Road to Hyperscaling in India: Decoding the Good-to-Great Journey of India’s Late-Stage Startups

The digital startup landscape in India has witnessed breakout growth over the last few years, transforming India into the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, just behind USA and China. Growth in smartphone and data consumption, strengthening online payments ecosystem, pandemic-induced digital acceleration, favorable demographics and conducive public policy have contributed to the rise of 100+ unicorns and 40,000 active start-ups by 2022. Cumulatively, Indian startups have raised over $130Bn since 2014, with nearly 65% of funding attracted by the top 3 sectors: E-commerce, fintech, and enterprise tech.

To decode the learning from good-to-great journeys of India’s late-stage startups, BCG partnered with Times Bridge and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Delhi-NCR Chapter for this report. Leveraging conversations with leading startup founders and investors, the report uncovers stories of successful Indian and global late-stage startups along eight key themes that helped them hyperscale in India. Finally, the macro environment has changed massively in the last 12 months, with investors taking a much more cautious approach to funding and many startups feeling the heat. The report gives a path forward for the survival and long-term growth of Indian start-ups amid the funding slowdowns.