New Delhi, NFAPost: Primus Partners, in collaboration with 9Unicorns, Startup Odisha and iStart Rajasthan, co-authored a thought leadership report titled ‘Startup Accelerators: Engines of Economic Growth states the growing importance of accelerator in the innovation growth journey.
The report states that about three fourth of start-ups were being funded per accelerator per year in 2005 and this jumped to ~20-25 startups funded per accelerator per year in 2020.
Primus Partners, in collaboration with 9Unicorns, Startup Odisha, and iStart Rajasthan, co-authored a thought leadership report titled ‘Start-up Accelerators: Engines of Economic Growth’.
As part of the project, multiple one-on-one interviews and over 250 startups surveyed. Here the report looked into their current needs from the ecosystem and their outlook on startup accelerators in India.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• India reported a total of 91 unicorns (till February 2022), with a cumulative valuation of $315bn, with ~50% of the unicorns emerging in the last 2 years
• About 3-4 start-ups were being funded per accelerator per year in 2005; this jumped to ~20-25 start-ups funded per accelerator per year in 2020
• 80% of the seed and early-stage start-ups in the survey picked ‘funding’ as their most important need
• 55% of our survey respondents have applied to either Y Combinator or TechStars, indicating that early-stage startups are keen to access the support provided by these global accelerators
• 63.6% of the respondents selected mentorship pool as an accelerator’s most beneficial offering
• All survey respondents deemed availability of networking opportunities as another key benefit provided by accelerators
It explores ways in which government partnerships and support can enhance the impact of accelerators. Accelerators form a critical part of the Indian startup ecosystem, providing significant support to early-stage start-ups and creating an indirect but large economic impact on the country.
As part of the report launch, a panel discussion was organised comprising of industry and policy leaders such as 9Unicorns Cofounder and Managing Director Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma; former DPIIT Secretary Ramesh Abhishek; Serial Entrepreneur Shweta Shalini; Lahari MD and CEO Sanjeev Gupta; and Startup Odisha representative Rashmi Ranjan Sahu.
9Unicorns Cofounder and Managing Director Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma said 2012 saw the beginning of the early wave of accelerators in India, and Venture Nursery (VN) was among the very first, attaining a 250x exit with OYO – validating the accelerator model for India.
“The focus of these accelerators is providing support to start-ups, from funding to talent building – we now see a lot of success stories coming out of accelerators in the country,” said 9Unicorns Cofounder and Managing Director Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma.
She said a strong VC ecosystem requires a large pool of ready ideas, making the role of accelerators in nurturing start-ups even more important.
“Accelerators have become immensely popular in the last decade and coming 5-7 years will see them grow to the next level,” said 9Unicorns Cofounder and Managing Director Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma.
Serial Entrepreneur Shweta Shalini said India is the 3rd largest start-up ecosystem in the world, with nearly 42 unicorns emerging in 2021.
“The rate of growth of the economy is ~8%, barring Covid-19, and it has mostly been driven by domestic markets. Going forward too, the indigenous tech will play a large role in this growth. What the startup ecosystem needs right now is policy support – the country needs philanthropic funds and concepts like endowment funds to increase opportunities of funding that start-ups can access,” said Serial Entrepreneur Shweta Shalini.
Former Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said when the implementation of Startup India started in 2016, there was a felt need for a large requirement of incubation centers in India.
“Hence, many interventions were made to address the same. The need for accelerators has grown over the last few years, and it is heartening to see many state policies building an element to support accelerators as well,” said Former DPIIT Secretary Ramesh Abhishek.
He also said a proposal to understand how policy support can increase accelerator growth should be considered and submitted by the ecosystem – the government has always been open to hearing and processing policy initiatives that will help strengthen the start-up ecosystem in the country.
Primus Partners Managing Director Shravan Shetty said the current model of acceleration is the way forward for the startup ecosystem in India.
“Even unicorns have started accelerators of their own, realizing the importance of and need for supporting and nurturing innovative start-ups. Accelerators can also help with the on-ground implementation of start-up programs for the government, and it is important to enable such accelerators with access to infrastructure and capital – multiple such examples are prevalent in countries like Singapore and USA and which India can aim to emulate,” said Primus Partners Managing Director Shravan Shetty.
Furthering this, Lahari ESDM Cluster MD and CEO Sanjeev Gupta said while the ecosystem is concentrated in large metro cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, it is imperative that acceleration centers extend their focus to Tier II and Tier III cities.
“The trillion-dollar digital economy vision needs to focus on emerging tech clusters. A network of accelerators will help to bring capability and compatibility together at the cluster level, creating the necessary multiplier effect as well,” said Lahari ESDM Cluster MD and CEO Sanjeev Gupta.
Startup Odisha Senior Mission Associate (Incubation &Partnership) Rashmi Ranjan Sahu said increasing the scope of accelerators within state policies and stated that Odisha has been supportive of incorporating incubators and accelerators into their startup policy.
“However, while many incubators exist in the state and have helped nurture ideas, the number of accelerators is still less. Previous partnerships with accelerators have resulted in success stories, and we encourage corporate/ industry accelerators to come & set up in Odisha by partnering with the state initiative and local incubators. That will help in creating successful stories from Odisha,” said Startup Odisha Senior Mission Associate(Incubation &Partnership) Rashmi Ranjan Sahu.
About Primus Partners
Primus Partners is a solutions company with management consulting at its heart. The solutions are aligned to the priorities of the nation serving both private and public sector clients through 5 service offerings. The service offerings are rooted in supporting clients to define, understand and appreciate the public policy regime (Public Policy Realisation) that supports India as a unique and leading investment destination (Investment Potential Realization).
The investments by the public and private sector help create impact socially (Impact Realization) measured through the achievement of SDG targets India has set for itself. Achieving this impact require robust innovation in technology solutions (Technology Potential Realization). The service offerings are also rooted in our deep technical expertise in key sectors (Sector Potential Realization) that will drive India’s economic and social growth especially Aerospace & Defence, Healthcare, Education, Financial Services, and Broader Infrastructure with a focus on Real Estate/Construction.
About 9Unicorns
9Unicorns is India’s leading stage and sector agnostic accelerator VC with a $100mn fund. It aims to become the world’s largest accelerator fund with a sharp focus on start-ups in the idea and seed stage, The fund is also looking at Series B & C startups, keeping in mind the new exit opportunities via IPOs that India’s startups are witnessing lately, especially for tech startups.
9Unicorns’ strength and focus are on a hands-on support ecosystem for startups beyond the capital. 9Unicorns, besides investment, opens doors to the startups for access to a vast network of successful founders, category leaders, CXOs of large corporations, seasoned angel investors & partners of global VC funds.
About Startup Odisha
Startup Odisha is an initiative of the MSME Department of Govt. of Odisha to promote innovation and budding entrepreneurs in the state. Spread over 16 districts, the state visualizes to become one of the top 3 ‘Startup Hubs’ in India. Startup Odisha has supported and mentored nearly 1,200+ start-ups and provided seed funding to 140+ startups
About iStart Rajasthan
iStart Rajasthan has been home to thousands of young entrepreneurs in the state. A brainchild of the Department of IT&C in Rajasthan and boasts of having a one-of-its-kind, single-window resource for startups, investors, incubators, accelerators, and mentors. It has nearly 1,400+ approved startup and incubated 100+ startups.
