2025 Big Bets in Indian Startups Amid Cautious Funding Climate

2025 Big Bets in Indian Startups Amid Cautious Funding Climate

2025 Big Bets in Indian Startups Amid Cautious Funding Climate
India's 2025 startup big bets, Erisha E Mobility, Eruditus, MoEngage, GreenLine, Innovaccer, Uniphore, Zolve, Darwinbox, Vistaar, Tessolve, secured major funding, spotlighting mobility, fintech, SaaS, healthtech, and semiconductors.

 

India's startup ecosystem in 2025 has continued to attract large funding rounds, even as overall venture capital activity remained cautious compared to earlier boom years. Investors showed a clear preference for companies with proven business models, scalable technology, and long-term sustainability. While fewer startups reached billion-dollar valuations during the year, several firms across electric mobility, education, enterprise software, healthcare, logistics, fintech, and semiconductors secured sizeable investments, underlining continued confidence in India's innovation-driven sectors.

According to startup data platform Tracxn, India added approximately six to eleven new unicorns in 2025, depending on the reporting source. Companies such as Ai.tech, Navi Technologies, Porter, Netradyne, Juspay, Drools, Jumbotail, and Raise entered the unicorn club, largely across fintech, artificial intelligence, logistics, and e-commerce. However, both Tracxn and Hurun noted that unicorn creation slowed during the year as investors increasingly prioritised profitability, efficient capital use, and sustainable growth over rapid valuation expansion.

Against this backdrop, several startups raised large funding rounds in 2025, reflecting targeted capital deployment into businesses addressing mobility transition, enterprise digitisation, financial inclusion, healthcare modernisation, and advanced technology services.

Top Funding Deals of 2025

Erisha E Mobility (Electric Mobility)

Erisha E Mobility, part of the Rana Group, operates in the clean mobility space, focusing on the design, manufacturing, and distribution of electric vehicles across multiple segments. The company works on two-wheelers, three-wheelers, cargo vehicles, and electric buses, while also developing EV charging infrastructure and green hydrogen-based solutions. Its broader objective is to create an integrated and sustainable e-mobility ecosystem in India.

Inception: 2022

Based-out: New Delhi

Founder: Sudhir Rana

Funding Amount: USD 1 Billion

Investors: UAE-based investor

Eruditus (EdTech/Online Education)

Eruditus is a global online education platform that partners with leading universities to deliver executive education and professional upskilling programmes. It offers cohort-based online courses in areas such as leadership, management, finance, and strategy, primarily targeted at working professionals. By collaborating with institutions like Harvard, MIT, and INSEAD, the company aims to make high-quality education more accessible across geographies.

Inception: 2010

Based-out: Singapore (headquartered), with global operations

Founders: Ashwin Damera and Chaitanya Kalipatnapu

Funding Amount: USD 300 Million (USD 150 Million + USD 150 Million)

Investors: TPG – The Rise Fund, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Leeds Illuminate, Accel, CPP Investments, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, MARS Growth Capital, MUFG Bank, HSBC

MoEngage (Customer Engagement/SaaS)

MoEngage provides an insights-led customer engagement platform that helps enterprises analyse user behaviour and deliver personalised communication across channels. Its platform enables businesses to engage customers through mobile push notifications, email, SMS, and WhatsApp, helping brands improve retention and lifetime value through data-driven marketing and engagement strategies.

Inception: 2014

Based-out: California and Bengaluru

Founders: Raviteja Dodda and Yashwanth Kumar

Funding Amount: USD 280 Million (USD 180 Million + USD 100 Million)

Investors: ChrysCapital, Dragon Funds, Schroders Capital, TR Capital, B Capital, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, A91 Partners

GreenLine Mobility Solutions (Green Logistics)

GreenLine Mobility Solutions focuses on sustainable logistics by operating a fleet of LNG-powered trucks for long-haul cargo and electric vehicles for short-haul distribution. Through its subsidiary, Ultra Gas and Energy Ltd, the company is also building LNG refuelling infrastructure across key freight corridors to support the transition to cleaner transportation in India's logistics sector.

Inception: 2021

Based-out: Mumbai

Founder: Anshuman Ruia

Funding Amount: USD 275 Million

Investors: Nikhil Kamath and others

Innovaccer (HealthTech/Data Platforms)

Innovaccer operates a healthcare data and analytics platform that enables providers, payers, and health systems to integrate fragmented data sources. Its Health Cloud platform supports population health management, care coordination, and patient engagement, helping healthcare organisations improve outcomes while reducing operational and administrative complexity.

Inception: 2014

Based-out: Noida and San Francisco

Founders: Abhinav Shashank, Kanav Hasija, and Sandeep Gupta

 

Funding Amount: USD 275 Million

Investors: B Capital Group, Banner Health, Danaher Ventures, Generation Investment Management, Kaiser Permanente, M12

Uniphore (Conversational AI)

Uniphore develops conversational AI and automation solutions aimed at improving customer service and contact centre operations. Its offerings include voice and video self-service tools, conversation analytics, and agent-assist technologies that help enterprises enhance efficiency and deliver more personalised customer experiences.

Inception: 2008

Based-out: California and Chennai

Founders: Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi

Funding Amount: USD 260 Million

Investors: NVIDIA, AMD, Snowflake, Databricks, NEA, March Capital

Zolve (Fintech/Neobank)

Zolve operates as a cross-border neobank catering to immigrants, students, and global professionals moving to the US. The platform offers FDIC-insured bank accounts, high-limit credit cards, and financial products without requiring a Social Security Number. By using financial data from users' home countries, Zolve aims to simplify access to credit and banking services.

Inception: 2021

Based-out: Bengaluru and the US

Founder: Raghunandan G

Funding Amount: USD 251 Million

Investors: Creaegis, HSBC, SBI Investment, GMO Venture Partners, DG Daiwa Ventures, Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sparta Group, DST Global

Darwinbox (HR Tech/Enterprise Software)

Darwinbox offers an AI-powered human capital management platform that covers the full employee lifecycle. Its cloud-based software supports recruitment, onboarding, payroll, attendance, performance management, talent development, and people analytics. The platform serves over 1,000 enterprises across more than 130 countries, with a mobile-first design.

Inception: 2015

Based-out: Hyderabad

Founders: Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni, and Chaitanya Peddi

Funding Amount: USD 180 Million (USD 140 Million + USD 40 Million)

Investors: Partners Group, KKR, Gravity Holdings, Teachers' Venture Growth

Vistaar Financial Services (MSME Lending)

Vistaar Financial Services provides secured lending solutions to micro, small, and medium enterprises in rural and semi-urban India. Its loan products include small business mortgage and hypothecation loans, designed for enterprises with informal income structures, helping them meet working capital, housing, and renovation needs.

Inception: 2010

Based-out: Bengaluru

Founders: Brahmanand Hegde and Ramakrishna Nishtala

Funding Amount: USD 164 Million

Investors: Motilal Oswal Alternates, ABC Impact, and others

Tessolve (Semiconductor Engineering Services)

Tessolve, part of Hero Electronix, provides end-to-end semiconductor engineering services covering the entire product lifecycle. Its offerings include IC design, test and product engineering, PCB design, failure analysis, embedded systems, and turnkey manufacturing solutions, supporting global semiconductor and electronics companies.

Inception: 2004

Based-out: Bengaluru

Founders: P. Raja Manickam and Srinivas Chinamilli

Funding Amount: USD 150 Million

Investors: TPG

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