Women-led ventures redefine Tamil Nadu’s start-up landscape, study finds

CHENNAI:
Tamil Nadu’s start-up ecosystem is undergoing a generational and gender shift, with a young, educated and increasingly women-led entrepreneurial base driving innovation, according to a new study by the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission.

Women founders typically launch ventures between the ages of 26 and 30 — earlier than men, who generally start between 31 and 35. Men, however, tend to bring more prior work experience at the time of incorporation, the study, ‘Start-up Ecosystem in TN: Opportunities and Challenges – Findings Report’, found.

Women account for 57% of founders, and more than half have prior professional experience, the report stated. Thirteen per cent have started new ventures after previous failures, signalling a growing culture of resilience.

The report states that most start-up founders come from higher socio-economic backgrounds, reflecting their access to networks, social capital and quality education. Engineering dominates as the academic discipline of choice, with government-funded institutions serving as a key pipeline. Nearly two-thirds of the start-ups surveyed were incorporated in 2021 or later, underscoring the impact of recent policy pushes and targeted interventions by StartupTN.

Most ventures remain at the early-traction stage, concentrated in services, product-based businesses and manufacturing. Information technology, healthcare, agriculture, and food and beverages lead sectoral activity, with direct-to-consumer models largely focused on domestic markets. Founding teams are typically lean — one or two individuals — relying heavily on close networks of family (42%) and friends (28%).

The state’s policy architecture has emerged as a strong enabler. The Commission’s comparative analysis of six state start-up policies found that Tamil Nadu leads on seven of nine key policy themes, including infrastructure, funding and institutional support.