The name is older than the neighbourhood it now describes: kora (shelter) and mangala (prosperity) appear together in a 900 CE Ganga dynasty inscription found at the Nageshwara Temple in nearby Begur — recorded then as Kumaran Gundu. For centuries the area remained low-lying, marshy farmland on Bengaluru's south-eastern fringe. Local parents reportedly threatened misbehaving children with a night left alone in Koramangala. The rest of the 1970s and 1980s brought modest BDA-planned residential blocks, mostly housing employees from HAL and surrounding public-sector firms.

The transformation accelerates with the IT boom. By the 2000s, old houses are steadily replaced by cafés, co-working spaces, PG buildings and venture-funded offices in converted bungalows. The first Café Coffee Day on 11th Main in 1996 turns out to be an early signal. One street alone later produces Flipkart, Swiggy and Razorpay — earning it the nickname "Billionaire Street" and some of the highest land prices in the country.

Today Koramangala feels less like a traditional neighbourhood and more like a constantly shifting ecosystem. Businesses open and disappear at startup speed, traffic never really settles, and entire careers seem to begin over coffee meetings that stretch unexpectedly into dinner and drinks.