 "Indian startup funding in H1CY23 drops 36% to lowest in 4 yrs: PwC")
Funding to the Indian startup ecosystem dipped 36 per cent to just 3.8 billion across 298 deals in the first half (H1) of 2023 compared to the second half of the previous calendar year, which saw $5.9 billion in investments, according to a recent report by PwC.
Fintech, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and D2C continued to be the most funded sectors in H1 CY23.
“A funding winter is just a season in a startup’s journey. There is a slowdown in startup funding despite significant untapped capital reserves held by venture capitalists (VCs). Active VC firms in India have secured new funds in the past year and we can expect the pace of investments to pick up in the next few months,” said Amit Nawka, Partner, Deals and India Start-ups Leader, PwC India.
“In the interim, there has been an increase in the due diligence being carried out by investors before making investments, both in terms of detailing as well as coverage - from typical finance and legal, to areas like technology, HR and business processes - to ensure that the startups have a robust corporate governance framework,” he added.
During the last few quarters, despite challenging funding market conditions, investors have shown strong support for their portfolio companies by doubling down on their investments in companies that demonstrated positive growth, the report said.