India: A vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem

With one of the youngest populations in the world, India is currently witnessing an entrepreneurial revolution. Global private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) companies are expecting many more global start-ups emerging from the country in coming years. According to a recently released report, Bengaluru has the youngest start-up ecosystem in the world, with the average founder's age at 28.5 years. A survey of the top 20 global start-up ecosystems by The Startup Ecosystem report by San Francisco-based Compass revealed that Bengaluru witnessed the highest growth in seed fund rounds over the last three years, with an annual average growth of 53 per cent followed by Sydney (33 per cent) and Austin (30 per cent). Kuala Lumpur came closest to Bengaluru, at 30.5 years, followed by Sao Paulo (31.7 years) and Berlin (31.8 years).

Overall, Bengaluru moved up four positions to rank 15 in 2015, advancing from rank 19 in the 2012 ranking, registering one of the highest improvements among the 20 global start-up ecosystems. The recent recognition for Bengaluru is only a testimonial to the multi-faceted ecosystem of the Indian city that attracts talent and expertise from around the globe. Bengaluru is often referred to as the start-up capital of India and is one of the hubs of first generation start-ups in the country.

With around 3,100 start-ups present in India, it is currently the third largest start-up ecosystem globally and is expected to become the second biggest after the US in the next two years, according to NASSCOM. In fact, India is expected to have around 11,500 start-ups employing over 2,50,000 people by 2020. The vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in India backed by the global PE/VC firms is expected to have a positive impact on the budding first generation entrepreneurs in Bengaluru and other major Indian cities.