Startups with good business models will continue to attract money: Amitabh Kant

G20 Sherpa India and former NITI Aayog chief executive officer Amitabh Kant on Saturday said that startups with good business models will continue to attract funding.”We will soon see Indian companies, family businesses, Indian insurance and pension funds set aside money to invest in startups,” Kant said at the TiEcon Delhi 2023 startup conference.

“I don’t think money will ever be in short for those startups,” he added.

His comments come at a time when startups are struggling to raise funds amid increased market volatility and macroeconomic concerns. Many Indian startups have also resorted to layoffs in a bid to cut costs.Kant also said that the market for Indian startups is “not just the 1.4 billion people of India, but the next 4-5 billion people of the world entering the middle class”.

“Government should only do policymaking; wealth creation is the private sector’s job. Startups should focus on disruption,” he added.

ET reported on Friday that the Indian startup ecosystem saw a jump in funding for the period between March 11 and March 17, 2023, compared to last year at the same time, largely due to late-stage investments in omnichannel eyewear company Lenskart and Walmart-owned fintech PhonePe.

A total of $782 million was poured into Indian startups in this week across 25 rounds, a 34% jump compared to the same period last year when startups raised $582 across 66 rounds, according to data provided by market intelligence firm Tracxn.

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