Mumbai emerging as preferred startup destination, says founders, investors

Mumbai is emerging among the preferred startup destinations for founders and investors in the country, said Dream Sports cofounder and CEO Harsh Jain and Haptik CEO Aakrit Vaish, citing the financial capital’s infrastructural advancements and increasing access to resources and talent.

The entrepreneurs interacted with ET ahead of the Mumbai Tech Week, an initiative aimed at promoting the city’s thriving tech ecosystem, scheduled to take place between February 18 and 23.

In November 2022, a group of unicorn and soonicorn founders including Jain and Vaish came together to set up a body to promote Mumbai as a potential base for technology companies across sectors.

“If you take Maharashtra, it’s a staggering 25% of India’s startups, but I think our conversion funnel is slightly the issue because of unaffordable rent and housing in Mumbai, that we’ve lost some great entrepreneurs to Bangalore and other cities over time,” Jain said.