As the global funding winter continues, investments in Bangladeshi start-ups fell 70 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) to roughly US $ 6.7 million in the January to March period.
Compared to the same time last year, the decline is much greater—82 per cent. A LightCastle assessment of the declared deals indicates that the total funding was, nevertheless, somewhat more than what the local companies obtained in the July-September quarter of the previous year.
Furthermore, just four Bangladeshi businesses received venture capital funding in the first three months of this year, a sharp decrease from the 20 deals made in the same time of last year, and seven deals in the last quarter of 2023. These figures demonstrate the ongoing decline in the number of deals.
PriyoShop, a first-generation local e-commerce platform, despite the subdued investments, attracted US $ 5 million in foreign funding in the first quarter this year, as it is betting bigger in the B2B e-commerce segment.
In the first quarter of this year, start-up investments fell 26 per cent QoQ to US $ 44 billion globally. After receiving US $ 39 million in funding the previous quarter, Pakistani companies experienced no investment activity in the January–March quarter, leaving Bangladeshi start-ups as the worst affected.
Start-up investment fell QoQ by 65 per cent in Singapore, 69 per cent in China, and 27 per cent in India between January and March.
While disclosed investment in Bangladeshi start-ups reached a record high of US $ 432 million in 2021—including a US $ 250 million investment from Softbank in bKash—it fell to US $ 72 million in 2023 from US $ 125 million in 2022.
Since the beginning of the funding winter in mid-2022, direct jobs at Bangladeshi start-ups have shrunk by a third to around 35,000, according to estimated industry insiders.
There are some 2,500 recognised start-ups in the country, including the lone unicorn Bkash, the leading mobile financial service firm, according to Start-up Bangladesh.
