Indian Web3 Startups Experience Growth in 2024
Indian Web3 startups saw significant growth in investment activity in 2024, raising $564 million, a substantial increase from the previous year. India now boasts the fastest-growing developer community and is projected to surpass the U.S. by 2028.
Funding Still Below 2022 Peak
In 2024, Indian Web3 startups raised $564 million, up from $270 million in the previous year, with investments in the infrastructure sector accounting for a disproportionate share of the total. However, as shown by data in Hashed Emergent’s latest report on India’s Web3 landscape, the funds raised by Web3 startups still fall short of the $1.4 billion raised in 2022.
The Hashed Emergent report also found that the number of funding deals recorded in the past year were 43% higher than those closed in 2023. Accelerators, Layer 1 and 2 ecosystems, and global Web3 funds contributed to the surge in deals closed.
Commenting on the infrastructure sector’s more than 200% growth in capital raised to fund mainly artificial intelligence (AI), middleware, and data tooling projects, the report states:
“This sector saw Indian founders who have settled abroad raise funding for global category-defining companies such as EigenLayer, Sentient, and Avail. Additionally, other emerging areas such as DePIN and BaaS also raised funding as investors increasingly view a decentralized future for several industries, particularly in the age of AI, where costs of coordination are likely to compress.”
Meanwhile, the finance sector of India’s Web3 industry also saw a more than 50% surge in investment activity to $86 million, the first increase since 2021. Data shows that since peaking at $640 million, capital allocated to the finance sector had been declining and appeared to have bottomed in 2023, when only $55 million was raised. The report attributes the apparent recovery to a push toward liquid restaking, real-world asset tokenization, and multi-chain financial tools.
Regarding developer activity, India, as indicated by data, had the fastest-growing developer community after it saw a 28% year-over-year increase in the number of open-source developers to 4.5 million. This figure dwarfs the combined number of such developers in the next four top-ranked countries. According to the report, India is on course to leapfrog the United States and have the largest developer community by 2028.
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