Venture capital (VC) funding in Indian start-ups surged to record-high levels in the July-September quarter this year. According to data from Venture Intelligence, the amount surged to $11.2 billion during the period, the highest in the last 11 quarters.

This number is a whopping 297 per cent higher than the $2.8 billion that was secured during the same period last year and 193 per cent higher than the $3.8 billion secured in the July-September quarter in 2019. The funding data includes Seed to Series F investments in companies less than ten years old and late-stage tech investments.

2021, on the whole, has been a good year for start-ups in the country, what with firms going public, unicorns being produced at a breakneck pace and funding levels reaching new highs. The surge in funding began right from the first quarter - the pent-up demand from last year pushing investments in January-March to $5.6 billion this year compared to $3.5 billion during the same period last year and $2.6 billion in January-March 2019. The upward trajectory of VC investments continued further in the April-June quarter to $7.8 billion and reached a new high of $11.2 billion in the July-September quarter this year.

The overall venture capital funding figures for 2021 have also outpaced the last couple of years’ numbers. Firms have garnered $28.5 billion so far this year (as on October 31), and this amount is more than twice what was secured in 2020 ($11.3 billion) and 2019 ($13.1 billion).

This upswing also reflects in the number of companies that secured funding this year. A total of 745 start-ups have received venture capital funding until October-end this year, as against 698 firms in the whole of 2020 and 763 firms in the whole of 2019. The July-September quarter alone saw 341 firms secure venture capital funding in 2021, nearly twice the number of firms that secured investments during the same period last year. In fact, five of the top venture capital funding rounds this year were in the July-September period; firms that garnered funding during the quarter include Eruditus, Meesho, Pine Labs, Ola Cabs and PharmEasy.

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