Gender prejudice is pervasive in India’s startup scene, as seen by the over 6,000 startups with female founders that have not received funding yet. Tacxn data indicates that over 8,800 Indian firms led by women have raised a total of over $23.3 billion in funding.
On the other hand, up to 2,300 firms led by women have secured funding thus far. Approximately 1,000 of them are in the seed stage, 251 are in the early stage, and 67 are in the late stage at the moment.
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Over the last three years, VC financing for firms run by women has decreased by 75%. According to Tracxn data, VC financing for women-led firms peaked in 2021 at $6.5 billion, but by 2023, it had dropped to $1.1 billion. According to data, the tech startup ecosystem in India raised $8.7 billion in 2023. Of that amount, $1.15 billion was raised by companies led by women, accounting for 13% of the total.
$112 million in funding has been given to women-led firms so far this year, nearly matching the $123 million raised in the first two months of 2023. Remarkably, when it comes to the amount of capital raised by businesses led by women, the Indian tech startup scene comes in second place to the US. Indian startups led by women have raised $23.2 billion in total so far. From 2020 to 2022, women-led companies in the nation contributed more than 15% of the total. However, the funding has drastically decreased as a result of the global financial environment and the funding freeze. 2020 saw the largest financing contribution from Indian entrepreneurs, accounting for nearly 17% of all startups globally with female founders. In 2020, worldwide tech businesses led by women raised $17 billion in funding, compared to $2.90 billion raised by women-led tech startups. Compared to $15.19 billion raised by women-led global tech enterprises, $1.10 billion was invested in tech startups led by women last year.
In the tech startup scene, women entrepreneurs have launched a total of 19 unicorns, of which 15 are still operating today. LawSikho, Honasa Consumer, Appetite Food, Tracxn, Mapmy India, Nykaa, Smaash Entertainment, Add Shop Promotions, Yatra, TeamLease, Justdial, Aurionpro, Appollo Finvest, and Share Mart are just a few of the fourteen firms with female founders that have gone public so far. India’s startup ecosystem faces gender biases, with over 6,000 unfunded companies led by female founders. Female-founded startups in India have raised over $23.3 billion, but only 2,300 have received funding. VC funding for female-owned startups has decreased by 75% in the past three years.
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The Indian government has implemented several policies and initiatives to support and empower women in establishing and expanding their own enterprises because it understands the value of promoting female entrepreneurship. Programmes and initiatives are crucial in helping women entrepreneurs overcome challenges and prosper in India’s cutthroat business climate by offering them training, mentorship, and financial support. They contribute to eradicating barriers based on gender and building a vibrant, inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem. Annapurna Scheme, Udyogini Scheme, Stree Shakti Scheme, Bharatiya Mahila Bank Business Loan, Cent Kalyani Scheme, Mudra Yojana Scheme, Dena Shakti Scheme, Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme, etc. are a few of the programmes and initiatives.
Over the course of the last ten years, the amount of money raised by female-led businesses in the nation has increased, making up over 15% of all startup investment in India from 2020 to 2022. In 2023, women-led companies accounted for 13% of all funding in the technology sector, having secured $1.1 billion. In this field, $100 million in financing has been provided in the first two months of 2024.
With over 2,300 companies founded to date, the Delhi-NCR region led the way in the number of women-driven startups, followed by Bengaluru and Mumbai. In terms of investment, however, Bengaluru came in first place, having raised almost $9.5 billion for digital businesses founded by women. Jaipur and Indore, two Tier-II cities, were included in the list of the top 10.
The sectors where women-led startups have thrived are B2C e-commerce (3,434), followed by internet-first brand companies (1,355) and SaaS companies (1,181). “Thriving sectors also encompass fashion tech, marketplaces, and B2C fashion e-commerce. The industry landscape further showcases substantial activity in enterprise software, internet-first fashion brands, K-12 ed-tech, and online grocery,” the report said.
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