India ranks fourth globally among startups with over $50 million disclosed VC funding, report finds

Out of the 12,400 startups surveyed across 80 cities in 40 countries, the US had 7,184 scaleups, China 1,491, the UK 623, and India 429.

The latest edition of the Startup Genome's Scaleup Report has found that India ranks fourth globally among startups that have received more than $50 million in disclosed venture capital (VC) investment.

As per the report by the policy advisory and research firm, the United States, China, and the United Kingdom are the only three countries that have surpassed India in terms of disclosed VC funding for startups.

Out of the 12,400 startups surveyed across 80 cities in 40 countries, the US had 7,184 scaleups, China 1,491, the UK 623, and India 429. With regards to total VC investments that have gone to the scaleups and their cumulative tech value investment, however, India was ahead of the UK. India’s scaleups involved VC investment worth $127 billion, while the total value of tech investment was worth $446 billion.

According to the Scaleup report, India has the highest scaleup rate with over 50 percent of outreach outside Asia. Explaining the significant global outreach, the report pointed out that in large countries barring the US, start-ups lean towards scaling more effectively if they are focused on domestic markets. This is because the domestic markets are massive, thereby justifying a delay in global expansion. For instance, several B2C startups in India were able to attain unicorn status without having to tap into a global audience.

The report also discusses the “local connectedness index” which is a measure of the quality, density, and size of a startup's local network. It states that startups in the nascent stage see higher revenue growth if they have a higher local connectedness index.

Further, startups that have a local connectedness index of six or above witness a 5.1 percent scale-up rate, as against those with a score of two to four, which saw a 3.8 percent scale-up.