Bengaluru third biggest home to startups globally

BENGALURU: India’s startup ecosystem has seen phenomenal growth in investments in 2018. But, worryingly, investments in the seed stage fell, and that in early stage grew just marginally, a Nasscom report launched on Thursday noted.

Overall investment grew 100% to $4.2 billion in 2018 (January-September), from $2 billion in the same period in 2017. “India’s startup landscape has become the epitome of innovation and we are seeing many startups tackling locally relevant issues,” said Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh.

Indian startups have also achieved volume and scale with 2018 seeing the addition of eight unicorns, taking the total number to 18. Unicorns are privately funded companies that have a valuation of more than $1 billion.


Bengaluru has the third highest number of tech startups among global cities, the report said. The first two are Silicon Valley and London.

On the whole, India continues to hold its position as the third-largest startup ecosystem, with 1,200 tech startups emerging in 2018, bringing the total to between 7,200 and 7,700.

The first two are the US and UK. The report said the ecosystem created more than 40,000 direct jobs in 2018, taking the total employment in the segment to 1.6-1.7 lakh. Another 4-5 lakh are estimated to be employed indirectly.