Investors are increasingly turning their attention towards small-town startups in India, with 90% of startups in 2023 emerging from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. These startups received around 22% of the total funding, and 44% of investors have made investments in these cities.
internet entrepreneurs, India Internet Day, that the seeds of
Microsoft for Startups’ initiative,
Highway to a Hundred Unicorns, were sown. “In April of 2019 when we had the India Internet Day, at that time we had 30 unicorns or a little less, I think 25 unicorns at the time, and the goal for India was to have 100 unicorns by 2025. What was really interesting was that
most of these unicorns came in from Bangalore, Bombay, Delhi, a couple maybe from Pune and Madras. There was no representation on this list from founders coming in from these smaller emerging markets in India,”
Lathika Pai,
Yourstory Founder and CEO,