Startup funding in Maha down 22% in 2016: Study

Startup funding in Maharashtra was down 22 per cent in 2016, according to a recent study by News Corp VCCEdge, the financial research platform of News Corp VCCircle.
In 2016, a total of 219 funding deals worth USD 285 million was raised by startups based in the state. This was against 282 funding deals amounting to USD 496 million in 2015, the statement from News Corp VCCEdge said.
This was a drop of 22.3 per cent in the number of deals and 42.4 per cent in terms of deal value.
The 2016 funding numbers were however higher by 53 per cent in terms of number of deals than 2014, and 9 per cent higher in terms of deal value for the same period, which saw Maharashtra based startups raise USD 262 million from 143 deals, it said.

In the last five years, a total of USD 1312 million worth of funding was received by Maharashtra based startups across 866 deals, including Angel, Seed, Series A, Series B rounds, it added.
The contribution of Angel/Seed funding of startups in Maharashtra to total number of deals has touched a five year high of 80 per cent in 2016.

There were 175 angel/seed funding deals amounting to USD 76.23 million in 2016; a decrease of 9 per cent in number of deals, but importantly an increase of 11.5 per cent in deal value when compared to 2015.
"The rise in angel/seed funding in the state is encouraging from the viewpoint of promising business ideas, which have the potential of fulfilling needs of the end customer, continue to get requisite funding," Nita Kapoor, Head - India New Ventures, News Corp and CEO, News Corp VCCircle said.

"However, the fall in 'growth stage' funding is indicative of these startup ideas failing to achieve scale," she added.
Series A funding declined 58 per cent in number of deals registered and 53 per cent in deal value on a YoY basis in 2016 with only 28 deals amounting to USD 137 million.
It is Series B funding which took a major hit in 2016 with a 46 per cent decline in value terms with USD 72.85 million raised from 16 deals as against USD 135 million from 24 deals in 2015.
Mumbai and Pune continued to be epicenters of startup funding in Maharashtra in 2016 cornering 96 per cent of number of deals and 99 per cent of deal value.

Fintech and Foodtech startups in the state continued to rake in maximum investor interest in 2016, followed by Education technology and Entertainment tech startups.