Maharashtra Tops the List with Highest Number of Startups

Maharashtra has topped the list of states with the highest number of startups in India, with 17,981 startups. It is followed by Karnataka with 11,080 startups and Delhi with 10,812 startups. Uttar Pradesh has 7,357 startups, while Gujarat has 5,940 startups.

Haryana, Telangana, Kerala, and Rajasthan are in the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th positions, with 5,161, 5,157, 4,251, and 3,290 startups, respectively.

The number of startups in India has been growing ever since the government launched the Startup India Initiative program on January 16, 2016.

Under this initiative, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recognizes startups as per eligibility conditions prescribed under G.S.R. notification 127 (E) dated February 19, 2019.

According to the latest Hurun”s India rich list, 84 startup founders hold a cumulative wealth of Rs 4,23,600 crore. The average age of these entrepreneurs is just 41.

The youngest startup founder to make the list is 20-year-old Kaivalya Vohra with his delivery app Zepto. 59 startups in the 2023 list are unicorns, and two are gazelles with the potential to become unicorns within two years.

Notably, Byju Ravindran, the founder of India”s biggest edtech startup Byju”s, did not make it into the Hurun list. Moreover, the startup ecosystem still faces headwinds, with 16 founders incurring a cumulative loss of Rs 85,000 crore.

In addition, the Indian startup ecosystem has been facing a funding crunch due to macroeconomic headwinds. According to Inc42″s “Indian Tech Startup Funding Report Q3 2023,” Indian startups raised a total of $7 billion during the first three quarters of 2023, which is significantly lower than the $22 billion raised in the same period in 2022. The slowdown in funding has been particularly pronounced in the seed and early-stage stages, with funding for these stages falling by 55% and 43% year-over-year, respectively.