Indian Start-ups

Indian startups face funding, regulation, trust challenges: Rukam founder

Indian startups today contend with a range of hurdles, including access to consistent funding, navigating intricate regulatory and tax frameworks, overcoming bureaucratic obstacles, retaining talent, and earning consumer confidence in a price-sensitive market, according to Rukam Capital's Archana Jahagirdar. Jahagirdar -- the Founder and Managing Partner of the venture capital firm, which has invested in startups like Beco, Sleepy Owl, Indus Valley, GO Desi, Burger Singh, and Antithesis -- believes that while ambition and innovation of Indian startups are undeniable, access to consistent funding, especially at the early stage, remains a major roadblock. "Unlike more mature ecosystems, India still sees uneven distribution of capital, with non-metro startups facing even steeper barriers. Operating within a maze of complex rules and taxing systems is another industry challenge. "Beyond funding, Indian startups often grapple with regulatory bottlenecks, talent retention, and building ..

'Dukaandari hi karna hai?' Piyush Goyal urges startups to think bigger

Speaking at the Startup Mahakumbh, Union Minister Piyush Goyal questioned India's startup focus on food delivery over deep-tech innovation, sparking sharp backlash from industry leaders

Tech startups worth $100 bn set to pursue IPOs by 2027: Rainmaker Group

Walmart-owned Flipkart, financial technology (fintech) leader PhonePe, SoftBank-backed Lenskart, Razorpay, Zetwerk, and Meesho are among the top companies preparing to go public in India

Inflection Point Ventures marks 14 exits in 2024, aims for 20 exits in 2025

IPV portfolio companies include sports startup Fitso, electric ride-hailing platform BluSmart, and grocery delivery platforms Otipy and Milkbasket, among others

Startup funding rounds get bigger as investors back seasoned founders

Seed rounds over $3 million now account for 50% of all funding, sub-$1 mn rounds have fallen to a third of their 2017 levels

Indian startups raise $1.65 bn in February, median valuation at $83.2 mn

Indian startups raised a total of USD 1.65 billion (about Rs 14,418 crore) in funding at a median valuation of USD 83.2 million in February 2025, according to data from Traxcn. This brings the total funding in FY25 (April-February) to USD 25.4 billion, spread across 2,200 rounds, the data showed. The February figure marks a 19.5 per cent uptick from USD 1.38 billion in total funding in January 2025. On a year-on-year basis, the total amount of fundraise was down from USD 2.06 billion secured in February 2024. Entrepreneurs in the country's startup capital, Bengaluru, secured funding worth USD 353 million, with a median round size of USD 2 million. Those in Mumbai grabbed total funding of USD 102 million but with a higher median round size of USD 5 million. Fintech firm Oxyzo led the February funding pack, having raised USD 1 billion in conventional debt. It was followed by online B2B platform udaan, which closed a Series G equity funding round of USD 75 million, led by M&G ...

Hoping to increase govt-registered startups to 1 million in 10 years: Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday expressed hope that the number of government-registered startups would increase to 10 lakh in the next ten years due to the steps taken to promote growth of these budding entrepreneurs in the country. At present, there are 1.57 lakh registered startups as compared to 450 in 2016. With an intent to build a strong ecosystem of the country for nurturing innovation and promoting startups, the government launched the Startup India initiative on January 16, 2016. As per the government's eligibility conditions, entities are recognised as 'startups' under the Startup India initiative. These units are eligible to avail tax and non-tax incentives under the Startup India action plan. Under the initiative, the government through its flagship schemes Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), Startup India Seed Fund Scheme and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, has provided financial assistance to eligible recognised startups across sectors and .

The push and pull factors behind leadership exits in Indian startups

India produced just six new unicorns in 2024, a steep drop from 24 in 2022. Despite total startup funding rising to $11.4 billion in 2024 from $10.9 billion in 2023

DPIIT signs agreement with ITC to help startups in manufacturing sector

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Wednesday said it has entered into a strategic partnership with ITC Ltd to help startups in the manufacturing sector. "Under this partnership, ITC is looking to deploy startup solutions in key areas such as digital platforms for Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), integrating renewable energy opportunities for manufacturing locations, and energy storage systems," the department said. It added that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed which will set the tone for a partnership where ITC's experience and expertise with extensive market network will complement DPIIT's initiative for supporting startups across the country. DPIIT Joint Secretary Sanjiv said, "We look forward to fostering scalable solutions and transformative growth to ensure a conducive environment for startups." Startup India Director Sumeet Kumar Jarangal said this would help provide hassle-free market access to startups in terms o

Yotta Data seeks $500 mn private credit to invest in data centres

The company will likely go for a bilateral deal to be finalized in early 2025, they said, adding the terms are not finalized yet and bank credit is also an option

