The Tracxn Geo Annual Report: Kerala Tech 2023, based on our extensive database, provides a round-up of funding and other major developments in the Kerala Tech space in 2023.
Kerala Tech startup ecosystem stands at 11th place among the other startup landscapes in India with an overall funding of $354 million to date. The Government of Kerala has established the KSUM (The Kerala Startup Mission) agency for the development of its startup ecosystem. The Kerala startup ecosystem has been placed among the top five places in the 4th Edition of States Startup Ranking as the Best performer under the Category A list.
The government has also provided grants over INR 25 crore for innovation and to strengthen its startup ecosystem. In the recently hosted premier event of KSUM Huddle 2023, MoUs have been exchanged between KSUM, Belgium, and Australia and the State Bank of India (SBI). KSUM is planning to establish “Startup Infinity” centers to create opportunities for Kerala-based enterprises.
Kerala-based startups raised $33.2 million in 2023, an uptick of 15% increase from $28.9 million raised in 2022. Seed-stage funding accounted for 78% of the total funding raised during the year. This space attracted seed-stage investments worth $26.2 million in 2023, a surge of 40% when compared with the $18.7 million raised during the previous year.
Early-stage funding fell 32% to $7 million in 2023 from $10.3 million in 2022. The Kerala startup ecosystem has not recorded any late-stage funding in the last five years.
The Food & Agriculture Tech sector saw a 266% spike in funding to $7.4 million in 2023 from $2.0 million in 2022. The Retail sector secured total funding of $3.9 million in 2023, while the sector witnessed only $1.12 million in 2022. The EdTech sector saw a funding of $3.47 million in 2023 which is 52% less than the same period in 2022 which had $7.2M in funding.
The Kerala tech startup ecosystem witnessed six acquisitions in 2023, a slight improvement from two during the previous year. Waybeo, Acemoney, Xylem Learning were among the companies that were acquired in 2023.
Among the cities, Kochi took the lead in funding, accounting for 87% of the total funds raised in the state. Startups based in Kochi raised $29 million, followed by those based in Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram raised $4 million and $709K respectively.
Maker Village, Unicorn India Ventures and Konglo Ventures are the overall most active investors till date in the Kerala Tech startup space. Avaana Capital Advisors, 9Unicorns and Huddle were the most active investors in seed-stage rounds. JSW Ventures was the most active investor in the early-stage rounds.
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