It’s a great time to be a part of the Indian startup ecosystem. India has 115 unicorns with a cumulative valuation of over $350 billion to date, and a major wedge of them belongs to Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai. According to a report by IVCA-Bain & C, India topped China for the second time in a row by creating 23 unicorns in 2022, taking the total number of such high value companies to 96, as against China’s 11 in the year.

While IT leaders in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, have always broken the earth to make technologies do wonders in the city and even create new markets worldwide, the neighboring State, Tamil Nadu, has been slow to react to the boom. Despite its industrial progress, Tamil Nadu still has ‘miles to go’ in developing a startup ecosystem. The state’s MSME Secretary, V Arun Roy, recently stated, “Tamil Nadu has set up three regional startup hubs in Madurai, Tirunelveli, and Erode. Whatever Startup TN does in Chennai, a small replica of it is conducted in these three cities so entrepreneurs from these regions can benefit from the mentoring network.”

However, there are signs of improvement. Last year, the state hiked six spots in the national startup ecosystem ranking of states released by the Centre’s department to promote industry and internal trade (DPIIT). In the previous ranking, startup Tamil Nadu was at the bottom-most category, classified as an ‘emerging ecosystem’ for startups. The Tamil Nadu startup and innovation mission (Tansim), an agency driving the state’s startup ecosystem, which supports startups with a seed grant of up to 10 lakh, has helped the state to improve the ecosystem.