Lift-off, with turbulence: India's next 161 unicorns
Hurun counts 161 Indian startups on the runway to $1 billion. What they are worth, the jobs they create, the deep tech among them, and the failures that say not all of them will make it.
Indian startups Hurun rates as likely unicorns within three to five years
Their combined value: $34.1bn for the 51 Gazelles plus about $31bn for the 110 Cheetahs
People employed by the 51 Gazelles alone. No headcount is published for the Cheetahs
India's world rank for Gazelles, behind the US (302) and China (278), after overtaking the UK
161 companies waiting for take-off
Each year Hurun India and ASK Private Wealth rank the private Indian startups most likely to reach a $1 billion valuation. This year they split the list in two.
Gazelles are startups founded since 2000, valued at $500 million to $1 billion, and judged likely to reach unicorn status within three years. India has 51, up from 47. Cheetahs are valued at $200 million to $500 million and are seen as potential unicorns within five years. There are 110, up from 103, and Hurun says that group has nearly doubled since 2021.
Fifteen companies joined the Gazelles this year. Nine climbed up from the Cheetahs, among them rocket maker Agnikul, kids' robotics firm Miko, fan maker Atomberg and farm platform DeHaat. Six arrived directly, including travel fintech Scapia, EV maker Simple Energy, and AI firms Ema and UnifyApps.
The 51 Gazelles have raised about $9 billion between them. The 41 that disclosed results reported FY25 revenue of ₹33,233 crore (about $3.4 billion), growing far faster than India's biggest listed companies (section 4).
Seven of last year's Gazelles have already crossed $1 billion:
Twin Health, a metabolic-health company, nearly tripled its valuation. Two more Gazelles, Shadowfax and Turtlemint, left the list by listing on the stock market.
Cheetahs · valued $200m to $500m
Seen as potential unicorns within five years. Worth about ₹3 lakh crore (~$31bn). Up from 103 last year.
Gazelles · valued $500m to $1bn
Likely unicorns within three years. Worth ₹3.3 lakh crore ($34.1bn). Up from 47. 15 new, 6 of them straight in.
New unicorns from last year's Gazelles
Six of the seven are in financial services or healthcare.
Values converted at Hurun's implied rate of about ₹97 to the dollar. The 161 total and ~$65bn combined value are KKReckons' sums of Hurun's two lists; Hurun does not publish a combined figure.
How fast are new unicorns really arriving?
It is tempting to talk of hundreds of unicorns in a few years. The record says otherwise, at least for now.
New Indian unicorns a year
*2026 is the first nine months. 2022 is an estimate from half-year counts. Sources: Tracxn, Business Standard.
India minted 44 unicorns in 2021, when cheap global money flooded into startups. When that money dried up, the number fell to two in 2023 and five in each of 2024 and 2025. Six arrived in the first nine months of 2026.
Now do the sum. If every one of the 161 companies on Hurun's lists made it within five years, that would be about 32 new unicorns a year. That would be a fine result, roughly six times the recent pace, but it would still be less than the 2021 peak. History says many will not make it (section 7).
A fair expectation is somewhere between five and fifteen a year if funding keeps thawing. That is still a lot of billion-dollar companies. It is not two a week.
Not just apps any more
Fintech still leads, but the newer names are making rockets, solar modules, chips and electric motorcycles.
Financial services is the biggest group, with 13 of the 51 Gazelles and 17 of the 110 Cheetahs, led by names like lender Finova Capital. The newer names are heavier. Rayzon Solar, which makes solar modules, is among the five most profitable Gazelles. Agnikul builds rockets. The Cheetah list includes eight EV makers and five aerospace and defence firms.
Hurun's Anas Rahman Junaid calls it a shift towards capital-intensive, engineering-led businesses. Matter shows what that looks like. It builds India's first geared electric motorcycle, the Aera, at a plant in Changodar near Ahmedabad that can make 1.2 lakh bikes a year, and holds 111 granted patents.
One surprise: Hurun counts just three AI companies among the 51 Gazelles, conversational-AI firm Observe among them, even in the middle of a global AI boom.
