India’s startup ecosystem witnessed a funding decline of 65.8%, raising $6.9 billion across 1,013 venture capital (VC) deals during January-November 2023, compared to $20.2 billion in the year-ago period, according to a report by data and analytics company GlobalData. This decline reflects the global challenges faced by startups during the funding winter, with mature markets like the US also experiencing a decline in deals volume and value.
GlobalData’s report revealed that the US startup ecosystem saw 6,307 VC deals worth $104.5 billion during the same period, indicating a decline of 42% in deals volume and 44% in deals value. India accounted for 5.5% of the total number of VC funding deals globally, while its share of disclosed deal value stood at 3.1%.
Some notable VC funding deals in India include PhysicsWallah raising $250 million, Perfios Software Solutions raising $229 million, PhonePe raising $200 million, Zepto raising $200 million, and Zetwerk raising $120 million.
A deeper analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database showed that VC funding in terms of deal volume dropped 38.4% to 1,644 VC deals during the January-November time frame. Interestingly, India managed to surpass the $10 billion mark in total VC funding value last year in just four months.
Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData, highlighted the decline in VC funding activity in both volume and value, indicating a harsh funding winter. However, he also mentioned that VC firms still consider India an attractive market, and startups remain optimistic as they understand the potential of attracting investments from promising companies.
