India Home To Over 1,000 Web3 Startups: Hashed Emergent Study

India accounted for almost 12% of the world’s Web3 developers in 2023, a significant increase from a mere 3% in 2018, says a recent study.

Currently, the country is home to over 1,000 Web3 startups, making it one of the largest ecosystems globally.

The study was conducted by South Korean venture capital (VC) firm Hashed Emergent in collaboration with KPMG in India, Devfolio, Coinswitch and Kratos Gaming Network (KGen). 

The report further found that India took the top position for on-chain adoption in 2023 among 150+ surveyed countries. The Indian exchanges were reported to have over 35 Mn trading accounts. India also ranks among the top five in peer-to-peer (P2P) trading volume.

Interestingly, this comes even after funding in the Web3 sector dropped by 80% in 2023 to $250 Mn from nearly $1.4 Bn in 2022. However, the report found that the number of deals have not declined accordingly as last year there were 45 deals against 62 in 2022. 

Citing Tak Lee, CEO and managing partner of Hashed, Moneycontrol reported, “As market conditions are improving and companies are ready to capitalise on the next bull run, we are already witnessing signs of recovery, with numerous teams actively seeking to secure their next round of funding.”

Lee further added that entrepreneurs who bagged funding during the upward market condition in 2021 and early 2022 used the slowdown in 2023 to concentrate on product development and cost reduction, thereby extending their financial runway. 

Hashed is an early stage VC firm that focuses on startups operating in the Web2 and Web3 spaces. In addition to its headquarters in South Korea, it also operates in Dubai, Singapore and India. 

In India, it has backed startups including Crypso, Arda, Flint, Liminal, etc. 

Writing for Inc42 on the deeptech ecosystem and its funding in India, GrowthCap Venture’s founder Pratekk Agarwaal said India has over 3,000 such startups across diverse sectors, signifying a promising landscape ripe for investment.

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