India sees 138% rise in blockchain, cryptocurrency jobs since 2018: NASSCOM

A survey by NASSCOM on India's Web3 startup landscape revealed that 90% of digital enterprises are expecting to increase their investments across blockchain, AI/ML, IoT, AR/VR, and Edge.

The survey highlights key Web3 trends, challenges, and investment thesis and gives an overview of the recent developments in the Indian Web3 ecosystem.

Global Web3 trends

The report highlights that, in 2021 alone, Web3 firms globally received $30.5 billion of venture capital funding and, currently, in Q1, Web3 firms have attracted $14.5 billion investments. The report also highlights that these investments were made by the top 10 global VC funds.

According to the report, decentralised finance and non-fungible tokens are driving users' interest in the Web3 sector. It also says that the global crypto user base will reach 1 billion by the end of 2030.

India Web3 trends

According to the report, India has emerged as a leading global player in the Web3 market, with a competitive talent pool, high rates of adoption, and products built for the world.

The report says that 11% of the global Web3 talent is from India and there has been a 138% increase in blockchain and cryptocurrency related jobs since 2018; 60% of the Indian Web3 startups are registered outside the country but they hire tech workforce from India.

Projects led by Indian founders, such as Ethereum scaling solution Polygon and institutional crypto trading platform FalconX, have emerged as global leaders in the Web3 space.

Challenges

Although India has a large talent pool and favourable investors, growth and development have been slow due to regulations. The report points out that talent and investor exodus could accelerate India’s lost opportunity in the sector.

According to the NASSCOM report, 80% of Web3 startups find it challenging to scale because of regulations. Other challenges include absence of institutional upskilling resources and centres, negative social image around cryptocurrency trading, and lack of awareness of the benefits of Web3.

As per the report, Web3 economic value worth $1.1 trillion would be added to the Indian GDP by the end of 2032 and there will be a 120% increase in the demand for Web3 talent in India in a year or two.

Today, less than 1,000 STEM graduates are trained in blockchain, and the majority of Web3 users are middle-income individuals.

Overview of Indian Web3 ecosystem

The report says that there were over 450 Web3 startups in India till Q1 of 2022 and 160 startups were launched in the year 2021-2022. The total funds allocated for new-age incubators till the third quarter of 2021 was $587 million.

The report also highlights that there are four unicorns in 2022 and 82% of Indian Web3 startups are located in Tier I cities. The Tier II ecosystem is also rapidly growing across all Web3 application areas.

Over 50 Web3 startups are focussing on AR/VR-enabled blockchain solutions. Questbook, Flint, Liminal, FanCraze, Chingari, Tegro, IndiGG, and Guardian Link have come up in the last one year.

Investment trends

Since 2020, investments in Web3 startups have grown 37X times. During 2021, there was a steady pipeline of seed investment, which enabled the growth of the Indian Web3 startup ecosystem.

The report also highlights that popular venture capitalist firms such as Alpha Wave, Animoca Brands Coinbase Ventures, Hashed, Emergent, Lightspeed India, Sequoia India, and Woodstock have invested in Indian Web3 startups.