Tech startups in India have seen their funding decline to the lowest in five years, data from Tracxn showed. The startups have raised a total of $7 billion so far in 2023, which is 72% lower than $25 billion they had raised during the same period last year.
In the ongoing quarter, funding has reached $957 million till date, making it the lowest-funded quarter since the third quarter of 2016.
Tech funding has been on the decline every quarter since the start of the year. This year saw only 1,000 funding rounds across stages, compared with the 2,763 rounds last year.
Only two companies – Zepto and Incred — entered the unicorn club in 2023. This was sharply lower than the 23 unicorns added last year, the data showed.
The late-stage funding rounds also recorded a significant drop of 73% this year. Seed stage funding declined 60% year-on-year, while early stage fell 70%.
This year saw only 17 deals in the $100 million+ segment, compared with 55 deals that took place last year. Startups which raised over $100 million included Lenskart, PhonePe, Perfios, Zepto, InsuranceDekho, Ola Electric, KreditBee, Ather Energy, FreshToHome, and more.
The list was led by PhonePe, which received a total of $750 million in four Series D rounds and accounted for 38% of the total funding received by the fintech sector. This was followed by Lenskart, which raised $600 million in two Series J rounds this year.
Besides fintech, where growth was led by increased smartphone penetration and the push towards a cashless economy
Top investors in tech startups this year included Accel
