B2B and advanced technology start-ups on a growth path

Strengthening its position as the third largest start-up ecosystem across the world, amidst intensifying competition from countries like the UK and Israel, India continues its momentum of being one of the most vibrant landscapes for start-ups, according to NASSCOM-Zinnov report on the “Indian start-up ecosystem—traversing the maturity cycle”. Adding over 1,000 tech start-ups in 2017, taking the overall number to 5,000-5,200, India is witnessing a rapid rise in the B2B tech start-up landscape, focused on verticals such as healthtech, fintech, and e-commerce and aggregators. While Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai retained their position as the key start-up hubs in India, 20 per cent of the start-ups emerged from tier-II and III cities. According to findings of the report, with 40 per cent of start-ups in the B2B segment, B2B’s share in the overall tech start-up funding is over 30 per cent. Corporates are playing a vital role in supporting these with 50-plus collaboration programmes, 20-plus corporate accelerators recording a 33 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth, and 30-40 active corporate investors, thus increasing their role in the rise of the startup ecosystem.

The fin-tech start-up base is estimated to be 360 in 2017, indicating a 31 per cent YoY growth with over $200 million funding received in H1 2017, recording a growth of 135 per cent since H1 2016. Sub-segments such as digital payments and lending are maturing, while wealth management and insur-tech are emerging as growth areas. Implementation of advanced technology is also becoming prominent, with 33 per cent of fintech funding towards advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and analytics. With over 60 per cent start-ups, the B2C tech start-up segment is focused on creating innovative business models and taking the vertical approach, securing close to 70 per cent of the overall tech start-up funding in H1 2017. The leading verticals in the B2C segment are travel and hospitality, food-tech, fintech, and health-tech.