India has officially crossed the 1.75 lakh startup milestone, marking a historic shift from a service-driven economy to an innovation-led startup nation. This evolution isn’t just symbolic—it opens enormous opportunities for venture studios, investment platforms, and growth enablers like SHK Global Ventures, who are actively building frameworks to accelerate the next generation of high-impact businesses.
🇮🇳 1.75 Lakh Startups and Rising
As per Startup India Portal (DPIIT), over 175,048 startups are now officially recognized in India. This marks a shift in national ambition, where founders, coders, creators, policymakers, and investors are all contributing to an entrepreneurial renaissance.
For SHK Global Ventures, which operates as a boutique venture acceleration studio, this dynamic environment presents:
- A widening pipeline of early and growth-stage ventures across real estate, hospitality, tech, and media
- A prime opportunity to offer strategic acceleration, branding, market access, and investment facilitation to startups in both Tier I and Tier II cities
- A clear validation of SHK’s CDIN model: leveraging Content, Data, Information, and News to curate relevant deal flows and community insights
🧠 BHASKAR & the Rise of Platform Enablers
Behind the scenes, platforms like BHASKAR (Bharat Startup Knowledge Access Registry) are enabling collaboration between founders, mentors, investors, and policymakers, now with over 5.5 lakh active users.
For SHK Global Ventures, platforms like BHASKAR mirror the collaborative model SHK seeks to replicate via initiatives like AssetInvest, The HashTag Show, and WealthiGO, combining tech with curated access and intelligent partnerships.
🏛️ Policy Support Driving Momentum
The Indian Government continues to actively support the ecosystem with bold moves:
- 187 startups granted income tax exemption under Section 80-IAC during the 80th Inter-Ministerial Board (IMB) meeting in April 2025
- Closed-door roundtable led by Union Minister Piyush Goyal with leading founders, identifying key focus areas such as:
This proactive policy stance aligns directly with SHK Global Ventures’ mission to support startups through:
🦄 India’s Unicorn Landscape: 119 and Growing
As of May 2025, India is home to 119 unicorns, with JSW One MSME being the most recent. Despite a slight dip in the year-on-year count, India still ranks 3rd globally in unicorn production after the US (1,039) and China (246).
Key trends:
- Bengaluru leads with 50 unicorns, followed by Gurugram and Mumbai (18 each)
- Top sectors:
These trends validate SHK’s investment thesis of focusing on:
By building platforms like AssetInvest and TheLuxuryCircle, SHK is poised to identify the next wave of scale-ready startups from across these categories and geographies.
🌏 How India Compares Globally
While India may not match the volume of startups in the U.S. (over 1 million), its velocity is unmatched:
- U.S. added 23 unicorns in 2025 (so far)
- U.S. cities like San Francisco (261) and NYC (156) continue to dominate
- India is fast-emerging as a serious contender for the global startup capital title—especially in deeptech, climate, and consumer innovation
SHK Global Ventures sees this as a geostrategic opportunity—India is where the next billion-dollar businesses will emerge, and SHK is positioning itself as:
📊 Startup India Portal: The Engine Room
Beyond registrations, the Startup India Portal is a functioning dashboard that offers:
- Access to 200+ government schemes
- Funding opportunities, tax exemptions, and compliance relaxations
- Simplified regulatory frameworks like:
This regulatory momentum complements SHK’s focus on:
💼 What It Means for SHK Global Ventures Stakeholders
✅ For Founders:
The time is right to build. With policy tailwinds, simplified compliance, and expanding investor interest, SHK can offer founders:
- Strategic positioning and branding
- Partnership access with HNIs, family offices, and corporates
- Market expansion and monetization models
✅ For Investors (HNIs, UHNIs, Family Offices):
India’s growing Tier-II and Tier-III markets are fertile grounds for innovation. SHK offers:
- Curated co-investment opportunities via WealthiGO and AssetInvest
- Legacy investment vehicles via LuxurybySHK and TheLuxuryCircle
- Venture visibility via branded showcases on The HashTag Show
✅ For Policy & Ecosystem Enablers:
India’s next unicorns will come from deeptech, greentech, proptech, media-tech and cultural IP. SHK is aligned with this future:
- Collaborating with government and trade bodies (e.g. NAREDCO, TiE, Bombay Chamber)
- Enabling platforms like Asia PropTech Forum to promote innovation and investment in built-world tech
- Driving inclusive entrepreneurship by profiling diverse founders and projects
🚀 The Road Ahead
India’s journey from 0 to 1.75 lakh startups is more than a metric—it’s a signal. A signal that India’s future is not just being built—it’s being innovated, funded, and exported.
SHK Global Ventures, with its proven cross-sectoral expertise, rich network, and content-led ecosystem approach, is uniquely positioned to lead and enable this transformation.
Whether through:
- Content (The HashTag Show, masterclasses, whitepapers)
- Community (TheLuxuryCircle)
- Commerce (Luxury by SHK & Asia Prop Tech Forum startup deal flows, strategic investments)
SHKGV is helping founders build better, investors invest smarter, and the ecosystem grow stronger.
🔚 In Summary:
India’s startup revolution is real. It’s inclusive. It’s ambitious. And it’s just getting started.
SHK Global Ventures is committed to enabling this momentum—by empowering founders, unlocking wealth creation, and curating meaningful collaborations across sectors that matter.
Let’s build the future, together.
