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1. Global investors boost investments in Indian Web3 startups
India’s thriving ecosystem of 4 million developers, experienced tech operators, and a well-knit web3 community seem to have caught the attention of global investors, who have committed to invest millions of dollars in Indian web3 start-ups.
Last week, venture arm of Coinbase (American cryptocurrency exchange), Coinbase Ventures along with Buidlers Tribe announced a startup pitch session for Indian web3 companies and has allocated a prize pool of upto $1 million for winners. This was closely followed by UAE-based VC firm, Cypher Capital allocating 40 per cent of its $100 million blockchain fund to invest in Indian crypto and blockchain startups.
Similarly, US-based investment firm General Catalyst said it is bullish on India and noted Web3 as one of its focus investment areas. Speaking to BusinessLine about the growing interest of global investors, Vaas Bhaskar, Principal at Elevation Capital said, “the Indian engineering talent pool is among the largest in the world (4–5 million developers) and a growing number of them are transitioning to Web3. Further, India also has a large number of tech operators with deep expertise across domains needed to build large global companies along with a rapidly developing ecosystem and a well-knit Web3 community.”
2. Funding for Indian SaaS to rise 62.5% to $6.5 billion this year: report
Indian Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) startups are expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 55–70% to clock overall revenue of $116 billion by 2026, venture capital firm Chiratae and management consultancy Zinnov said in a report.
According to the report, titled ‘India SaaS: Punching through the global pecking order’, overall funding for Indian SaaS startups is expected to touch $6.5 billion this year, from $4 billion in 2021 — an increase of 62.5%.
Of the 14 startups that turned unicorns in the first quarter of 2022, five were SaaS companies.
These are HR software provider DarwinBox, analytics company Fractal, Uniphore, cloud broadcasting software company Amagi Media Labs, and developer tools platform Hasura.
Funding for Indian SaaS to rise 62.5% to $6.5 billion this year: report
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