
India
Bangalore-Karnataka
"Bengaluru-Karnataka Innovation Ecosystem has catalyzed and scaled up startups at an unprecedented pace. This nurturing ecosystem has steadily given birth to numerous unicorns and is now evidencing signs of logarithmic growth."



Highlights
Bangalore-Karnataka has been described as the world’s fastest-growing tech hub and the Indian city is home to the R&D centers of some of the world’s most famous tech companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. Its IT sector employs over four million people, and accounts for an estimated $130 billion in exports every year.
The Government of Karnataka was the first Indian state government to establish a dedicated Startup Cell to promote its ecosystem. Innovate Karnataka provides financial support to startups through various funds and Idea2PoC grants, which provide early-stage funding to concepts that have yet to establish proof of concept. The Karnataka Digital Economy Mission launched the Beyond Bengaluru Startup Grid in November 2021 to support startups in the state outside of Bangalore-Karnataka, and a startup incubation center set up by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce opened in February 2022. The Maruti Suzuki Incubation Program aims to help startups develop industry-ready solutions and become large-scale businesses. Karnataka took home 30% of the total startup awards at the National Startup Awards 2021, during Startup India Innovation Week.
Notable recent funding deals in the ecosystem include online learning platform Vedantu’s $2 million Series E in February 2022, electric scooter company Ather Energy’s ₹4.2 billion ($55.7 million) Series D in January 2022, and food delivery service Swiggy’s $700 million round, also in January.
Karnataka hosts India’s flagship tech event, the Bangalore Tech Summit. Summit Up, a two-day event for female entrepreneurs took place in December 2021.
Ecosystem by the Numbers
Sub-Sector Strengths
Fintech
Bangalore-Karnataka ranks eighth among cities globally in the amount of VC investment attracted by its Fintech sub-sector, according to an analysis by research firm London & Partners and Dealroom. The Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, in partnership with India’s top financial technology companies, is creating a roadmap for the growth of the sub-sector. San Francisco-based Fluxon Apps will set up a new hub in Bengaluru by the end of 2022. Online payments solution Razorpay raised a $375 million Series F in December 2021.