Productive land is one of the most important factors in starting a business. As important as productive minds, labor, etc. Startups have been very metro-centric in their approach to productive land, amongst many FoP (Factors of Production). Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Bengaluru have constituted the 50% share of startups in the entire country. Investors seek to work and consolidate with the metropolitan cities due to a better working atmosphere, availability of raw materials, and human resources.
The situation might alter since soon cities like Chennai appear to be climbing the startup bandwagon; based on the number of deals in the first six months of 2020. Similarly, even as Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai retained their top spots in terms of numbers of deals and funding amounts raised, cities like Ahemdabad, Hyderabad, and Kolkata also gained significant clout.
Overall, Indian startups raised a total of $4.16 billion in equity funding in the first half (H1) of 2020, according to YourStory Research. While businesses and industries ran into losses amidst the COVID – 19 Pandemic that has pushed investors to tighten the strings of their purses a little, they continued to invest, viewing this as an opportunity to diversify their investments across more of deals and discover new forefronts for investment and possible business avenues.
To be sure, startups in Chennai have built businesses that are early technology adopters, robust in operations, and financially prudent.
The rise of home-grown companies like Freshworks and Zoho to the unicorn club has further proved the city’s startup ecosystem to be strong and resilient.
With many prestigious institutions and bright minds, we just could be looking at new startup hub of India!