The Indian startup ecosystem is on the verge of a once in a generation explosion.
I've invested in 5 companies that are growing like wildfire and want to do A LOT more. Let's talk if you're building for India.
Here's what's going on and why you should pay attention now:
There are 5 factors that are simultaneously driving the rapid rise of startups in India.
- Favorable demographics
- At scale internet adoption
- Rising purchasing power
- Risk seeking mindset shift
- Anti-(China)
Let's talk about how all 5 are interconnected.
The number of "digital first" Indians that are driving the future of the country is like nothing the world has ever seen.
India has:
- 500M+ people under 25
- 125M+ English speakers
- 250M+ people that will be added to its population over the next 40 years (est. peak is 1.6B)
In parallel, increased internet accessibility at very low prices has resulted in a massive surge of online users
- 830M internet users in 2021 (+83% from 2019)
- 860M smartphone users in 2022 (+84% from 2017)
- 8.3GB monthly data consumption (+100x from 2014)
There are 2 differentiators these young people coming online are bringing with them:
First, They have money and they’re eager to spend it.
The Chazen Institute predicts India's middle class will have 583M people by 2025 (~2x the US population) 🤯
Second, they’re risk seeking.
Young people in India are becoming aggressively risk seeking.
Why?
They have role models now - they’re seeing friends start companies, change industries, drive impact and make life changing money.
It’s damn exciting.
Outsiders have taken notice.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) dropped globally by 42% in 2020, but rose by 13% in India.
Trailing only the US and China, India pulled in $57B in FDI in 2020.
This will continue to grow because of political philosophy alignment with the West.
So what happens when you have:
A growing base of customers
+
The ability to reach them through the internet
+
Consumer purchasing power
+
Young and hungry talent to build
+
A hospitable environment for financing?
A hotbed for innovation 🔥
India will cross 50+ unicorns by the end of the year.
A few months ago, 8 unicorns were minted *in the span of a week* with monster fundraises: