Operator-led startups raised $101 million in 2024, marking a 243% increase compared to 2023. They accounted for 11.5% of all venture funding in 2024, up from just 6% the year before. The funding remains significantly higher than the $53 million raised in 2022, the report commissioned by early-stage venture capital firm RTP Global said.
According to the report, the rise in funding is being fuelled by liquidity from ESOP buybacks, desire for new opportunities, the return of talent from the US, and the impact of mass layoffs.
Between 2022 and 2024, around 238 former operators founded their own ventures. On March 6, ET reported that over the past 12-15 months, more than a dozen entrepreneurs stepped down from active roles at their startups and went on to launch new ventures.
“Many operator-founders bring a pragmatic mindset, shaped by real-world experience that helps them scale efficiently,” said Nishit Garg, investment partner, RTP Global, and previously vice president at Flipkart.
The average seed round for operator-turned-founders, between 2022 and 2024, was $1.56 million, about 1.2 times more than the $1.3 million raised by the remaining startups.
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Karan Mehta and Sonali Jindal, two of the four cofounders of digital lending startup Kissht, launched debt resolution platform Rezolv, having bagged $3.5 million in seed capital from early-stage investment firm 3one4 Capital in March. Similarly, Upgrad founder Mayank Kumar, who stepped down from an executive role at the edtech firm in October last year, raised $7 million for his new venture in February, Borderplus, which operates in the cross-border workforce skilling space.
Priyanka Gill and Naiyya Saggi—cofounders of struggling house of brands firm Good Glamm Group—have also started new ventures.
According to the report, former operators ventured into sectors like fintech and insurtech, which drew the most investment—about $89 million—between 2022 and 2024, followed by energy and sustainability with $40.3 million in funding and supply chain and logistics tech, which secured $30 million.
The new startups have come up in sectors like fintech and insurtech, ecommerce and retail tech, edtech, enterprise SaaS, and healthcare and life sciences, it added.
