Bangalore is the city that welcomes everyone and everything with wide-open arms. It is considered as the entrepreneurial hub of the country and has more than 1700 startups under its wings.
What is so special about this city that has the ability to nurture the thriving ecosystem? Why is it a city of a haven for startups? Do you want to know?
Would you like to know the list of startup companies in Bangalore? Read along to find out about the top startups in Bangalore.
Why is Bangalore Called the Silicon Valley of India? What Makes it Unique?
Bangalore emerged as the IT hub in the early 1980s and swiftly became the leader in the IT industry in India. It is called the Silicon Valley of India because of its prominent role in the nation’s information technology.
Bangalore accounts for about 30% – 40% of the IT export in the country and India’s largest IT firms Infosys and Wipro have headquartered here along with other 250 software companies.
Bangalore is the first venue that comes to mind when a tech-fair or a comic-con fest needs to be held. That is the reason why it is the Safe haven for all startups. Bangalore hosts plenty of investors and venture capitalists who want to pluck the next big thing.
Media platforms like ET Tech, NextBigWhat fully throng the city, focusing on entrepreneurs and startups in Bangalore.
Yeah! The city is filled with brainstorming, and intelligent minds, perhaps to create a next big something.
Bangalore Beckons You.
What is The Indian Startup Ecosystem? And How it Works?
Indian startup ecosystem brings together talent, innovation, and intelligence together in one spot. Over the last two decades, it has been evolving dynamically. Some startups were started in the early 2000s when the system was still immature.
India is often described as “the poster child of emerging markets” for its vast potentiality for startups though it must look into the matter of local languages and local people.
The ecosystem is built in such a way that it not only offers a solution to Indian problems but also offer many better-customized solutions for markets abroad. Hiring and managing a team seems to be the most challenging task for an Indian Startup to begin.
The startup ecosystem of India includes various stakeholders like incubators and accelerators, investors, service providers, research institutions, and big companies. Within 2 or 3 years, the startup ecosystem may further advance from existing difficulties.
Although the number of investments in Indian startups has increased staggeringly in the recent past, it still lags in resources. Improving the implementation of existing startup policies and removing inefficiencies in the bureaucracy can work magic.
What Are The Core Elements of The Startup Ecosystem To Be Followed?
So what is a startup, anyway?
Startups have many definitions and are extremely broad and unclear. Let me give you the most popular and simple definition of startups.
Eric Ries, the creator of Lean startup methodology, defines that-
“ A startup is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”
So what we get from this definition is a startup is a company that is typically in its early budding stages of development.
Now, what are the core elements of the startup ecosystem that has to be followed?
You can typically generate gazillions of ideas anywhere and from anything, but the challenge is to implement and shape them to a successful business correctly.
Trust me; if you start a startup in Bangalore, you must stand out in the crowd with thousands in the competitive market. Here’s the list of five essential mantras that you need to implement to make your startup see the stars.
1. Hiring the right employees who possess talent, experience, and commitment:
Nothing can be better than having a bunch of creative and smart minds in your team. So when hiring employees, find someone who can make a real difference for your company.
Ensure that the candidate can work independently with complete devotion and dedication.
2. Appropriate Investment:
The vital aspect of any company is to manage your funds sheerly. Make sure you have sufficient funds to establish the startup and also ensure that things don’t go awry by investing too much.
3. Innovation is the key determinant of the success of your startup:
Innovation is the red line that differentiates a leader from a follower. We are living in an exceedingly cutthroat world, and innovative ideas will be the milestone that separates us from the rest.
Begin your startup with out of the box thinking and make lasting impressions on your potential customers.
4. Choosing the right mentors:
We need someone we look up to in life to motivate us to do better. Since you’re experimenting and testing new tricks in your business, you need the right mentor to guide you through the jungle.
5. Transitions in big companies and financial climate can be a major catalyst:
The startup is a small company; hence the impact of market disruptions, financial agendas, and big market transitions can have a major effect on your startup ecosystem. Therefore, make sure that comprehend the data analytically.
Also, try to build networks with some big wigs to boost your business to the next level.
