Women Founders Account for 52.6% of Assam Startups: IIM Report

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Friday, 25 September 2026

Assam’s startup ecosystem is witnessing growing participation from women entrepreneurs, with women founders accounting for 52.6 per cent of the 116 startups surveyed in the Assam Startup Ecosystem Report by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP). The findings highlight the expanding role of women-led businesses across Assam’s entrepreneurial landscape, while also pointing to funding, business knowledge and technology access as key areas requiring greater support.

The report focuses on the development phase of startups, industry segments, the struggles of the entrepreneurs and the support they need for their sustainable and scalable business. The surveyed startups are from the following sectors; Agriculture & Food, IT & Technology, Handloom & Handicrafts, Manufacturing & Logistics, Healthcare, Education, Tourism & hospitality, and Construction & real estate.

Key Highlights

• Assam’s startup ecosystem sees strong participation from women founders
• Report identifies funding, knowledge and technology gaps facing entrepreneurs
• Four-stage support framework aims to help startups scale sustainably

The strong presence of women founders stands out as one of the report’s significant findings. With women entrepreneurs representing more than half of the startups covered, the findings point to increasing participation of women in business ownership and startup creation across Assam. The report also captures ventures at different stages of development, reflecting the growing diversity of entrepreneurship in the state.

However, access to capital continues to be a big issue for the emerging founders. More than two-thirds of startups surveyed (67.9 per cent) saw lack of institutional funding as a significant systemic issue, noting the need for broader funding opportunities and better linkages between entrepreneurs, institutional investors and other institutional sources of credit.

The report also recognised the gaps in skills of entrepreneurs. Some 60.3 per cent said that there was a lack of business knowledge and 58.6 per cent said there was lack of awareness and exposure to the start-up ecosystem. Still, another 43.1 per cent cited lack of technology expertise as a problem.

The results highlight the importance of improving entrepreneurship training, mentoring and professional networking to support the development of business competencies in entrepreneurs. The report further suggests industry-academy linkages, B2B networking and exposure platforms, better technology infrastructure, technical support at the local level and more robust market linkages.

Ajay Jain, Chairman, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park Board, said Assam’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has gained considerable momentum and highlighted the importance of creating greater awareness about the region’s potential. He also noted the growing participation of women entrepreneurs and described it as a positive development for gender inclusiveness.

“It is heartening to see significant growth of women entrepreneurs, resulting in gender inclusiveness,” Ajay said.

“Assam's entrepreneurial base may be strengthened by leveraging the opportunities in the region to create sustainable businesses that can have a broader impact on economic development”, Ajay added. He also highlighted the need to bring more ecosystem enablers to promote the entrepreneurial growth of the region.

The report suggests the need for better investor networks, alternative funding mechanisms, sector-specific support, R&D infrastructure, stronger industry-academy partnerships, and enhanced market linkages for addressing the challenges identified during the study.

IIMCIP has also proposed a four-stage support framework covering Outreach & Hunt, Pre-Incubation, Incubation and Acceleration. The framework is intended to support entrepreneurs at different stages, beginning with identifying and validating opportunities and extending through venture building, strengthening and scaling.