Are you beginning your startup journey in this city? We’ve got something for you.
At Plum, we’re always talking to Founders like you who want to build the best teams and products. That’s why they take the giant leap of moving to a new city — one that matches their aspirations.
But, navigating a new city’s ecosystem while running a business and maintaining a social life can be tricky. In this guide, we’ve compiled everything you should know about Chennai’s tech, startup, and life beyond the work scene.
📣 If you have any recommendations, resources, or information you’d like to contribute, please fill this form (it won’t take more than 2 minutes), and we’ll be happy to add.
Whether it's working with founders to create the right business and health insurance policies or building a resource kit to help you communicate with empathy — we help you put your needs first.
But our definition of care doesn't stop there. We built this guide to welcome you to a city that’s rapidly becoming a startup hub. Share this with your new and old team members, and if you have a relocation policy, linking this guide to help others navigate the same boat would be helpful! We built this to help you do just that.
If you'd like to learn more about Plum and what we're up to, follow this link.
Bengaluru is considered as the Startup Capital of India. Mumbai has the financial capital and the Bollywood glamour associated with it. But, why Chennai da?
There’s an interesting excerpt from the time Girish Mathrubootham was building Freshworks.
Many Chennai entrepreneurs shift their base to Bengaluru once their startups reach a certain size. In 2011, G also contemplated shifting his base to Bengaluru. He went to the city, finalised an office space for his startup, and explored residence options. Then hurdles came. His employees didn’t want to relocate to Bangalore. Finding good schooling for his children also proved challenging. “It was as if the universe was conspiring to keep me in Chennai,” he said in an interview with Economic Times. And just like that, in the spur of the moment, G decided to build Freshworks from Chennai.
With the rise of Zoho alongside Freshworks, the city has gained a reputation for being a SaaS hotbed. Zinnov forecasts that Chennai could see the emergence of seven more unicorns in the next five years, including Uniphore, Mad Street Den, and Crayon Data.
Three key reasons.
On an aside, Chennai is also considered a more liveable city. It is relatively safer, has shorter commutes, better traffic conditions, relatively lower cost of living, and lower air pollution. Unfortunately, the city moves slowly in the fast-paced startup world. For the young crowd, there are cultural challenges like the lack of vibrant nightlife. But all said and done, this is great city to live in. If you’re planning a move to Chennai or you’re already here, we hope this guide helps.
Where are all the founders and their teams hanging out?
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Chennai’s accelerators, incubators, and startup programs to boost your 0-1 startup journey.
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A curated list of active and popular VCs, recommended by other startup founders in Chennai
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Journalists covering the tech and startup beat in Chennai
Connect with people who’ve been active in Chennai’s start-up and tech scene
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Places you and your team can work out of + where other founders are likely to set-up their workspaces
💡 Here’s a list of 16 top co-working spaces in Chennai. We filtered this list based on Google reviews and chose the ones rated 4.2 ⭐ and above.
Best if you’re a lean team, building up from scratch.
P.S. The following prices are an average and not the exact quote you might receive from vendors. This is a disclaimer that there could be price discrepancies depending on the location you choose and demand vs supply.
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💡 Ideal to invest in working out of a tech park if you’ve crossed 300+ employees in scale.
It also becomes cost-effective when compared to co-working spaces.Please note that the popularity and rankings of IT parks may vary over time and there may be other emerging IT parks in Chennai as well.
☕ Cafes across Chennai where you can plug in your earphones, get your to-do list, and work on your laptop uninterrupted for hours.
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👥 Cafes and restaurants suitable for a catch-up with your co-founder(s), investors, and other external stakeholders/clients.
🍱 Restaurants to take your team out for a bite or drink or both!
🚧 P.S. The following breakdown is a subjective POV. We also advise our readers to conduct their own research before making a final choice.
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Chennai is known for its affordable and well-connected transport systems. Here’s a comprehensive overview of Chennai's transit system visualised by a localite. Shoutout to @karthi9003.
💡Learn more about: - Important bus stops - Chennai MRTS lines- Chennai metro- A full view of operational and under-construction lines
Are you nervous about making new friends in a new city? Don’t worry, we got you covered.
Here’s a curated list of communities, groups, and places in Chennai where you’re likely to meet people interested in the same things as you.
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We hope this guide is full of information that has been useful in your Chennai startup journey.
Consider this a V1 and if you have any recommendations, resources, or information you’d like to contribute, please fill this form, and we’ll be happy to add.
Plum is a modern-day insurtech, providing benefits and insurance for companies that care.
Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of health insurance in India by making employee health insurance and benefits accessible, affordable, and usable for employees.
We also provide exclusive business insurance plans to help startups mitigate risk, enabling founders to go forth with courageous and ambitious bets.
If you’re a founder who wants to cover your team and business with the best care and benefits, visit our website.
P.S. We’d like to extend our gratitude to Body, Vishesh Rajaram, Kirthika S, Kingston David, Avinash Raghava, and Srikrishnan Ganesan for helping us build this out.
