Startups in India

India is home to the third-largest start-up community in the world and there is a rapid growth of unicorn startups in india. We have been partnering with startups in India for over 15 years, throughout their lifecycle – while starting-up, scaling and expanding.

#pwcforstartups - PwC Startup services India

PwC recognises that challenges faced by start-ups change as the business scales. With a rapid growth of startups in India, PwC India’s startups consultancy provides necessary insights and advice needed by start-up founders and management build a resilient company

Start-up Perspectives: India start-up deals tracker

Indian startups had a blockbuster CY21 with approximately USD 35 billion raised, a 3x increase compared to CY20 and largely driven by FinTech, EdTech and SaaS.

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We can see that the base of the companies in the growth stage and late-stage deals have improved significantly in CY21, depicting a stronger base of companies having the potential to reach unicorn status. With market sentiments favourably inclined towards startups, and the large base of scaled startup companies at the end of CY21, we expect the startups unicorn tally to go well beyond 100 by the end of 2022.

Amit Nawka, Partner – Deals & Startups Leader, PwC India

Despite uncertainties in the global economic environment, startups in India have continued to attract capital, particularly in the growth capital stage. As more start-ups mature, conversations around corporate governance are now becoming mainstream. It will become increasingly important for startups in India to design a corporate governance road-map synced with organisational growth aspirations.

Amit Nawka, Partner - Deals & India Startups Leader, PwC India

Startup perspectives

PwC supports the Indian startup ecosystem across their entire value chain – from starting up a new business, disrupting the existing status quo and to sustaining market leadership thereafter. To help analyse the latest trends in the startup space in India, PwC speaks to industry experts about startup valuation in India, growth strategy, global expansion plans and the outlook for startups operating in various segments.

Ep 8: Chaitali Mukherjee, Partner & Leader - HR Transformation, PwC India discusses what startup founders can keep in mind while creating an HR strategy

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Ep 7: Mohit Jhawar, Director - Corporate Development at Flipkart discusses how startups in India can tide over global startups funding slowdown and emerge stronger.

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Ep 6: Mohanjit Jolly, Partner at Iron Pillar talks about how consolidation is likely to play out during the global startups funding slowdown and what actions startup founders can take to ride out this phase.

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Ep 5: Kanwaljit Singh from Fireside Ventures discusses how VC funds are integrating ESG in their investment philosophy.

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Ep 4: Pankaj from W Health Ventures discusses the future of healthcare startups in India

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Ep 3: Sandeep Laxman from AWS on how alliances are changing the start-up ecosystem

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Ep 2: Ganesh Rengaswamy from Quona Capital on the latest trends in the India  fintech startups ecosystem.

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Ep 1: Sumit Jain from Sistema on what is making the Indian B2B e-commerce space tick


Hear from PwC experts at CII ICONN 2022

PwC is the knowledge partner for ICONN 2022

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Session on Last Mile Logistics: Opportunity for Startups in India

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2:28:21

Electric vehicles - The Future of mobility

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Investing in the clean energy domain

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India - Singapore Startup Scale-up Strategies

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Vendor due diligence services

Vendor due diligence services

For start-ups looking to raise startups funding or divest their business, one of our startup services includes vendor due diligence which helps in avoiding ‘late surprises’ and the risk of value destruction during buy-side due diligence. Not much time would be spent on buyer or investor due diligence which, in turn, minimises disruption to the ongoing business operations. 

Global/ overseas expansion

Global/ overseas expansion

We partner with start-ups in their global expansion journey (whether organic/ inorganic) and advise on investment structures, jurisdictional analysis, business model reviews, startups funding mechanisms, transfer pricing policies, Indian regulatory compliances and other requirements by leveraging the experience of our global network.

Raise private equity funds

Raise private equity funds

We partner with high growth Start-ups across a wide range of sectors and regions for fund-raising and beyond. We help start-ups achieve a successful fund-raise on good terms, giving them more time to focus on growing their business.

Being and staying compliant

Becoming and staying compliant

A business has to undertake multiple compliances across jurisdictions. As businesses grow, they struggle to keep up with compliances in a timely manner. Further, given the normal rate of attrition in organisations, it becomes difficult for them to track documents. We assist  startups in India in automating the process of undertaking the requisite compliances through our technology solutions. The solutions are tailored based on industry and global presence and enable real-time monitoring.

Employee compensation strategies

Employee compensation strategies

Hiring the best talent is key to a start-up’s success. We help start-ups evaluate and select the alternatives that work best for them – employee stock purchase scheme (ESPS), employee stock option plans (ESOPs) and stock appreciation rights (SARs).

Cybersecurity icon

Cybersecurity

When it comes to cybersecurity, no business is too small to be targeted by hackers. With data having become the new oil, there has been a tremendous shift in the focus and motive of cyberattacks. One of our startup advisory services include helping start-ups develop an architecture to secure themselves against the risk of cyberattacks.

