At average 28.5 yrs, Bengaluru has youngest entrepreneurs in world

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru: July 29, 2015: The city has the youngest startup ecosystem in the world, with the average founder’s age at 28.5 years, according to a survey of the top 20 global startup ecosystems. In Silicon Valley, the world’s largest startup hub, the average age is eight years older than in Bengaluru at 36.2 years.

Kuala Lumpur comes closest to Bengaluru, at 30.5 years, followed by Sao Paulo, 31.7 years, and Berlin, 31.8%. Sydney has the highest average age among startup founders, at 40.3 years, according to The Startup Ecosystem report by San Francisco-based Compass, a research firm that provides global benchmarking tools.


India has one of the youngest populations in the world, which is now reflecting in entrepreneurship. Mohan Kumar, executive director at venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners India, said it was also a reflection of the startups emerging these days being based on new business models like on-demand, internet and social.

"This industry itself is only five years old and a person with 15 or more years of experience or knowledge will not add value. Youngsters will understand them better. Venture capitalists also prefer younger entrepreneurs, those who are around 30 years of age," he said.

Bengaluru saw the most growth in seed fund rounds over the last three years, with an annual average growth of 53%. It was followed by Sydney (33%) and Austin (30%). According to the report, which was compiled with the help of global startup database CrunchBase, Bengaluru has done well in the funding parameter with a rank of 6, just below Chicago.