'We are back to correction from exuberant funding': Good Glamm Group’s Priyanka Gill on 'funding winter' for start-ups

Start-ups in recent times have been going through a lean phase due to funding woes that have led to layoffs. At Goafest 2023,  Business Today TV asked Priyanka Gill, Group Co-Founder of Good Glamm Group about her take on the "funding winter" and what she thinks lies ahead for the start-up ecosystem.

Gill said: “2021 was an exuberant year when an unprecedented amount of funding entered the system, and it was not the norm, and now I think we are back to correction from there. That is why it feels like a start-up funding winter.”

“Early-stage start-ups and mid-stage start-ups are finding funding quite easily. However, late-stage start-ups’ funding success is predicated on whether they are profitable or not. For late-stage start-ups, the only priority is profitability. For every late-stage founder out there, that's all we focus at, and that’s all we are looking for because that is going to be the decider for how successful your company is ultimately going to become,” she added.

When asked how Indian start-ups are being assessed tested because of overseas developments of rising interest rates, Gill said: “Interest rates have gone up from zero to up to 6 per cent globally, and that is, of course, going to have an impact on capital available across all the sectors, and it does trickle down into the start-up ecosystem as well. But I think in the long run, the future is bright as Indian consumer funding is only going up, and if you look at GDP per capita, we are crossing the $2500 mark.”

“So I think in the long run, the future is extremely bright, and for start-ups specifically, they should focus on getting to the profitability mark, and once you reach there, stars are the limit,” she added.