Why Many Indian Startups Are Headquartered Overseas

Among other reasons, having the headquarters in a particular country simplifies the day-to-day operations of the startup, say experts

- S Shanthi

Additionally, when fintech startup Open became India’s 100th unicorn last month, it was a moment of celebration for one and all. Since then, two more startups including Purplle and Physicswallah have joined the unicorn club.

However, the number of startups getting incorporated outside India is also increasing. In fact, some of the companies that turned unicorns in 2022 and 2021 are headquartered overseas. This includes Polygon, Amagi, CommerceIQ, Hasura, Fractal Analytics, BrowerStack, Chargebee, InnovAccer, MindTickle, among a few others.

Why is this trend picking up?

Saas startups in particular have been moving out especially to the US, as it is the largest market for these companies. It also gives them a chance to list outside India.

“Many of the technology startups from India, especially in the B2B space, are naturally inclined to sell their products and services in the US market as it offers them a large market, better demand, higher margins, and favorable customer behavior. While the engineering or product development traditionally leverages cost-effective, skilled talent pools that are abundantly available in India, access to capital and availability of customer-facing talent has been relatively higher in the US,” Baskar Subramanian, co-founder and CEO, Amagi, a cloud-based media Saas technology company that raised $95 million in April this year to join the unicorn club. The company was originally based in Bangalore, but it is now headquartered in New York.