Amid many changes in the Indian startup ecosystem, the top three startup hubs of the country in terms of funding – Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, and Mumbai – have remained unchanged for years. The story was the same in 2024 as well.

However, the top three positions saw some rejig in 2024. The country’s financial capital, Mumbai, overtook Bengaluru to take the top spot in terms of startup funding. As a result, Delhi NCR dropped to the third position.

According to Inc42’s Indian Startup Funding Report 2024 the funding raised by Delhi NCR-based startups declined 15% to $2.3 Bn in 2024 from $2.7 Bn in 2023.

However, the deal count increased slightly to 252 during the year from 241 in 2023. Consequently, Delhi NCR retained its second position in the list of top startup hubs of the country in terms of deal count.

What Led To The Decline In Funding?

Delhi NCR saw a fall in funding despite the total funding raised by Indian startups growing over 20% year-on-year (YoY) to $12 Bn in 2024. This begs the question, what led to the decline in Delhi NCR funding?

According to Rohit Krishna, a partner at WEH Ventures, there are more D2C brands in Delhi NCR than in other hubs, and these brands require less capital than other tech startups.

Another reason for the drop was that late-stage funding in Delhi NCR declined 40% to $967 Mn, despite a 79% increase in deal count to 34 deals.

“Many late-stage........

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