Ex-ante norms have taken into account India's startup ecosystem: CCI chief

The draft Digital Competition Bill has proposed ex-ante (preventative) regulations requiring digital companies to notify the CCI that they fulfil the criteria to qualify as SSDEs

Antler India plans to invest Rs 211 crore in 50 start-ups in 2025

Venture Capital firm Antel India is planning to invest USD 25 million, or about Rs 211 crore, in 50 startups in 2025, the company said on Wednesday. The venture capital firm has invested in 30 startups in 2024 through its maiden USD 75 million fund. "Antler plans to ramp up investments further in the next year and make 50 investments in 2025. We plan to invest USD 25 million in the 50 companies," Antler India Partner Rajiv Srivatsa told PTI. The company's 2024 investments include a wholesale marketplace for fashion retail Bizup, aluminium-air fuel cell technology company Meine Electric, open mobility platform Namma Yatri, personal loan facilitator firm Keeper, which uses paid leaves as digital assets for salaried employees, AI-powered dashcam provider Cautio, etc. "Our investment pace reflects both the quality of the founders we're meeting and our conviction that the next wave of global technology companies will emerge from India. We have invested in 30 companies this year, many of

Japanese firms eager to set up semiconductor units in India: Deloitte

Japanese firms are keen to set up semiconductor units in India and they have all the expertise and specialisation to partner with domestic firms, Deloitte has said. It also said that skilled workforce, funds and continuation of support measures are key to push growth of the semiconductor sector in India. Japanese firms are "super enthusiastic" about India, Shingo Kamaya, Deloitte AP and SRT Leader, Deloitte Japan said. In July, Japan became the second Quad partner after the US to sign an agreement with India for the joint development of the semiconductor ecosystem and maintain the resilience of its global supply chain. The two countries signed the memorandum for semiconductor design, manufacturing, equipment research, talent development and to bring resilience in the semiconductor supply chain. With around 100 semiconductor manufacturing plants, Japan is among the top five countries to have a semiconductor ecosystem. Japan houses companies that are global leaders in raw form of .

Indian startups including Ola, Paytm, others mourn demise of Ratan Tata

Tata, after taking a personal interest in Agarwal's journey, decided to invest in Ola in 2015, as per Bhavish, Tata was also the inspiration behind Ola Electric

India's regulatory reform could hasten homecoming of IPO-bound startups

Many of the dozens of Indian startups that once chose to be based abroad for better access to capital and smaller tax bills are now queuing to return home

ADIF, PHDCCI sign agreement to boost Indian startup, innovation ecosystem

Industry bodies Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) and PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PHDCCI) have signed a two-year agreement to foster the Indian startup and innovation ecosystem. The two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed at PHD house New Delhi office, seeks to create an environment that fosters independent thinking and cultivates groundbreaking ideas across various sectors of the Indian economy. ADIF associate director Prateek Jain said the alliance is a crucial step to democratise India's digital entrepreneurship landscape. "This MoU goes beyond conventional support mechanisms and focuses on architecting a holistic ecosystem that nurtures innovation at every stage of a startup's journey. By leveraging PHDCCI's vast industry connections and our digital expertise, we are laying the groundwork for unprecedented growth and innovation in India's startup scene," Jain said. The initiative will involve workshops, training sessions, and seminars designed to ..

Startup firm The Sleep Company achieves Rs 500 cr annual recurring revenue

The Sleep Company achieves Rs 500 crore annual recurring revenue; aims to become profitable by FY25

Pixxel hopes to deliver satellites for Indian Air Force by mid-2025

The Indian Air Force (IAF) may launch satellites procured from space start-up Pixxel by mid-2025, giving a boost to its capabilities to keep vigil on the country's borders and beyond. The IAF has signed a contract with the Bengaluru-headquartered Pixxel Space founded by young entrepreneurs Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal of BITS Pilani, while they were pursuing higher studies. "We should have that satellite up in space before the end of 2025, but likely we are aiming at mid-2025," Ahmed said in an interaction with PTI editors here. He said the task of Pixxel was to manufacture the satellite and hand it over to the IAF, which will operate the spacecraft. "In the case of the Indian Air Force for iDEX, we are not concerned with what the operations are. The operations will be mainly for looking at borders, looking at illegal testing, illegal growth and things like that. But we are not going to be operating the satellite," he said. Innovations for Defence Excellence, an initiative o

Bucking the trend: Indian startups regain lost funding ground, says report

After four consecutive half-year periods of decline in funding, H1CY24 has seen an upswing

40 start-ups extend support to Digital Competition Bill in a letter to MCA

In the letter, the start-ups have also requested an upward revision of the thresholds for designating Systematically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDEs)