Nine long years of chronicling Indian startup ecosystem

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Indian startups got their first big push with global investors starting to chase companies like Flipkart, Ola and Oyo, as the world sensed a massive opportunity in the country’s market. This was on the back of a much-ballyhooed IPO of ecommerce behemoth Alibaba and investors in China wanting to get a beachhead in the next big market. Investors lined up, betting on tech startups, especially in the consumer internet sector, seeking to tap the young demographic of a country of over 1.2 billion people at the time.

It was not only the financial investors but large strategic players like Amazon declared India as a big market, deploying billions of dollars, as the rush of capital began. This was when this newspaper instituted what’s become the most celebrated set of awards for the startup ecosystem — the Economic Times Startup Awards— with the idea to propel entrepreneurship in the country.

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In its ninth year, ETSA, as it is commonly known, has successfully created a startup community which comes together every year to recognise diverse entrepreneurs across categories.

But from 2015 to 2023, startups have undergone a sea change. Eight years ago, in 2015, Indian startups received $8.3 billion in funding, while in 2022, they raised almost three times as much at $24.4 billion, according to data sourced from Venture Intelligence. This was after a