How to Register a Company in India? Best strategies To Do it in Very Little Time.
Registering a company has become very simple over the years; one does not need to visit the corporate office for registration. It can be done while sitting at home.
Let me guide you through four major steps to register a startup in India:
Step 1: Acquire Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)
A digital signature certificate is a secure and protected digital key that is issued by the corroborate authorities for validating the identity of the person holding this certificate.
The Information Technology Act, 2000, has provisions for the usage of digital signatures on the documents submitted in the electronic form to ensure the authentication of the filed documents.
Step 2: Acquire Director Identification Number (DIN)
DIN is a unique identification number provided by the central govt to any person intending to be a director of a company.
The DIN is used for any return or application related to the company that has to be submitted, and the DIn must be mentioned underneath the signature.
Step 3: Create an account on MCA portal
Step 4: Incorporate or apply for the company to be registered
That’s it!
What Are The Challenging Things While Starting a Startup? Is it Really Tough to Start a Startup?
Let’s discuss the greatest difficulties faced by the startups-
1. Insufficient information on marketing strategies
Lacking information in marketing systems can be a major mistake that can cost you the closing of companies. Before entering the hazardous ocean of companies, give exhaustive research into what works where, how, and why.
One ought to know what each state is interested in like culture, food, customs, and language, etc. See what is moving in Maharashtra or Kerala.
2. Mentoring Crisis
Mentoring is the secret sauce for startup success. Right mentoring can boost the success of your startup because without the mentors, it’ll be challenging to find the right investors or to help lay a solid foundation of the company.
Mentors can help the right talent on board and transfer their hard-won insights transfer to you.
3. Financing
Funding for your startup relies on individual dependability, business size, accomplices, associations, etc. It’s a challenging task for most new organizations to accumulate appropriate fiance.
4. Hiring the right person
Yes, sometimes, hiring the perfect person to execute the work can be as tricky as looking for a needle in the haystack.
Since it is a startup, most procuring experienced and talented labor who knows top to bottom learning in the concerned field might be exhausting. It is a tough situation to overcome unless you have committed and intelligent pack o friends.
5. Management
The outline of business as it takes shape is undeniably a top priority because a small irregularity in the inflow or outflow can enhance itself into a wild thing.
Ultimately if you have the ability, will power, and conviction, he/she is certain to be successful.
Why do Most of the Startups In Bangalore Fail? Most Important Reasons & Factors Behind it | According to The Researched Case Studies of Various Giant Start-Ups.
According to Quora, most startups fail because of the very way you run the business! It could be personal or managerial. The whole country’s ecosystem can suffer because of one small misstep.
I believe all of you are familiar with the infamous Vijay Mallya running away with bank money that had a huge effect on credit availability for small businesses.
Another problem to consider is it’s tough to convince a person to join a startup. Initially, they don’t have a good brand name and infrastructure. Working hours are hectic, a maximum of 8 hrs per day becomes 12 hours in a startup.
Now I’m going to give a brief history of failed startups, why I want to cover about this is because there are lessons to be learned from each of these failures.
8 out of 10 startups fail, and the Indian policies make it hard for startups in Bangalore to survive from day one. Apart from the Walmart acquisition of Flipkart, no real other profitable exit happened.
Stayzilla
Year – 2006 | Founders: Yogendra Vasupal, Rupal Yogendra, Sachita Singhi |
Headquarters: Bengaluru
Stayzilla attempted a profitable segment in the business of hotel rentals. The company raises USD 33.5 million with marquee investors, Matrix Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners.
It was a big shock for the knitted community of startups in Bangalore. It led to legal disputes due to the failure to pay its vendors on time.
At present, Yogendra is in the custody of police for a criminal proceeding countered by Jigsaw Solutions.
Finomena
Year: 2015 | Founders: Abhishek Garg and Ridhi Mittal | Headquarters: Bangalore
Finomena provided quick loans to people who had less access to traditional loans. It had a unique algorithm backed system that analyzed the creditworthiness of buyers.
The owners of the company were even featured in Forbes magazine in 2016 under the top 30 list.
