Money meets innovation: The investors fueling India's Next-Gen startups

From Razorpay to FirstCry: Meet the Backers Behind India's Biggest Startup Wins

 

India’s startup ecosystem may be brimming with young founders and bold ideas, but behind the scenes, it’s the investors — both big venture funds and prolific angels — who are fueling this remarkable growth. The ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Unicorn and Future Unicorn Report 2025 highlights the top names putting their money (and trust) behind the country’s most promising ventures.

 

Big Funds, Bigger Bets

 

At the top of the table sits Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India), with 68 investments across unicorns, gazelles, and cheetahs. Its portfolio includes 26 unicorns, 26 cheetahs, and 16 gazelles, making it the most influential investor shaping India’s startup future.

 

 

Close behind is Tiger Global, famous for spotting breakout ventures early. With 42 investments including 22 unicorns, it has cemented its role as one of India’s most aggressive backers. Accel follows with 34 bets and 16 unicorns, reflecting its strong conviction in high-growth companies.

 

Hurun Research categorises start-ups into three segments:

•  Unicorns: Companies founded in 2000 and after with valuations of $1 Bn or more.
•  Gazelles: Companies founded in 2000 and after valued between $500 Mn and less than $1 Bn, and considered most likely to achieve Unicorn status within the next three years.
• Cheetahs: Companies founded in 2000 and after valued between $ 200 Mn and less than $ 500 Mn, expected to become Unicorns within the next five years.

For the purpose of this index, a Future Unicorn is defined as a start-up founded in the 2000s with a valuation between $200 Mn and $1 billion, that is not yet listed on a public exchange. 

Among domestic leaders, Elevation Capital (23 investments, 8 unicorns) and Lightspeed Venture Partners (23 investments, 12 unicorns) continue to feature prominently in India’s venture capital landscape.

 

Among Indian funds, Elevation Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners have each made 23 investments, with Lightspeed standing out for its 12 unicorns, including marquee names across fintech and SaaS. Other active contributors include Z47 (22 bets) and Blume Ventures (20 bets), which continue to shape India’s early-stage ecosystem.

 

Global giants are also making their mark — Temasek holds 9 unicorns, while Norwest Venture Partners and Alpha Wave Global each boast 15 investments across categories.

 

Angels Who Make It Rain

 

If venture funds are the backbone, India’s angel investors are the lifeblood of early innovation. Kunal Shah, founder of CRED, leads the pack with 22 investments, backing 10 cheetahs, 6 gazelles, and 6 unicorns including Razorpay, M2P Fintech, and Jupiter.

 

He’s followed by Anand Chandrasekaran with 15 investments, including Observe.AI and MoEngage, while Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal — co-founders of Snapdeal — have also been highly active with portfolios featuring Razorpay, Khatabook, and Shadowfax. 

A newer wave of active angels includes Jitendra Gupta, Ramakant Sharma, Gokul Rajaram, and Amrish Rau, each with 7 investments.

 

On the unicorn-heavy side, Sameer Brij Verma stands out: out of just 10 bets, 7 have already become unicorns, including Infra.Market and Licious. Similarly, Neeraj Arora and Binny Bansal (Flipkart co-founder) have backed high-potential startups like MindTickle, Skyroot Aerospace, and BrightChamps.

 

A new wave of angels — Jitendra Gupta, Ramakant Sharma, Gokul Rajaram, and Amrish Rau — each with 7 investments, are also emerging as key backers of India’s next generation of unicorns.  These investors aren’t just providing capital; they’re shaping the playbook for India’s entrepreneurial journey. From fintech and e-commerce to AI, cleantech, and space tech, their conviction signals where the next big opportunities lie.   

IITs Remain the Breeding Ground for Founders in the ASK Private Wealth Hurun Unicorn and Future Unicorn Report 2025 

India’s premier engineering institutes dominate the undergraduate pipeline for founders of Unicorns, Gazelles, and Cheetahs. IIT Delhi leads with 42 founders, including Ruchi Kalra, Phalgun Kompalli, Shashvat Nakrani and Shashank Kumar, followed by IIT Kharagpur with 33 alumni such as Kanav Hasija, Rajan Bajaj, Rohan Nayak and Pavan Guntupalli.

 

IIT Bombay ranks third with 32 founders, while the University of Mumbai, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur share the fourth spot with 21 founders each. Other notable contributors include Anna University (20), the University of Delhi (16), BITS Pilani (16), and IIT Roorkee (11).

 

IIMs and IITs Dominate India’s Postgraduate Among Cheetahs, Gazelles, and Unicorns’ Founders

 

India’s premier business schools and technical institutes continue to dominate the country’s entrepreneurial landscape. IIM Ahmedabad leads the list with 27 founders, including Vineeta Singh, Amit Lakhotia, Ankit Agarwal, and Bhupinder Singh, underlining its reputation as the top breeding ground for start-up leaders. It is followed by IIT Bombay, which has produced 18 founders, among them Kavitha Subramanian, Baskar Subramanian, and Akhil Gupta.

 

IIM Calcutta ranks third with 15 founders, featuring names such as Mehul Agrawal, Dhirendra Mahyavanshi, Vibhav Hathi, and Saif Dhorajiwala. Close behind are the Indian School of Business (ISB) and IIT Kharagpur, each contributing 14 founders to India’s start-up ecosystem, with alumni such as Aman Gupta, Ruchi Kalra, Deepit Purkayastha, and Pawan Kumar Chandana. IIM Bangalore also makes its mark with 13 founders, including Peyush Bansal, Sandeep Jethwani, and Karthik Ganapathy.

 

Global universities add further depth, with Harvard University contributing 12 founders such as Ashwin Damera and Naveen Tewari, while the University of Pennsylvania has produced 7 entrepreneurs each, IIT Delhi (10), IIM Lucknow (9) and IIM Indore (7) stand out. 

India’s premier business schools and technical institutes continue to dominate the country’s entrepreneurial landscape.

  This year, India’s unicorn landscape witnessed notable shifts. A total of 16 start-ups were demoted from unicorn status, underlining the pressures of sustaining growth at scale. At the same time, 11 unicorns have entered the list, reflecting the continued vibrancy of the ecosystem. Five companies went public, showcasing the maturing pipeline and growing investor appetite for exits. Overall, India now counts 73 unicorns in 2025, cementing its position as one of the world’s most dynamic start-up hubs.