If you suspected that India’s startup boom was reaching world-class proportions, you now have numbers to back it up. In a report released jointed by consultancy firm Zinnov and Google, India has been placed 3rd in the list of startup ecosystems worldwide.
India is currently home to 4,200 startups of which 1200 were founded just this year. The US retains its place as the tech capital of the world with an astonishing 48,000 startups. The UK sneaks in just ahead of India at the no. 2 spot with 5,000 startups.
This growth in India’s startups have been partially fueled by easy access to investor money. $100 million is flowing into the Indian startup ecosystem every week, and the country is expected to receive $6.5 billion in funding this year.
Startups in India now employ 85,000 people, of which 9% are women. As a sign on a maturing ecosystem, the number of women working in startups grew by 50% year on year. Startups still are very much a young person’s game though – 72% of startup founders are below the age of 35.
All this activity has resulted in Indian organizations that now work at global scale. India is home to as many as 8 unicorns, or startups with a valuation greater than $1 billion. The stars of the ecosystem – the startup founders who struck it big – are thriving and are worth some jaw dropping amounts. And the party is expected to continue, with India predicted to be home to 20,000 startups by 2020.