NEW DELHI — The Indian startup ecosystem has seen major changes in the last
few years and there has been an unprecedented rise in the participation of
women entrepreneurs as the funding of female-led startups increased by over 90
per cent in 2024.
Women entrepreneurs are not only becoming founders and
co-founders, but a large number of investors are also investing in women-led
startups.
According to the Indian Startup Funding Report 2024 by
Inc42, women-led startups raised around $930 million across 136 deals in 2024.
This figure was $480 million across 118 deals in 2023, showing a growth of
93.75 per cent year-on-year.
The fintech sector topped the funding received by women-led
startups. It had a share of 28.7 per cent or $266.91 million in the total
funding. It was followed by the e-commerce sector with a share of 22.8 per cent
or $212 million and enterprise tech at third place with a share of 14 per cent
or $130 million in total funding.
The fintech sector has received this funding in only 17
deals. Meanwhile, E-commerce has received $212 million in funding in 53 deals.
Apart from this, the share of health tech and cleantech in
the total funding was 11 per cent ($ 102.3 million) and 14.1 per cent ($ 130.93
million) respectively.
Additionally, in 2024, a total of 13 new-age companies
launched their initial public offerings (IPOs), as startups cumulatively raised
more than INR 29,200 crore from the stock market.
The 13 startups cumulatively raised INR 29,247 crore from
the cash market. Out of this, the fresh issue was nearly INR 14,672 crore and
INR 14,574 crore Offer for Sale (OFS).
Among these startup IPOs, 10 were mainboard and three were
SME IPOs.
The startup IPOs include TAC Security, Unicommerce,
MobiKwik, TBO Tek, Ixigo, Trust Fintech, FirstCry, Menhood, Awfis, Swiggy,
Digit Insurance, Blackbuck and Ola Electric.
