1. India comes second in unicorn race in Q3
India added close to 10 unicorns in Q3, versus seven by China and Hong Kong, and four each by the UK and Canada, signalling the rapid pace of investment activity.
However, the US continued to lead the chart by a distance, adding close to 68 unicorns in the September quarter.
The quarter also saw Indian startups raise $10.9 billion across 347 deals; the first time investments in Indian startups have crossed more than $10 billion in a quarter, PwC said.
As per industry estimates, Indian startups have raised more than $24 billion in the first three quarters of 2021.
2. Funding spree continues for local crypto companies
Investors are lining up for companies in the Indian cryptocurrency and blockchain industry.
The total risk funding in domestic crypto and blockchain startups shot up to $587.16 million as of October 17 this year, compared to $37 million in the previous year, the highest ever, according to data shared with ET by industry tracker Tracxn.
The bulk of the capital has come from international investors eager to cash in on India’s large customer base as they backed companies with significant traction, industry players said.
Crypto exchange platforms CoinDCX and Coinswitch Kuber — the two new crypto unicorns in India — have alone raked in almost 60% of the capital raised this year.
Indian investors are also starting to formulate plans for dedicated crypto funds and experiment with some investments. Industry sources said a few VCs are in the process of setting up India-focussed blockchain and crypto funds that will have a corpus size of $15-$50 million.
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