Where the 161 are based
Gazelles plus Cheetahs headquartered in each city. Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Mumbai hold 113 of the 161. Ten Gazelles are headquartered abroad (seven in the US). Source: Hurun via Deccan Herald and IANS.
What the startup boom adds up to
The future unicorns are the tip of a much wider base. The government's startup register now runs to a quarter of a million companies, and it is spreading beyond the big cities. Treat the job numbers with care: they are what startups report when they register, not a net count.
Government-recognised startups (DPIIT), across 770+ districts
Oct 2026 updateDirect jobs those startups say they created
Self-declared, cumulativeDirect jobs added in FY26 alone, a record year for new recognitions
PIB, April 2026Of recognised startups are outside the big metros
DPIITHave at least one woman director or partner
DPIITFY25 revenue growth of the Gazelles vs Nifty 50 companies
Hurun Gazelle Index 2026The money matters too. Startups selling to the government through its GeM procurement portal have won orders worth ₹68,105 crore. The 51 Gazelles alone employ 60,228 people; The biggest employer among them is Infinx, with 7,000 staff.
No reliable recent estimate exists of startups' share of India's GDP, taxes or exports, so we have not used one.
The IPO door is now at home
IPO money raised in October 2026, Bloomberg data. India's best month ever. The US figure covers 1–29 October only.
Jio Platforms led October with a ₹30,213 crore ($3.2 billion) offering, the largest Indian IPO in rupee terms, ahead of Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870 crore in 2024. In dollars, Hyundai's was arguably bigger, because the rupee was stronger then. Jio is a Reliance subsidiary, not a startup, but its more than 1 crore applications, a world first for an IPO, show how much domestic money is ready to buy new listings.
That is changing where startups list. Junaid says that for the first time, companies expected to list in the US are looking at India instead. Several moved their parent company back to India ("reverse flipping") to do so:
A thaw, not a spring
Funding has stopped falling but is a quarter of the 2021 peak. The big late-stage cheques that create unicorns are the slowest to return.
Funding for Indian tech startups
*2026 runs to 21 September, up 7% on the same period of 2025 but with 38% fewer rounds. Source: Tracxn.
Late-stage funding, the unicorn fuel
Down about 80% from 2021, with two months of 2026 still to count. Tiger Global made 55 Indian investments in 2021 and one in 2026; SoftBank went from 17 to two (Venture Intelligence).
Who is backing the builders
Deep tech needs money that will wait years for a return. Three new sources are stepping in: the government, India's biggest companies, and founders who have already made their fortunes.
₹1 lakh crore, lent like patient capital
The Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) scheme was approved by the Cabinet in July 2025 and launched in November 2025. It runs for six years under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation. The fund does not pick companies itself. It passes money to specialist fund managers, such as the Technology Development Board and BIRAC, which choose the projects.
Interest on long loans of up to 15 years, with no collateral or personal guarantee. Equity stakes of up to 25% are also allowed.
YourStory, Business TodayProjects backed in the first cohort, with ₹2,192 crore of fund support for ₹4,744 crore of R&D. The companies put in more than half themselves.
Business Today, Sept 2026Private fund managers added in October with ₹7,131 crore, each expected to raise a matching sum from private investors.
Entrepreneur India, Oct 2026The first cheques went out on 13 May 2026. Dhruva Space got ₹105 crore for a 500 kg satellite platform, and IISTEM Research got a first ₹50 crore for cell therapies. Drone-helicopter maker Endure Air, battery maker ETRNL Energy and medical-device firm Noccarc Robotics were also in the first group. Of the 22 projects in the first cohort, 14 are startups. Their work includes reusable rockets, quantum-secure communication, chip design and next-generation batteries.
Repayments go back into the pool to be lent again, which makes this a revolving fund rather than a grant. To qualify, the intellectual property and control must stay in India. "India's problem was never ideas. It was patient capital," said Sudhir Mehta, who sits on the investment committee of the Technology Development Board. India spends only about 0.64% of GDP on R&D, and private industry pays for just over a third of that.
