The first quarter of 2024 (until March 15) has seen a significant downturn in startup funding across various sectors. According to a report by Tracxn, venture capital investments have decreased to $1.6 billion from $2.2 billion in the last quarter of 2023. This represents a 51% decline in Indian tech startup funding compared to the same period last year, where $3.2 billion was raised. The Southeast Asian tech sector also experienced a downturn, with fundraising deals and deal values dropping by nearly 40% and 42%, respectively. A new KPMG report highlighted a marked decline in global VC activity compared to the record investment levels of 2022 and 2021. According to PitchBook, venture debt deal volume also saw a slump of 39% in 2023, particularly affecting seed and early-stage companies. Despite the overall slowdown, there were a few $100M+ rounds and some buoyancy in early-stage investments, indicating potential silver linings.