1,000 new start-ups joined in 2017, B2B and advanced tech start-ups pushing the ecosystem forward: Nasscom

2017 has been a good year for the start-ups in India. In the current calendar year, over 1,000 new start-ups joined the ecosystem, primarily fuelled by the growth in B2B and advanced tech start-ups, according to the Nasscom Startup Report.

Start-ups in India have cemented their position as the third largest startup ecosystem across the world, amidst intensifying competition from countries like UK and Israel.

With the new addition of 1,000 start-ups in 2017, the total count of tech start-ups currently stands at 5,000-5200. The report further showed that the country is witnessing a rapid rise in the B2B tech start-up landscape, with primary focus on verticals such as healthtech, fintech, and ecommerce/aggregators.

"India is one of the fastest growing start-up landscape in the world and every major accelerator, investor, angel group, is participating in becoming a part of this growth journey. Today, Indian ecosystem is flooded with innovative ideas and needs the right channel and guidance in terms of acceleration, scaling up and funding to continue to disrupt," Raman Roy, Chairman, Nasscom said today in Bangalore.

With 40 percent of start-ups in the B2B segment, its share in the overall tech start-up funding is over 30 percent. With over 50 collaboration programs, corporations are playing a vital role in supporting these start-ups, the report said.

While Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai retained their position as the key start-up hubs in India, 20 percent of the start-ups emerged from tier II and III cities, the report stated.

Nasscom launched the 2017 edition of the NASSCOM-Zinnov report on the 'Indian Start-up Ecosystem—Traversing the maturity cycle', released on Thursday in its annual flagship NASSCOM Product Conclave 2017.

Speaking on the occasion, R Chandrashekhar, President, Nasscom, said, "The Indian startup ecosystem is maturing, driven by young, diverse and inclusive entrepreneurial landscape. This is leading to an emergence of focused domain solutions for verticals like healthcare, agriculture, and education. Findings of the report are testimonies to the potential of the start-up landscape and the scope of growth and opportunity that India presents. Nasscom will continue its drive towards catalysing deep tech start-ups, build category leaders and support start-ups to create for India."

Fin-tech start-up base is estimated to be 360 in 2017 indicating at 31 percent year on year growth with over Rs 1,300 crore ($200 million) funding received in the first half of 2017, which is a growth of 135 percent since the comparable period in 2016, the report noted.

Further, the report stated that healthcare technology vertical saw a 28 percent annual growth, with an estimated base of 320 startups. The vertical also garnered a total funding of Rs 1,040 crore ($160 million) in the first half 2017, up by 129 percent since 2016.

With over 60 percent start-ups, the business to consumer technology start-up segment focused on creating innovative business models and taking the vertical approach, securing close to 70 percent of the overall tech start-up funding in the first half of 2017, the report said.