India’s Tech Startups Have A Banner $11.3B Fundraising Year

As a record amount of capital has entered the local ecosystem in a significant rebound since 2016’s darkened funding environment, Indian tech startups are having a standout year with two months of 2019 left. India’s unlisted tech startups have notched $11.3 billion in funding this year, marking a considerable rise from $10.5 billion last year per research firm Tracxn, according to reports.

Startups that have offerings that are consumer-facing with the inclusion of financial services have brought in most of the venture capital this year at roughly $8.2 billion per Tracxn. After that, retail startups notched approximately $2.3 billion, and companies that provide enterprise services took in $1.5 billion. (According to reports, there is some overlap when it comes to companies that have offerings that come in over one category.)

The fundraise of this year is the most significant sum for the local system in any year, according to the report, and continues to move the company’s startup space on a road of sustained growth. Tech startups accumulated only $4.3 billion in 2016, which was down from $7.9 billion the year prior. Indian startups notched $10.4 billion in 2017 per Tracxn.

Dev Khare, a partner at VC fund Lightspeed Venture Partners, said per reports that the increasing interest for equity in the startups of India indicates that the local ecosystem is maturing. Startups were mainly focused on creating eCommerce solutions and reproducing ideas that worked in Western markets in 2014 as well as 2015. He said, “but today, they are tackling a wide range of categories and opportunities and building some solutions that have not been attempted in any other market.” 

In separate startup news from India, news recently surfaced that OYO had announced a $1.5 billion funding round led by founder Ritesh Agarwal, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Sequoia India. Agarwal, who started OYO in 2013, will triple his interest in the company with a $700 million investment to buy new shares, bringing its valuation to $10 billion.

“We truly believe that we will be able to build a truly global brand out of India, while ensuring that the business is run efficiently and with a clear path to profitability,” Agarwal said in a statement to the media per earlier reports.