Four Startup Fundings per day in 2016

Last quarter of 2015 registered a slump for investments in Indian startups but seems like things are back with a bang. However, much of the revelry is limited to early stage startups.

Indian startups got investments worth $1.73 billion during January-March 2016, according to a recent report by venture capital and startup research platform, Xeler8. Venture Capitalist investments in startups had declined 46 percent quarter-on-quarter during October-December 2015, the report said.

Though Xeler8 did not have comparative data for any previous quarters, the largest funding rounds during first quarter of 2016 were by online travel venture Ibibo ($250 million), e-commerce major Snapdeal ($200 million), online grocery retailer Big Basket ($150 million), online automobile classified portal Cartrade.com ($145 million) and online retailer Shopclues ($75 million).

Xeler8, in its report, says, “On an average, we’ve seen at least four startup fundings per day between January to March 2016.”

There were only 114 deals during the three months ended December 2015. In comparison, January-March 2016 saw 344 investments. As many as 388 startups raised funds in the first three months of 2016.

Also, the picture looks gloomy for established companies who are finding it increasingly tough to raise more money. While there were over 200 early-stage funding rounds, the number of investments fell with each new round.