Within Delhi-NCR, Delhi accounted for 4,491 start-ups, Gurugram 1,544 and Noida 1,004, according to a report.

With over 7,000 start-ups, the Delhi-NCR area now has the largest number of active start-ups in the country, pipping cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai, according to a report by TiE Delhi-NCR and consulting firm Zinnov released on Tuesday.

As per the report ‘Turbocharging Delhi-NCR Start-up Ecosystem’, Delhi-NCR accounted for 23% of start-ups with a cumulative value of $50 billion. The National Capital Region (NCR) includes cities like Gurugram, Noida and Faridabad.

“NCR is home to 10 unicorns, with at least 1 new unicorn emerging each year since 2013,” the study said. While 7,039 start-ups were founded in Delhi-NCR between 2009 and 2019, the number stood at 5,234 for Bengaluru, followed by 3,829 in Mumbai, 1940 in Hyderabad, 1593 in Pune and 1,520 in Chennai.

Interestingly, Delhi-NCR also houses three of the four most valuable listed internet companies in India, namely Infoedge, Makemytrip and Indiamart. The only one not to be headquartered in Delhi NCR is Justdial.

A healthy mix

The report noted that the region has a healthy mix of start-ups across sectors with the maximum number of over 2650 start-ups in the consumer product and services space, followed by enterprise products (1,767 start-ups), e-commerce (1,690), health (815) and edtech (763).

(NCR includes Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon)

The start-ups in Delhi-NCR have a very varied mix, TiE Delhi-NCR president Rajan Anandan said.

“What’s encouraging about the ecosystem in Delhi-NCR is that we actually have a very broad varied mix...unlike other regions, the 10 unicorns that we have in Delhi-NCR, they’re not from one particular sector, they are from fin-tech, e-commerce, logistics, food, energy and so on,” Mr. Anandan said.

Within Delhi-NCR, Delhi accounted for 4,491 start-ups, Gurugram 1,544 and Noida 1,004, according to the report by TiE Delhi-NCR and consulting firm Zinnov released on Tuesday.

However, not everything is good with the start-up ecosystem in the country. The report pointed out that the pace of new start-ups being founded has slowed over the past two years across India. The trend is also reflected in the new start-ups coming up in Delhi NCR region.

From a record 6,679 start-ups founded across India in 2015, the pace slowed to 5875 start-ups in 2016; 3,478 in 2017 and 2036 in 2018. In the first half of 2019, the number stood at 800.

The report said that Delhi-NCR has 10 unicorns, companies with valuation of over USD 1 billion, compared to nine in Bengaluru, two each in Mumbai and Pune and one in Chennai.

“Bengaluru, given its legacy of IT, it works for almost everybody... it provides critical mass for both B2B and B2C start-ups. Delhi NCR on the other hand, has an environment more conducive for B2C. What works in favour of Delhi NCR is firstly the well-established network of angle investors, giving better access to funding. Secondly, demographically it offers access to early adopters to services which are usually the younger customers, which in turn makes it easier to get venture capitalists interested in your project,” Arun Natarajan. Founder at Venture Intelligence said.

Asked about the reasons that have led to Delhi NCR beating other cities, Geetika Dayal, Executive Director of TiE Delhi NCR, pointed out that NCR has a population of 2.5 crore population with very high per capita income and more number of high networth individuals. She said people in this region are more business-oriented and their risk-taking capability is more.