CM Bommai hails PM Modi as Bengaluru becomes one of world’s top VC funding hubs

The chief minister took to Twitter to write that it is a matter of pride that with $18.6 billion in investments Bengaluru made it to the top five leading VC funding hubs across the world in 2021.

“It is a matter of pride that with $18.6 billion in investments, our Bengaluru made it to the top 5 leading VC funding hubs across the world in 2021. It is the investment and innovation conducive environment created by our PM @narendramodi ji led govt that has made this possible,” he tweeted.

A new research released in London on Thursday, conducted jointly by London & Partners and Dealroom.Co found that Bengaluru continued to lead India’s tech charge, attracting USD 18.6 billion to rank fifth in the world’s top global cities for tech VC investment.

Overall, Indian tech VC investment grew nearly three times from USD 14.9 billion in 2020 to USD 44.6 billion in 2021 – a year of a worldwide record high for such investments at USD 675 billion.

The UK ranked fourth with USD 39.8 billion, with capital London also in fourth place just ahead of Bengaluru as the world’s top tech hubs with USD 25.5 billion.

Hemin Bharucha, Country Director – India for London and Partners, the Mayor of London’s international trade and investment agency said, “the record venture capital investment figures for the UK and India in 2021 demonstrate that tech and innovation are thriving across both regions. With an increasing number of unicorns and exciting tech startups, cities such as London and Bengaluru are now recognised by VCs as some of the best places to find game changing companies to invest in.”

“This is great news for tech businesses across both ecosystems and creates lots of opportunities for collaboration between London and Indian tech hubs – especially in areas of mutual strength such as fintech and edtech. As well as access to high levels of growth capital, London has the talent, customers and a supportive ecosystem tech companies need to scale and we look forward to helping more Indian businesses expand into London in 2022,” he said.

The VC tech investments in 2021 were led by the US at USD 328.8 billion followed by China at USD 61.8 billion. The top global hubs attracting these investments were the San Francisco Bay Area (USD 100.9bn), New York (USD 47.5bn) Greater Boston Region (USD 29.9bn), London (USD 25.5bn), Bengaluru (USD 18.6bn), followed by Beijing (USD 13.6bn) and Shanghai (USD 13.4bn).

In terms of unicorns – or startups valued at over USD 1bn – produced in 2021, 133 new unicorns came from the Bay Area, 69 from New York, 21 from the Greater Boston Area. Bengaluru had a record year, producing 16 new unicorn companies.