Bengaluru emerges as India’s strongest startup hub, leads in women-led funding

Fresh data from the Bengaluru Innovation Report 2025 shows the city dominating India’s startup landscape with unmatched funding, women-led entrepreneurship, and a world-class tech workforce.

Bengaluru has further strengthened its reputation as India’s most powerful startup hub, with new findings from the Bengaluru Innovation Report 2025 highlighting its exceptional performance across investments, women-led entrepreneurship and global competitiveness. Compiled by KDEM, 3One4 Capital and Startup Karnataka, the report shows that from 2010 to 2025, the city nurtured around 668 women-led startups, together securing nearly 13.4 billion dollars in funding. This is the highest in the country, placing Bengaluru ahead of Delhi-NCR’s 10 billion dollars across 712 such startups and Mumbai’s 3.6 billion dollars raised by 465 firms.

Overall investment numbers reinforce this lead. Since 2010, Bengaluru has drawn 79 billion dollars in total startup funding, far above Delhi-NCR at 46.5 billion dollars and Mumbai at 24 billion dollars, according to reports. The city also stands out globally, emerging as the fifth-largest unicorn hub, housing 53 unicorns valued collectively at 192 billion dollars, representing 42% of India’s unicorn valuation.

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The growth pipeline remains equally strong. Bengaluru has 39 soonicorns, exceeding Delhi-NCR’s 30 and Mumbai’s 21, with these emerging firms already raising 16.3 billion dollars. This signals sustained momentum for the next phase of high-value companies.

Fueling this rise is Bengaluru’s unmatched talent ecosystem. The city hosts around 2.5 million software professionals, forming the largest tech workforce in the world. Despite this scale, the median annual software salary remains around 12,000 dollars, keeping operating costs significantly lower than other global tech hubs. With a house price-to-income ratio of 9.5, Bengaluru also ranks among the world’s most affordable major startup cities, strengthening its long-term attractiveness for founders, investors and innovators.