BLR or GGN, which address for your startup?

It’s not rain & floods that decide this contest

- Siddharth Tiwari Sharad Kohli

It’s a match even DuckworthLewis can’t win. This September, when heavy rain flooded Bengaluru and the metropolis was panned for its lack of planning, Gurgaon’s stock suddenly rose in the swirl of social media chatter. A LinkedIn post enumerating the benefits of being in Gurgaon resonated with many who felt let down by the infrastructure of India’s Silicon Valley. Others sniggered. Within a few days, when the skies opened up over Gurgaon and streets became streams, the northern light of the Indian industry showed why. The airport is just half an hour away. Sure, if you can convert your car into a boat, the tweeple joked.

There are no winners in the Bengaluru vs Gurgaon debate when it comes to rain disruptions. But when you take rain out of the equation and take a look at the numbers, Bengaluru is streets ahead.

CLEAR WINNER IN NUMBERS 

Data from Tracxn shows Bengaluru has added over 21,000 startups since 2012, three times as many as Gurgaon. Bengaluru firms have raised about $40 billion in funding, Gurgaon $13 billion. Gurgaon has 11 registered unicorns to Bengaluru’s 37.

Industry insiders say that for choosing a base, deficiencies in infrastructure are factors but not key differentiators. Bengaluru is the number one option for startups embracing new-age technologies such as SaaS (software-as-a-service), artificial intelligence and machine learning, data analytics and deep tech. The existence of pathways and a cluster of top engineering colleges and management institutes in the south make it more convenient for early-stage startups to zero in on developers, collaborators and interns in Bengaluru.