Report: Indian startups raised a record $14.5B in 2019, up from $10.5B in 2018 and $550M in 2010; Sequoia, Accel, and Tiger Global were the most active VCs
Peerzada Abrar / Business Standard :
Context & Ripple Effects
The 2019 record extends a steep curve: Indian startups had already pulled in almost $10B in 2017 against $4.4B in 2016, so the jump to $14.5B marks three straight years of growth rather than a one-off spike. What is new in this report is who is doing the funding — Sequoia, Accel, and Tiger Global topping the activity table signals that global crossover money, not just local funds, is now setting the pace.
Tiger Global's presence here is the thread to watch: its aggressive deployment through the COVID era was later credited with fueling a rapid creation of billion-dollar startups, before it cut Superhuman's valuation by 45% in September 2023. The 2019 table is an early snapshot of the firm that would become the swing investor in the market.
First-order effects
- Founders raising in 2020 enter negotiations against a field where the three most active investors — Sequoia, Accel, and Tiger Global — have just demonstrated appetite for larger checks, compressing the time startups can stay on the market.
Second-order effects
- Competing funds must either match the top trio's check sizes and speed or cede the best deals, pushing mid-tier VCs toward earlier stages or co-investment positions alongside Tiger Global.
Third-order effects
- The pattern held after 2019: Indian startup funding hit a record ~$36B in 2021 with SoftBank investing $3B+ and Tiger Global again among the most active — confirming India as a recurring destination for global venture capital cycles, including their corrections.
The trend: Indian startup funding has compounded from hundreds of millions to tens of billions per year over a decade, with a small set of global investors — Tiger Global chief among them — concentrating deal flow and amplifying both the booms and the repricing that follow.