. The sector has witnessed robust funding across stages, and new age incubators have pooled in over $587 million funding, as of Q32021," the report said.

Debjani, President, Nasscom said, "India's rapid adoption of new-age technologies, its growing start-up ecosystem, and large-scale digitally skilled talent potential is cementing the country’s position in the global Web3 landscape."

"While we are only scratching the surface when it comes to emerging tech such as Web3, the Techade will be all about the technology making significant advances leading to innovative use-cases and magnified positive impact at a grassroots level," she added.

Over 11% of the global Web3 talent is in India, and it has the third largest talent pool globally.

This talent pool is expected to grow by over 120% in the next 1-2 years. Today, nearly 75,000 blockchain professionals are actively employed by the tech industry in India, the report said.

Though more than 80% of Indian Web3 start-ups are in tier I cities, the tier II/III ecosystem is also growing with locations such as Jaipur, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Trivandrum, and Coimbatore evolving as emerging hubs for Web3 start-ups.
 
Nasscom says Web3 and blockchain will prove game-changing for economies.