IT giants buy into Indian AI
In June, HCLTech put $150 million into Sarvam AI. That led the $234 million first close of a $300 million round, which made Sarvam, the Bengaluru maker of Indian-language AI models, a unicorn at $1.5 billion. The two are building what they call a sovereign AI platform for businesses.
Cognizant is reported (Economic Times, 28 October) to be in talks to invest about $300 million at a $3.5–4 billion valuation, more than double. Neither company has confirmed this.
Others are writing cheques too. Zoho invested in a ₹107 crore round for chip startup Netrasemi. Wipro added $200 million to its venture arm in 2025. The India Deep Tech Investment Alliance, with Nvidia, Qualcomm Ventures, Info Edge Ventures, Premji Invest and more than ten VC firms, now has over $1.8 billion pledged to Indian chips, space, quantum and robotics.
Founders who reinvest their winnings
Kunal Shah (CRED) is India's most prolific founder-investor. By June 2026, Tracxn data showed 299 startups backed, typically around $100,000 each, with 14 now unicorns. On a 2024 count, the next most active were Anupam Mittal, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.
Nithin Kamath's Zerodha sets aside 10% of earnings for Rainmatter, which has put over ₹1,500 crore into 160+ startups, 44 of them in climate. It takes no board seats.
Deepinder Goyal (Zomato) co-founded LAT Aerospace with about $20 million of his own money to build a short-runway hybrid aircraft and Indian gas-turbine engines. In February it bought an anti-drone startup.
The Groww co-founders sold about ₹270 crore of shares in May and plan a ₹400–500 crore fund of their own money for consumer and deep-tech startups.
The fine print. RDI money is a loan or an equity stake, not a grant, so the earliest lab-stage research is excluded. Most of the ₹1 lakh crore has not yet been committed. Corporate investors want strategic returns, and Reliance wrote off all ₹1,645 crore it put into Dunzo. Even the best angel portfolios have misses: several of Kunal Shah's startups have shut down.
For every rocket, a few that blew up
The balance sheet of India's startup decade includes some of the biggest collapses anywhere.
Byju's
Still in insolvency. A US bankruptcy court's default judgment holds the founder liable for more than $1.07bn; he is appealing. In October the Kerala High Court refused to pause the insolvency process.
Dunzo
The quick-delivery app went dark in January 2025 and was admitted to insolvency that August. Reliance Retail wrote off its entire investment for a 25.8% stake.
BluSmart and Gensol
The regulator barred Gensol and its promoters from the securities market over EV loans of about ₹978 crore from IREDA and PFC. BluSmart's ride-hailing service shut down and entered insolvency.
Builder.ai
The India-linked AI app-builder announced insolvency in May 2025 after reports of overstated revenue. About 1,000 people, roughly 80% of staff, lost their jobs.
Hike
The 2025 law banning real-money online games killed its gaming app Rush, and the company closed. Gameskraft and Zupee also cut hundreds of jobs.
GoMechanic
The car-servicing startup said its financials had been overstated, then laid off staff and was sold in a distress deal.
Listing is not the finish line
Share price against IPO issue price, using quotes from 28–30 October 2026 (Turtlemint mid-September; Meesho approximate). Prices move daily.
The startups that listed between 2021 and 2024 are mostly below their IPO price. FirstCry, Swiggy and Ola Electric are down by more than half. Ola hit ₹22.25 in March and is now raising money in a rights issue priced at ₹27.
The 2025 class has done far better. Groww, Lenskart and Meesho are trading well above their IPO prices, and Shadowfax has more than doubled despite listing below its issue price in January.
Shutdowns are rising. Inc42 counted about 25 notable startup closures in 2025, double the 12 of 2024. By January 2026, 6,789 government-recognised startups had shut. Startups cut more than 9,500 jobs across 44 companies in 2025, and about a third of those companies closed entirely.
Eight reasons not every Gazelle will make it
- 01Regulatory whiplash. One rule can erase a business model. The RBI's 2024 action on Paytm Payments Bank and the 2025 real-money gaming ban both did.
- 02Governance. Byju's, GoMechanic, Builder.ai and Gensol all turned on what founders told investors and lenders.
