Expertise corporations in Karnataka raised $4.6 billion within the first 9 months of 2026, 26% greater than the $3.7 billion they raised a yr earlier, even because the variety of funding rounds fell 35% to 397, in response to market intelligence platform Tracxn. Nearly each greenback of it went to at least one metropolis.

The figures come from Tracxn’s Karnataka Tech 9M 2026 report, which covers fairness funding, traders, exits and unicorns within the state between 1 January and 30 September 2026. It follows the agency’s India Tech report in September, which put nationwide tech funding at $10.3 billion for the same stretch, an increase of seven%.

“9M 2026 stays at 30% of the funding peak of $15.4B reached in 9M 2021,” the report mentioned.

Karnataka’s startups raised $15.4 billion within the first 9 months of 2021, on the top of the pandemic-era funding growth. The present complete can also be solely 5% above the $4.4 billion raised in the identical interval of 2024, so the 26% bounce is a restoration from a weak 2025 reasonably than a return to the outdated numbers.

Fewer rounds, a lot greater cheques

The spherical rely tells the other story to the greenback rely. At 397, it’s down 35% from 610 in 9M 2025 and 42% from 681 in 9M 2024.

Work the 2 numbers towards one another and the typical spherical in Karnataka involves roughly $11.6 million, towards about $6.1 million a yr earlier.

Focus explains a lot of the rise. The ten largest rounds collectively raised $2.0 billion, about 44% of all the cash. CRED’s $540 million Sequence H in June, which the report says was backed by Meta, was alone equal to about 12% of the state’s complete.

Rounds at Sequence A and past fell solely 6%, to 166 from 176. So the collapse in deal rely sits nearly solely within the small rounds beneath that line.

The rounds that moved the quantity

After CRED got here Sarvam, the Bengaluru startup constructing a generative AI platform for enterprises and governments, which raised $255 million in a Sequence B in June backed by HCL Applied sciences, Bessemer Enterprise Companions and Peak XV Companions, and one other $90 million in August with Nvidia among the many traders.

Journey-hailing platform Rapido raised $240 million in a Sequence F in Might from Prosus, WestBridge Capital and Accel. Digital lender KreditBee raised $220 million in a Sequence E in April, led by traders together with Motilal Oswal.

Fintech and enterprise purposes have been the top-funded sectors at $1.4 billion every, up 44% and 37% respectively. The sharpest transfer was in auto tech, at $896 million, up 420% from $172 million a yr earlier. Electrical two-wheeler maker Easy Vitality’s $180 million Series C in September, Rideriver’s $102 million and Ultraviolette’s $85 million sit behind that bounce.

The place the squeeze exhibits

Seed funding fell to $281 million, down 32% from $412 million in 9M 2025 and 39% from $458 million in 9M 2024. Seed rounds made up 58% of all offers however solely 6% of the cash. Late-stage rounds have been 9% of offers and 57% of the cash.

The variety of corporations elevating institutional cash for the primary time fell 45%, to 86 from 155.

Buyers thinned out too. The report counted 264 current institutional traders within the state, down 25% from 350, whereas first-time traders rose 10% to 102. Antler was essentially the most energetic seed investor with 10 investments, and Peak XV Companions essentially the most energetic early-stage investor with 9.

The nationwide image is similar form. India’s seed funding fell 37% to $698 million within the interval and first-time funded corporations dropped 30% to 338, at the same time as complete funding rose.

Three unicorns, reached a lot sooner

Karnataka produced three unicorns, corporations valued at $1 billion or extra, the identical as final yr: Emergent, Sarvam and KreditBee.

What modified is the velocity. The common time from a Sequence A spherical to the spherical that took an organization previous $1 billion was 1.7 years, towards 8.8 years in 9M 2025, and the typical funding raised earlier than that spherical was $130 million.

Emergent, a startup constructing a platform that creates full-stack purposes utilizing AI, crossed the mark in July, 0.9 years after its Sequence A and with $100 million raised earlier than its unicorn spherical. Throughout India, six startups turned unicorn within the interval, taking 4.9 years on common from Sequence A, in response to Tracxn’s nationwide report.

Acquisitions halved, listings held up

Karnataka tech corporations noticed 20 acquisitions, down 49% from 39 a yr earlier, at a mean disclosed value of $55 million.

The most important was upGrad’s buy of edtech firm Unacademy at $222 million. Unacademy had raised $880 million earlier than the sale, so the value works out to a couple of quarter of the cash traders had put in. Marico purchased skincare model Cosmix for $25 million and Meesho purchased retailer community app Kirana Membership for $21 million.

4 corporations listed, towards three a yr earlier, however at a mean market worth of $522 million on itemizing day, down from $961 million. Cloud media expertise firm Amagi led at $858 million, adopted by logistics agency Shadowfax at $782 million and rental platform Rentomojo at $438 million.

Each January listings started badly and have since moved properly previous their provide costs. Amagi offered shares at Rs 361 and closed at Rs 547.05 on the BSE on Monday. Shadowfax, which priced its issue at Rs 124, closed at Rs 272.40.

The whole lot outdoors Bengaluru is a rounding error

“Bengaluru, Mysuru and Shivamogga have been the highest 3 funded cities in 9M 2026, collectively accounting for 100% of all funding raised,” the report mentioned.

In observe the listing is one metropolis. Bengaluru’s share of state funding was 100%, because it was in 9M 2025. Mysuru got here second with $8 million, nearly all of it from quick-commerce startup BazaarNow. Shivamogga recorded $154,000, Belgaum $107,000 and Mangaluru $81,000.

Bengaluru has absorbed $87.1 billion of the $87.3 billion raised by Karnataka tech corporations for the reason that knowledge intelligence started monitoring them.