Bangalore: Flush with investor money and valuations topping a billion dollars, a small but fast-growing group of Indian startup superstars is fuelling a new wave of wage inflation in the Indian technology sector.

The likes of e-commerce leader Flipkart, which raised $1 billion recently, and mobile advertising network InMobi are attracting mid-level executives and technology professionals with annual salaries of over a crore of rupees, something unheard of a couple of years ago.

An angel investor who did not want to be named says any startup that has received substantial funding is today willing to pay a Rs 1crore-plus package to some of its senior talent. Bash Gaming, FusionCharts, Eka Software, Capillary, Indix, Freshdesk and Knowlarity are said to be paying senior management executives an overall compensation that is close to or more than Rs 1 crore. STOI could not independently confirm these figures. The elite billion-dollar valuation club of privately held companies includes e-commerce major Snapdeal and data analytics firm Mu Sigma, besides Flipkart and InMobi.