- 03Profit is still rare. Only 15 of the 51 Gazelles are profitable. Their combined value is about ten times their disclosed revenue.
- 04Foreign money left. Tiger Global made 55 Indian investments in 2021 and one in 2026. SoftBank went from 17 to two.
- 05Deep tech takes years. Skyroot took eight years from founding to orbit. Matter, founded in 2019, began deliveries only after repeated delays.
- 06Lists are not destinies. In 2023 almost a fifth of Hurun's previous Gazelles and Cheetahs dropped off or were downgraded. In five years, only 15 Cheetahs have become unicorns.
- 07Who counts as a job. Hurun's headcounts appear to be payroll staff. Delivery riders at firms like Shadowfax are usually not counted, and no source splits out gig work.
- 08Self-reported totals. The 25 lakh startup jobs figure is what startups declared when registering. It does not subtract jobs lost when they shut.
Three signals from the launch pad
EloElo
Raised in a Series C co-led by Hornbill Capital and NBCUniversal, at about $500m. The Bengaluru company behind microdrama app Story TV has 40m+ monthly users across its apps.
Agrani Labs
Reported, not announcedThe Bengaluru AI-chip startup, founded by former Intel and AMD engineers in 2024, is reported to be nearing a $100–110m round led by Peak XV, with Google expected to join. Its seed valued it at about $35m.
Skyroot Aerospace
Vikram-1 reached a ~450km orbit on 18 July 2026, its first launch, making India the third country with a private orbital rocket. SpaceX's Falcon 1 got there on its fourth attempt, in 2008.
First try vs fourth try
A first-time success is rare for any new rocket. Skyroot plans commercial launches from early 2027.
The deep-tech startups to know
For readers who want to follow the next wave: Indian startups building rockets, chips, AI models, battery materials, clean power, drones, robots, air taxis, green materials and quantum hardware. Tap a sector to filter; each card links to the company's own website.
Cards marked One to watch are early-stage companies, most too young to have a published valuation, chosen for the technology rather than the valuation: a full-flow rocket engine, lab-grown retina cells, a private fusion test reactor.
70 startups shown
Skyroot Aerospace
Unicorn 2026Builds Vikram rockets to launch small satellites.
Reached orbit on its first launch in July 2026; valued at $1.1bn after a $60m raise in May.
skyroot.in ↗Agnikul Cosmos
Hurun Gazelle 2026Small launch vehicles powered by 3D-printed rocket engines.
Raised ₹150 crore at about a $500m valuation in November 2025.
agnikul.in ↗Pixxel
Hyperspectral imaging satellites that see what ordinary cameras cannot.
Put its first three Firefly satellites in orbit in January 2025.
pixxel.space ↗Digantara
Tracks satellites and debris in orbit; moving into missile tracking.
Raised a $50m Series B in December 2025.
digantara.co.in ↗Dhruva Space
Satellite platforms, deployers and ground stations under one roof.
Won ₹105 crore from the government's RDI fund for a satellite platform.
dhruvaspace.com ↗Bellatrix Aerospace
Thrusters that move and hold satellites in orbit.
Raised $20m led by Cactus Partners in March 2026.
bellatrix.aero ↗GalaxEye
Satellites that combine optical and radar images to see through cloud.
Its Drishti satellite launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in May 2026.
galaxeye.space ↗Astrogate Labs
Moves satellite data by laser instead of radio, satellite to ground and satellite to satellite.
Building India's first home-made optical link between satellites, aiming to be flight-ready in 2027.
astrogatelabs.com ↗Astrobase
One to watchBuilding a large, rapidly reusable rocket made of stainless steel.
Unveiled EVEREST in August 2026: an 800 kN methane engine of the full-flow type only SpaceX has flown. Backed by IN-SPACe's technology fund.
astrobase.in ↗EtherealX
One to watchA medium-lift rocket designed so both stages land and fly again.
Raised a $20.5m Series A at about $80m in January 2026.
etherealx.space ↗Manastu Space
One to watchGreen satellite fuel and thrusters that replace toxic hydrazine.
