The First Cheque Report 2024: Our year of backing ideas

When we launched First Cheque@Jungle in October 2023, we placed a deliberate bet on the founders of tomorrow. We believed the next generation of founders across India and Southeast Asia, armed with bold ideas and diverse perspectives, would drive innovation and build lasting businesses. We wanted to be there at the very start of those journeys.

This past year has been nothing short of meaningful. We’ve had front row seats as founders tackled tough decisions, found opportunities in unexpected places, and turned their ideas into companies that hold extraordinary potential. Along the way, we’ve partnered with a select few to provide the capital and resources needed to set their ambitions in motion. 

Today, we are proud to unveil The First Cheque Report 2024, Jungle’s inaugural report, and our way of reflecting on this journey. It is a rigorous, data-rich and founder-first analysis of the people and patterns shaping the Seed-stage ecosystem in the region.

‍Access The First Cheque Report 2024 here

Founders in the spotlight

Most reports on early-stage ecosystems focus on capital flows or sectoral trends. While these are critical, through First Cheque@Jungle, we’ve seen the importance of looking deeper, at the founders themselves. Their backgrounds, experiences, and decision-making paths reveal where the ecosystem stands and where it is heading.

This report shifts the lens onto these founders — what drives them, the opportunities they pursue, and the ways they’re reshaping the future of entrepreneurship in India and Southeast Asia. By putting people at the center of the story, we’ve uncovered a new perspective on what’s fuelling growth in the region. 

Key findings from The First Cheque Report 2024

Second-time founders leading high-growth sectors
Seasoned founders are becoming the backbone of growth in sectors like FinTech and Blockchain. In India, second-time founders raised rounds 142% larger than the market median, while in Southeast Asia, they raised 63% higher funding.

What this means: Investors are valuing experience more than ever. These founders bring strategic clarity, operational expertise, and a track record that instills confidence, making them strong bets in competitive markets.

Female founders making measured progress
Female founders are slowly but surely carving out a larger role in the startup ecosystem. While they still represent a smaller share of the founder pool, they’re achieving notable funding milestones. In India, startups with at least one female founder raised rounds 114% above the market average, while in Southeast Asia, women-founded startups secured 29% more funding than their peers.

What this signals: This progress reflects a broader movement toward inclusivity, though there’s still a long way to go. Continued efforts are needed to amplify the presence and success of female entrepreneurs in the ecosystem.

Seed investment levels stabilising as capital spreads across new markets
After the pandemic-fueled boom and subsequent correction, Seed investment is entering a phase of stabilisation. Annual capital deployment remains steady at $1.5B across both regions, even as deal counts normalise to pre-2020 levels. What’s striking is the increasing share of capital flowing into Southeast Asia markets like Vietnam and the Philippines, breaking the historical dominance of Singapore and Indonesia. Meanwhile, in India, tier 1 and tier 2 cities are rapidly closing in on Bengaluru as a top destination for Seed funding.

What this reveals: Seed capital is reaching markets previously overlooked, from Vietnam to tier 2 cities in India. This highlights growing investor confidence in untapped potential across the region which is in turn creating a more resilient and distributed ecosystem.

How we built this report

This report is the result of a collaborative effort with Tracxn, a leading provider of private market intelligence. Our findings draw on data from over 9,000 founders and 7,850 Seed rounds, covering investments from 2021 through Q3 2024.

The numbers alone, however, only tell part of the story. To complement the data, we spoke directly with founders who offered us a window into their challenges, their motivations, and their ambitions.

This methodology, which combines quantitative rigour and qualitative depth, allowed us to capture the nuances of the region’s Seed-stage ecosystem and produce a report that’s both thorough and reflective of its current dynamics.

Why this report matter

The findings in The First Cheque Report 2024 capture an inflection point for early-stage entrepreneurship in the region. Founders are entering the area with sharper ideas, deeper expertise, and a stronger alignment with market needs. At the same time, investors are awakening to the vast potential in underrepresented markets and diverse talent pools.

At Jungle, we see this moment as a chance to play a meaningful role in the journeys of the region’s most promising founders. As the ecosystem continues to evolve, we are focused on supporting innovation and building a stronger, more inclusive foundation for growth. 

We hope this report serves as a valuable resource for everyone working to advance the early-stage ecosystem in India and Southeast Asia.

If you’re curious to dive deeper, we’d love for you to explore the full report.