According to the ‘The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020’ by Startup Genome, Bengaluru becomes the first Indian city listed in the world’s top 30 startup ecosystems.
Bengaluru is India’s startup capital. According to the ‘The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020’ by Startup Genome, Bengaluru becomes the first Indian city listed in the world’s top 30 startup ecosystems. Bengaluru stands at 26th spot topped by the Silicon Valley in California.
Delhi is ranked at the 36th spot while in the list of top 100 emerging ecosystems, Mumbai gets the first ranking. Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune are also included in the list of emerging startup hubs.
Startup Genome is a California headquartered innovation policy advisory and research firm. It surveyed cities around the world where early-stage startups have the best shot at building global success.
London and New York found tied for the second spot whereas Delhi gets ranked well for the complexity of patent creation and volume in the analysis. The report says, along with Paris and Singapore, Bengaluru stands out for high access, quality as well as activity of funding.
In 2012, when rankings were released, access to capital, investment, and global talent have pushed London’s ascent from number eight to number two. Founder of Startup Genome, J. F. Gauthier said, “Today’s global report ranks the best cities where startups can build global success. Startup ecosystems outperform when their entrepreneurial community is not only open to but deeply integrated within the global startup community.”
He also said, “This is certainly the case for London, as it continues to play a central role in the global fabric of startup ecosystems and is only eight years has risen from number eight to a tie in second place. The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the transition to the digital economy and has called for entrepreneurs to innovate faster.”
We all know about the Flipkart and Ola stories. Let’s take a look at the other successful start-ups that call Bangalore home.
“I don’t think building this scale would be possible if I didn’t move base to Bangalore,” Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal recently said at an event.
He should know. Bhavish moved his scrappy cab-hailing startup from Mumbai to Bangalore in around 2012, and grew his little business into the US$5 billion behemoth it is today. Quikr, the listing website that just gobbled up CommonFloor, shifted to the city in 2014, and Paytm has been talking about doing so as well.
“Bengaluru, is to tech what Mumbai is to Bollywood,” Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar told the Economic Times.
The reasons are simple. Long the tech hub of the country, Bangalore first saw “startups” like Infosys and Wipro grow to put Indian IT on the world map. Then came Flipkart, and with it, an entire industry of investors, tech talent, advisors and more entrepreneurs. Success bred success, and Bangalore soon became the melting pot of all things startup in the country.
We all know about the Flipkart and Ola stories. Let’s take a look at the other successful start-ups that call Bangalore home.
Swiggy
Swiggy is the freshest in the lot of startup successes here, rising to the top layers after a US$ 35 million round of funding from some of the best known names in the investor market. The food delivery company has already taken away considerable market share from Zomato, Tinyowl and others that have been around longer. Unlike other food delivery startups, Swiggy owns its delivery fleet, allowing them better control over logistics. With no minimum order requirements but a fee, well trained delivery boys, and a strong backend tech, Swiggy turned the tide in food tech this year, when everyone thought the sector was toxic. The company is now believed to be worth around US$125 million.
Jabong was the Myntra competitor before Flipkart and Myntra got together, and Jabong ran into a bunch of problems. The company has seen its founder quit, gotten a new chief, and cleaned up some of its business mess, but is not out of the woods completely.
Local media reports suggest it is up for sale, but can’t find a buyer. It is said to be valued at around US$200 million.
Bigbasket
Groceries delivered at your doorstep. Bigbasket revolutionized the way Indians shop for groceries when it allowed shoppers to buy everything from meat to cereals to vegetables online, and at reasonable prices. This Bangalore-based startup is now operational in about 15 cities, and valued at around US$400 million.
Bigbasket spawned a number of similar startups like Grofers and Peppertap that raised the bar with 2-hour deliveries, but remains the best choice in terms of availability range, and quality of product. The company has also launched its own express delivery service to take on rivals in the instant deliver space.
Quikr
Listings website Quikr, India’s very own take on Craigslist, is worth US$1.5 billion. The marketplace made some headlines last year after it listed goats for sale during the Muslim festival of Id. But other than goats, Quikr allows buyers and sellers to access everything from used cars to furniture, to even homes. Quikr also bought Commonfloor in January, making it a bigger entity.
InMobi
Adtech company Inmobi leads the race, with a valuation of about US$2.5 billion. The company competes with Google and Facebook in the mobile ads space, and hence might not be popular enough for everyday headlines. It is, however, popular in the right channels.
Google was at one point reportedly interested in buying the company, which CEO Naveen Tewari later dismissed. Much more recently, Microsoft was said to be contemplating the same. Tewari has dissed those rumors too. InMobi has raised US$220.6 million in disclosed funding till date, as per TIA data.
