India’s Capital Vs The Startup Capital: Who Is The Torchbearer For The Indian Tech Ecosystem?

As the startup ecosystem in any city grows and flourishes, it also catalyses the modern socio-economic indicators such as technology adoption, innovation, employment and overall standard of living of the city’s residents. And if a city manages to create a sustainable startup ecosystem, it also often makes it to the global tech map given how closely knit the entire industry is.

A case in point is Bengaluru. Widely known as the Silicon Valley of India, the Bengaluru startup ecosystem has seen the launch of 11,000+ startups and has managed to attract a total venture capital inflow worth $28 Bn (between 2014 and H1 2020), the highest among any other startup hub in India. It also is home to India’s first billion-dollar-plus startup, InMobi, which turned unicorn in 2014.

There is no doubt that Bengaluru is still the epicenter of India’s startup ecosystem but over the years, Delhi NCR, and Mumbai have also outperformed the so-called startup capital in terms of growth in venture capital investments. From 2014 to 2019, the five-year growth rate of total startup funding in Delhi NCR and Mumbai was 23% and 27% respectively, whereas the same for Bengaluru was 13%. However, both Delhi NCR and Mumbai had a lower base than Bengaluru in 2014, so while the funding growth rate is faster, both still trail Bengaluru in overall funding amount in 2014-H1 2020.