According to a recent survey, Indian startup founders are optimistic about raising capital and bullish on the growth of their businesses shortly, despite the ongoing funding winter.
The third edition of the “India Sentiment Outlook Survey” by venture capital firm 100X.VC indicated that 76% of founders were optimistic about business growth soon, while 52% stated they wanted to raise money in the next three months. Only two founders out of 10 expressed a negative outlook on business growth.
According to the survey, the preferred direct funding sources were venture capital funds, angel networks, and angel investors.
Nearly half (49%) of the founders surveyed claimed that fundraising had significantly improved in the post-pandemic scenario. About 23% of respondents claimed that future fund-raising would be challenging, while 28% predicted that little would change from pre-pandemic levels.
Ninad Karpe, partner at 100X.VC said, “The Indian startup ecosystem had 44 unicorns in the past year, and we’ve already witnessed 17 unicorns emerge in 2022. Given the economic conditions, the survey result indicates a mixed reaction from founders and investors to the current market landscape. However, we are optimistic that there is still room for early-stage funding with credible and large investment deal flow.”
Investors agreed, with about 45% predicting that India will have 100–200 more unicorns by 2025. However, more than half (52%) said they plan to invest in fewer than five companies during the following 12 months, 37% said they plan to do the same with five to 15, and only roughly 10% said they would do the same with more than 15.
With 23% of investors stating they were actively watching the sector, SaaS startups appeared to be the most likely to raise capital. Deep-tech startups (21%) and fintech startups (22%) were next. According to the survey, investors placed little priority on agritech, web3, and edtech startups.