The company looked perfect; unfortunately, it lost everything within a few years, they had little money to survive because of High Cash burn.
The attempts made to sell the company was useless as no one came forward to buy it because of its higher cost of acquisition.
Looking at the practical failures, I advise that startups should first validate and bootstrap the idea and plans before jumping into the ocean of the competitive world.
Skills You Require To Start or Run a Startup? Basically The Most Important Ones.
A 9 to 5 job is just a job when you’re working for someone. But when you’re executing a startup? It’s not simple; instead, it’s much, much more.
Basically, it’s a job you can’t live without. It’s daring to do something that has never been done before and has the tremendous potential to change the world.
To run a successful startup, one has to think independently and accurately bet against the odds of consensus, which means being painfully wrong a fair amount.
Moving forward, now you have an idea that can change the world. What are the skills you need to master to make the small startup float and become a luxurious cruiser?
1. Master The Art of Sales And Marketing
The first and foremost thing you need to do in a startup is to market your ideas, products, and your brand to customers and investors.
2. Develop an effective Business Model
Before launching a startup develop some business strategies that will help you gain your expected goals.
3. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking helps us process information before deciding upon the actions.
It’s extremely important to have critical thinking as your major skill because it helps us conceptualize, analyze, synthesize, observe, and evaluate any problems or situations.
4. Leadership And Management Skills
Leaders have a vision, curiosity, communication, accountability, and high emotional intelligence level. Learning how to encourage people to get the job done is perhaps the most essential skill to acquire.
5. Basic Web Development Knowledge
As a founder, you need to stand out in the crowd right. So in this tech-driven, cutthroat competitive world. It’s better to get grips with HTML and CSS to run your own website.
How To Hire The Right Employees for Your Startup Which Will Become Your Company’s Assets?
It’s important to have a great team of employees once you’ve set up the business. How do you hire the right employee? Is there an attribute to look for that can ensure success in hiring them?
Let’s get one thing straight hiring unqualified employees because the candidate claims to be a “fast learner” may work for larger companies but definitely not for budget starved startups.
So seek for those employees who have already “been there and done that.” It’s better to pay more to people who know what they’re doing than to those who don’t.
Hire those candidates who thrive in the competitive work environment. During interviews ask the prospective employees about sports interest and other professional interest that involves a win-win under pressure.
Also, look for relevant experience, persistence, and commitment. Test their performance and look for the desired skills in them.
Which Are the Leading And Innovative Startups In Bangalore That Changes The Equilibrium?
From the last few years, India’s Silicon Valley Bangalore has seen a considerable number of startups growing up.
Setting aside giant unicorns like Flipkart, Mu Sigma, Inmobi Bangalore has become the shelter for other innovative companies.
1. Team Indus
Team Indus is the startup that is just heading for the moon. It’s the only Indian team countering the Google Lunar XPRIZE.
It has also bagged a contract from ISRO for a PSLV. Team Indus will be competing for head-on against 29 teams from 17 countries to win the US $20 million amazing prizes and an additional $15 million.
2. Explara
Explara.com is an event management solutions platform. It provides event discovery and event solutions to users and event organizers.
Professionals are choosing Explara for events and membership. You can organize any conference, webinars, fundraising here. It was launched in 2008, and now it hosts events from 21 countries.
3. Ather Energy
Ather energy designs and sells electric two-wheelers that bestows high performance, zero maintenance, long life, and fast charging.
Recently it has introduced its brand new Ather 450 from scratch. It boasts some high profile investors like Hero Motorcorp, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Tiger Global raising as far as $43 million.
4. Pocket Pill- Pharmacy App
As the name itself claims the obvious, it’s a healthcare startup aiming to solve the problem of medication in early-stage chronic patients.
Pocket Pill helps people to have knowledge about medicine, it’s side effects and uses the data to improve the medication non- adherence.
5. Nexhop
Nexhop is a technology supporting offline stores. They targeted the trust factor that’s missing in online shopping.
It supports the retail stores and develops and ecosystem showcasing their inventory in a neutral environment.
