B2B businesses received $8.5 bn in capital over 8 years

Since 2015, Indian B2B (business-to-business) companies  have secured over US$ 8.5 billion in equity funding from investors through 500 funding rounds.

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Indian B2B (business-to-business) firms have secured over US$8.5 billion in equity funding from investors over 500 funding rounds since 2015.

The market currently has six privately held unicorns in this space, valued at US$ 1 billion or more. They include Ofbusiness, Moglix, Zetwerk, and Elasticrun, according to the ‘Digitizing Make In India’ study on the state of the B2B industry.

Since 2015, the total amount invested in B2B startups has increased by 46% annually, reaching US$ 3.5 billion in 2021. In spite of a general decrease in investments, total equity investment in B2B companies was US$ 2.1 billion in 2022.

“There is a unique situation in play in India, where we are pushing manufacturing, agriculture and are fast becoming a digital economy. Our digital infrastructure is best in the world,” said Avnish Bajaj, founder and managing director, Matrix Partners India.

The B2B-enablement market is predicted to expand further as tailwinds such as digitisation, further economic formalisation, realignment of global supply chains due to geopolitical tensions, and government support (through foreign direct investments and product-linked incentive schemes) continue to present opportunities for new-age businesses to innovate and disrupt industries.

More than 150 stakeholders from Indian B2B and agritech companies were polled for the report. In the next five years, the manufacturing industry in India is anticipated to increase at a rate of over 10% yearly, according to 53% of poll respondents. Furthermore, around 68% of survey participants predicted that Indian merchandise exports would increase by more than 10% each year over the next five years.