Indian startups raise $38.3 billion funding in 2018: Report

NEW DELHI: Indian startups are estimated to have raised $38.3 billion in funding in 2018, behind only the US and China, a report by Yostartups said on Thursday.

Flipkart's $16 billion deal with American retailer Walmart accounted for the biggest piece of the pie, followed by Swiggy raising about $1.3 billion over three deals, and OYO picking up $1 billion in 2018, the report said.

Other big funding deals included those by Paytm Mall ($895 million), ReNew Power ($495 million), Byju's ($422 million) and Zomato ($410 million).

Around 1,000 deals were signed by Indian startups in 2018 with areas like e-commerce, fintech, sustainability and renewable energy, transportation and logistics, health and wellness, and travel and tourism attracting the highest investments, it added.

"There has been a meteoric rise of startup funding for Indian startups. Asia has emerged as a key contender for startups globally, beating the Americas and Europe. In 2018, startups in Asia raised $172 billion, compared to $162.9 billion in Americas and $46.2 billion in Europe," Yostartups CEO Jappreet Sethi said.

Globally, about 14,300 funding deals were struck by startups in 2018, raising over $400 billion, an increase of more than 23 per cent from the previous year, the report said.

It added that over 3,700 seed funding deals (totalling $6.9 billion) were struck, while 7,357 venture funding deals – ranging from series A to Series I – were signed in 2018 to raise $217.9 billion.