From Zomato’s ‘ dhak dhak ho rela ’ IPO moment to Mensa’s sprint to unicorn status within just six months, 2021 was a landmark year for the Indian start-up ecosystem.

In 2021, Indian start-ups raised about $35.4 billion funding across 1,926 deals (till December 14, 2021), according to Tracxn. This is 3x more than the $13 billion funding raised by start-ups in 2020.

Funding rush to continue

While there is enough liquidity in the private markets today, will this funding rush continue for another year? Nithin Kamath, CEO, Zerodha, believes that it will. “Investors and funds are starting to realise the opportunity set in India, and we can see that from the number of new investments. If global liquidity remains, the momentum will carry on into the new year. But the biggest caveat is how the financial markets perform,” said Kamath.

Srikrishna Ramamoorthy of Unitus Ventures said, “We could also see increased start-up funding thanks to more global capital flow into India instead of China.”

Anjali Bansal, Founder, Avaana Capital is confident the Indian start-up ecosystem is headed towards maturity. She believes that it is being driven by the talent that is building upon the learnings of the previous decade.

Upcoming trends

In the coming year, Amit Somani of Prime Venture Partners believes that Indian start-ups are now poised to make a big dent globally and an example of that is the export of consumer edtech into the developed world.

“I also see health and wellness start-ups starting to make an impact on the global scene. B2B opportunities will flourish both within India and also cross-border. Some of the deep technology areas will also see some new innovations,” Somani added.

Further, Sanjeev Barnwal, Founder and CTO of Meesho, expects increased focus on technologies, which will simplify the user experience in e-commerce and enable adoption by tier 2 markets.

“Voice and image search will be significant innovation drivers to further personalise shopping experience. Vernacular chatbots can be a game-changer. It can reduce operating costs and enhance customer experience,” said Barnwal.

Anup Jain, Managing Partner, Orios Venture Partners noted fintech, healthtech, and agritech as the three sectors which will create rapid innovations. “India will become the source of fintech innovations, having one of the most advanced fintech infra in the world. It will also become a fountainhead of English-speaking creators who will dispense their skills all around the world,” he said.

With respect to healthcare, Jain said that India’s health ecosystem is going to see a rapid transformation with the implementation of the national health card similar to NHS and medicare in developed countries. “The foundation has been laid with the digital Covid vaccine certificate being 100 per cent digital, linked to a national ID. Indian start-ups will become targets for acquisitions by global legacy corporates and digital start-ups from around the world wanting to get into India . Indian agriculture, which remains largely backward and sub-scale, will see a bigger move towards being more organised, more automated, and connected with its B2B and B2C customers,” he added.

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