While Ed-tech continues to be a fond sector for student led startups (12.7% of the total inflow at Campus Fund); healthtech (10%) and new-age tech startups (8.5%) – Web 3.0, Crypto, Blockchain, have emerged as the new interest areas in the student startup ecosystem, Campus Fund said in its report titled ‘State of Student Entrepreneurship in India – Edition II’ (download here: https://hubs.ly/Q01Rr3rt0). The report gives an insight on 2,000 student-led startups evaluated by Campus Fund across the country from July 2021 to December 2022.
The Indian education landscape is booming, now more than ever. According to UGC, there are 460 State Universities, 128 Deemed to be Universities, 56 Central Universities, 430 Private Universities and 161 Institutes of National Importance. Other institutions include 52,627 colleges as government degree colleges, private colleges, standalone institutes, and post-graduate research institutions functioning under these universities as reported by the MHRD in 2021. Academic Institutions, along with support from the Government are constantly working to create more fertile grounds to enable students to startup with more students looking to take the plunge.
Karan Bhagat, Founder & CEO of 360 One said, “With a young population at a time when the world is ageing, India’s youth holds the greatest competitive advantage a startup ecosystem could ask for – a hungry and energetic talent pool.” The second edition of the Campus Fund report details some interesting trends and insights:-
1. Similar to the last edition, more than 2/3rd of the student founders originate from Medium Resource Colleges (MRCs) vs. 1/3rd from High Resource Colleges (HRCs).
2. Additionally, about 70% of the student led startups, operated in or from Tier 1 cities. Bengaluru accounted for 17.7% (vs 21% in Edition 1), followed by Delhi NCR at 16.5%, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai were similar to the last edition at 11%, 3.5% and 4.5 % respectively.
3. Further, 54% of founders from Tier 1 cities started their ventures after they had graduated from their respective degrees whereas amongst founders starting up in non-Tier 1 cities, as high as 62% of them started out earlier while they were still pursuing their degrees. This reinforces the fact that more and more student founders are looking at starting up as a viable career opportunity.
4. When coming to areas of interest and business models, 77% of EdTech Startups were B2C in nature, while 70% of the EdTech startups are being built in Tier 1 Cities. But when it comes to Food & Agriculture related startups 51% are B2B in nature and overall 45% of them are being built in Tier 2 & Tier 3 Cities.
5. The report also mentioned that with Web3, we could witness a generational shift in mindset altogether – from centralised to decentralised systems. This shift is especially relevant for Indian student founders, who see an opportunity to own their content in a digital age where platforms traditionally have ownership over user data in Web2.0.
According to the report, the next wave of startups from the student ecosystem will be potentially in areas aiding hybrid workforce, creator economy, social – but not just media, new-age money and Sustainability at large. Varun Thapar of the Karam Chand Thapar (KCT) group said, “Richa and her team has done an amazing job of identifying nascent talent in college dorm rooms and providing meaningful support during their early journey. Given their unique positioning, Campus Fund has successfully been able to discover those bold and fearless individuals who not only conceive of disruptive and transformative ideas but also convert them into business realities.”
The report concludes as follows – In the `70s and `80s, a group of computer science “nerds” decided to quit college, quit their cubicle jobs, and started writing lines of code from their garages. They were laughed at, called names, and their feverish dreams were readily dismissed by people. By the turn of the millennium, these same people became tech moguls, building products that their contradictors could never have imagined possible. The world accepted this change with open arms. Around the same time in a land far away, across oceans, a daring politician and his quietly brilliant Finance Minister had already ushered in the era of liberalisation that would change their country forever.
“It is incredibly exciting to think that our country, and the world is on the cusp of another such tectonic shift, and we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to become catalysts in this process,” said Richa, Founder of Campus Fund.
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