Indian Startup Funding In H1 2021 Funding Grew 100% Over Last Year

SUMMARY

Indian startups raised a total of $10.8 Bn in the first six months of 2021, which is more than 2x what was raised in the first half of 2020

The first half of 2021 comfortably eclipsed the previous historic half-yearly peak of H2 2017, when $7 Bn was raised by Indian startups

The emergence of 14 new unicorns in just the first six months of 2021 is another major indication of the growing investor appetite around growth and late-stage startups

The period between January and June 2020 was arguably the worst for VC investments and startup funding in India. In particular, it was the opening quarter of the fiscal year FY2021 — April to June 2020 — which was the hardest for startups. Funding amount witnessed a massive decline of 74%, while Indian startups on an average fired 22% of their total employee count during the pandemic-induced lockdown. But one year down the line from June 2020, there couldn’t be a bigger change in the funding prospects for startups in 2021.

While H1 2020 closed at $5.2 Bn across 390 deals, in H1 2021 (January to June 2021), the total funding raised by Indian startups hit a historic peak of $10.8 Bn raised over 614 funding deals. The total startup funding in the first half of 2021 is already 95% of the total funding amount raised in all of 2020.