‘India fast emerging as a sizeable Web3 ecosystem’

India has a rapidly-growing Web3 ecosystem with more than 450 active start-ups in the space that raised $1.3 billion in funding till April, Nasscom said on Wednesday.

While global response to Web3 was still shaping up, India’s growing economy, demographic dividend, and exponential adoption of emerging technologies across sectors, positioned the country to become one of the highest growth markets for Web3 globally, as per a study released by Nasscom in association with Hashed Emergent.

In the last two years, Indian Web3 start-ups have grown to a 450-plus community with four unicorns. Between 2021-2022 alone, India registered more than 170 new Web3 start-ups, yielding over 50% CAGR growth since 2015, according to the study.

In terms of distribution, over 80% of these Web3 start-ups are in tier I cities. However, the tier II/III ecosystem is growing rapidly with locations such as Jaipur, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, and Coimbatore evolving as emerging hubs for Web3 start-ups, found the study.

“With increasing confidence and interest from global investors, investments in Indian Web3 and Web 2.5 start-ups have also soared. The sector has witnessed robust funding across stages,’‘ said Nasscom in a statement.

The study titled “The India Web3 Start-up Landscape, An Emerging Technology Leadership Frontier,” was aimed at promoting a broader understanding of the diverse possibilities with Web3 and the landscape of Web3 start-ups in the country, Nasscom said.

Web3, a new iteration of the World Wide Web, has now become a buzzword incorporating concepts such as blockchain technologies, metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).