IPO strategy

IPO strategy and startup IPO regulations.

An initial public offering (IPO) is a cornerstone event for an organisation, and preparation for “being public” is just as important as preparation for “going public.” Gaining maximum value from an IPO requires a clear understanding of startup IPO regulations, confidence, decisiveness and the right foundation for success.

We assist start-ups in evaluating the various alternatives for going public –Indian/ overseas listing/ special purpose acquisition vehicles, etc. – to help maximise returns for shareholders.

Data and analytics

Data and analytics

Our startup services team brings end-to-end consulting capabilities for data and analytics across industries. We can help start-ups optimise data assets and make the right decisions faster by providing them actionable insights and business outcomes using AI/ ML-based analytics solutions. In addition, we help start-ups find new sources of revenue and capitalise on the untapped business intelligence they already own.

Building a responsible business: Value-led ESG

Building a responsible business: Value-led ESG

For start-ups, transparency and gaining investor confidence in value creation are imperative. We help such companies navigate this journey. Our approach to ESG is holistic and well-integrated with how start-ups do business. We help start-ups understand where to begin by developing their ESG strategy and building an achievable roadmap. We also empower start-ups to present non-financial value creation in a way that India startup investors, customers and their supply chain partners appreciate.

Ethics and governance

Ethics and governance

A strong governance framework helps a business supervise the growth of startups in India, ensure transparency, prevent revenue leakages, and instil organisational culture, which in turn enhances its overall brand value. We assist start-ups in setting up an effective and efficient governance framework, fraud risk management, monitoring and incident management programme that corresponds to their requirements.

Growth through eXperience (GtX)

Growth of startups in India through eXperience (GtX)

We support in benchmarking start-up’s current customer experience against industry through a customer experience (CX) audit. Further, support in improving user experience (UX)/user interface (UI), brand refresh and renew GTM (Go to Markets).

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Market and business model assessment

The startup world is defined by bold bets taken by visionary entrepreneurs on disruptive themes. However, selecting the right investment targets with sound future-ready business models is as much a craft as it is a science, especially when data is hard to come by.

PwC combines deep primary research capabilities, with robust understanding of end-use sectors and vast experience in startup business models - to help add weight and logic to complex investment decisions. What's more - we help you get these customised insights at a rapid pace, so that your investment decisions align to the pace of your deal process.

Market and business model assessment - PwC India

Conduct due diligence

Any organisation considering a potential deal must evaluate all pertinent parameters of the investment. An unbiased due diligence is necessary as it analyses and validates all financial, commercial, operational and strategic aspects of the deal.

PwC can assist you in identifying key business drivers and KPIs, value adjustments and other significant matters to ensure that you make an informed decision on the transaction.

Conduct due diligence

Fixing the deal value

During any investment decision - questions often arise: What is the fair value? What maximum price should be paid? At the same time, various stakeholders and regulators are demanding greater transparency through fair value reporting and emphasising on the importance of valuations.

PwC brings together professionals with extensive valuation, technical accounting, corporate finance, tax, strategy, and deep industry experience to help you measure, analyse and report on a broad range of valuation issues.

Fixing the deal value

Assess technology robustness

As organisations pivot toward becoming digital, more data is generated exponentially and shared among organisations, business partners and customers.

PwC can help you in IT due diligence procedures to assess the robustness of the target’s IT platform and its performance efficiency.

Assess technology robustness

Regulatory assessment

The world of regulation is continually evolving. All regulated and designated businesses face regulatory challenges, regardless of size or sector. Taking a proactive approach to regulatory compliance is the best way businesses can prepare and respond to these changes to mitigate risk and protect themselves.

PwC can help you understand target’s compliance with regulatory challenges, while strengthening trust.

Regulatory assessment

Videos

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Sumit Jain from Sistema on what is making the Indian B2B e-commerce space tick

Sumit on the value proposition, growth of B2B e-commerce startups and why multiple unicorns have emerged from the space.

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Ganesh Rengaswamy from Quona on what’s next for India’s fintech startups

Watch Ganesh discuss platformisation, regulatory compliance and global trends impacting the fintech space in India.

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Sandeep Laxman from AWS on how alliances are changing the startup ecosystem

Know how big organisations are partnering with new-age tech startups and what is driving these strategic alliances.

PwC's startup insights

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PwC's quarterly startup insights

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Startup, scaleup playlist

PwC's curated podcast playlist, built to help you tackle your most pressing issues as a startup in today's world

Startup, scaleup playlist

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Amit Nawka

Amit Nawka

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Amit Nawka

Amit Nawka

Partner - Deals and Leader - Startups, PwC India

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