Startup funding slumped last year, off to weak start in 2024
Investors burnt by valuation crashes at marquee firms
Less interest in tech, more interest in stable brick and mortar

MUMBAI, March 22 Reuters India39;s economy and stock markets are booming, but its startups are not.

Investors, once eager to pump in billions of dollars in promising Indian tech ventures, are now going slow and cutting smaller cheques. They39;ve been burnt by ignominious falls from grace and valuations for oncemarquee young firms or market debutants of recent years such as digital payments company Paytm.

Karthik Reddy, managing partner at India39;s Blume Ventures, which has invested in hundreds of earlystage startups, said his firm plans to do about eight new deals this year compared with 12 last year. It will invest bigger sums in firms it is confident about instead of spreading funds across more companies.

When your existing portfolio is not showing gains, it is hard to be excited to do more, he told Reuters.

Investors looking at Indian startups are much more focused on potential profitability, less enamoured with tech companies and more interested in stable brickandmortar businesses, according to Reuters interviews with six executives at foreign and domestic investment firms as well as two CEOs at startups.

In January and February, India39;s startups raised about 900 million a pace that signals another slow year after a sixyear low of just 8 billion in 2023, Venture Intelligence…