So these are the top 5 leading startups that have been highly rated startups in Bangalore. Also, Zerodha, RazorPay, ClearTax, NinzaCart are on the list too.
These Are The Startups in Bangalore That Have Become Unicorn in Just a Few Years | According To The Internet Research, Interviews, And Case Studies.
We’ve seen all the newly running startups, now let us delve into the unicorns who have made a difference worldwide.
Venture Capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term unicorn. Unicorn denotes the extreme rare startups valued at $1 billion or above.
Why do unicorns grow in Bengaluru? Because that’s where the nurturing ecosystem is.
Let’s take a look at the billion-dollar startup babies in India.
1. Flipkart
Flipkart is founded by the brothers Sachin and Binny Bansal in 2007. It climbed the ladder of Indian Unicorns with a valuation of $15 billion.
It just started small like Amazon, but now it employs more than 20,000 people and has 26 million registered users.
It denotes the workings of a thriving and vibrant ecosystem and has branched out throughout the city and country.
2. Ola
Ola is another diamond in Bangalore. The ride-hailing app is valued at 5 billion dollars and has more than 500,000 cars and rickshaws in more than 100 cities spread out in India.
It’s important to note that it is one of the first Indian mobility apps to bring integration with Apple’s iOS10, giving the golden opportunity to iPhone and iPad users to ride an Ola cab.
3. InMobi
InMobi is the first Indian startup to acquire the unicorn tag.
It has made its presence known into the ad tech space tagging along with Google and Facebook. Its software is being integrated into more than 30000 apps to sip plenty of information for the users.
4. Quikr
Quikr is the Craiglist’s- equivalent, which has more than 30 million users every month in more than 1000 cities. It sells used goods and cars.
Real estate and blue-collar job offerings constitute 5 million job applications.
5. Mu Sigma
The company accelerated quickly even though it was started in humble conditions. Mu Sigma joined the billion-dollar startup club in 2013 and has clients such as Microsoft, Dell, and Walmart.
It is valued at $1 billion and managed to secure the largest funding round ever by a business analytics company.
Our Recommendation & Guide to Starting your own company which will become a successful startup
Nobody said it would be easy, and no one ever said it would be hard. That’s how you’ll feel when you begin working on your startup idea. Firstly, skim for the problems. Many startups have climbed the height by just looking at small issues.
Ask yourself the question, whether the problem can turn into a passion of yours? Is it solid enough to warrant solving? And who might be the potential customers with this problem?
Then later work on the ideation and solution validation part where you have to come up with a particular solution that can bring in serious money.
Nest step is to start building your dream team-
- CEO: Leads the team with vision, respect, and responsibility.
- CBO: Supports the growth and create innovating sound business plans
- CMO: Introduces your perceived solution to the world
- CTO: Manages tech requirements
- CDO: Manages and coordinates your startup’s design initiative
Plan your funding of whether it’s crowdfunding or taking a loan, and lastly, have a perfect marketing strategy.
In a Nutshell
The startup is a company that is in its early stages of development and is focused on growth. Small businesses may be content being a small one, but a startup doesn’t want to stay small.
These are just some of the possibilities in creating a successful startup in Bangalore. You must be ready to plan out the best and most viable ways to develop your business.
Have you started your company yet? If yes, then let us know your challenges which you are facing or already have faced while starting the business in the comment section below.
General FAQs
1. How many startups are there in Bangalore?
The city of Bangalore boasts 7200- 7700 registered startups. A total of 1200 tech startups were added in the list 2018 alone.
2. Why do Indian startups fail?
90% of Indian startups fail within the first five years, mainly because of a lack of innovation is the main reason. (As per the report by IBM Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics)
3. What amount of turnover is required to be qualified for being a startup?
The annual turnover of the startup should not be more than 25 crores in any of the past five years since its incorporation.
4. Is Swiggy a startup?
Yes, Swiggy is a startup. In fact, it is one of India’s biggest startup success stories of 2018.
5. How much does it cost to register a startup in India?
For Startup Trademark Registration, the fee is Rs. 4500/- for online and Rs. 5000/- for physical filing. Registration fees for patent applications have been reduced by up to 80%.