Added about ₹22 crore to its Series A in October 2026.
manastuspace.com ↗InspeCity
One to watchRepairs, refuels and extends the life of satellites in orbit.
Raised ₹100 crore in August 2026 to fly four in-orbit demonstration missions.
inspecity.com ↗Sisir Radar
One to watchRadar satellites that see through cloud and forest, led by a former ISRO centre director.
Raised a $7m Series A led by 360 ONE Asset in December 2025.
sisirradar.com ↗Agrani Labs
Designs chips to run AI models.
Seed round of $8m led by Peak XV; a far larger round is reported to be near.
agranilabs.com ↗Mindgrove Technologies
RISC-V chips for connected devices and security cameras.
Plans to launch its V2600 surveillance chip by late 2026.
mindgrovetech.in ↗InCore Semiconductors
RISC-V processor designs and tools for chipmakers.
Has shown a six-core RISC-V test chip.
incoresemi.com ↗Netrasemi
Edge-AI chips for vision and smart devices.
Raised ₹107 crore from Zoho and Unicorn India Ventures in July 2025.
netrasemi.com ↗BigEndian Semiconductors
Chips built for surveillance cameras.
Raised $6m led by IAN Alpha Fund in May 2026.
bigendiansemi.com ↗Vervesemi Microelectronics
Precision analog chips for energy, cars and medical devices.
Raised a $10m Series A in March 2026.
vervesemi.com ↗Agnit Semiconductors
One to watchGallium nitride chips for radar, telecom and power, built on 17 years of IISc research.
Opened a ₹3 crore chip-testing lab at IISc in June 2026.
agnitsemi.com ↗DeepLase Technologies
One to watchIIT Delhi spinout making high-power laser fibres that India mostly imports.
Raised a ₹6 crore seed round in March 2026.
deeplase.com ↗Sarvam AI
Unicorn 2026AI models built for Indian languages.
Became a unicorn with a $234m round led by HCLTech in June 2026.
sarvam.ai ↗Krutrim
The Ola group's AI company, now focused on AI cloud.
Reported ₹300 crore of FY26 revenue after a pivot and three 2025 layoff rounds.
olakrutrim.com ↗Ema
Hurun Gazelle 2026AI agents that act as digital employees for large companies.
Raised a $77m Series B.
ema.ai ↗UnifyApps
Hurun Gazelle 2026Connects enterprise software and runs AI on top of it.
Raised a $50m Series B led by WestBridge.
unifyapps.com ↗Observe.AI
Hurun Gazelle 2026AI agents and analytics for customer contact centres.
Named by Hurun among the three AI Gazelles.
observe.ai ↗Neysa
GPU cloud for training and running AI in India.
Blackstone led funding of over $1bn in February 2026.
neysa.ai ↗Gnani.ai
Voice AI agents and speech models for Indian languages.
Raised $10m led by Aavishkaar Capital in March 2026.
gnani.ai ↗Uniphore
Enterprise AI platform for business data and agents.
Raised $260m at a $2.5bn valuation in October 2025.
uniphore.com ↗Soket AI
Building Indian foundation language models.
Picked by the IndiaAI Mission to build a foundation model in 2025.
soket.ai ↗Awiros
AI that watches CCTV feeds for cities, airports and railways, with many video apps on one platform.
Says it ran railway-station security analytics for the 2025 Mahakumbh (company-reported).
awiros.com ↗Lohum
Recycles batteries into battery materials; moving into rare-earth magnets.
A ₹500 crore rare-earth magnet plant won approval under ECMS in March 2026.
lohum.com ↗Attero Recycling
Recovers metals, including rare earths, from e-waste and batteries.
Plans ₹100 crore to scale up rare-earth recycling.
attero.in ↗BatX Energies
Recycles lithium-ion batteries into critical minerals.
Raised a ₹105 crore Series A led by IvyCap in July 2026.
batxenergies.com ↗Metastable Materials
Refines metals out of used batteries.
Runs a battery-metals refinery in Bengaluru.
metastable.in ↗Recyclekaro
E-waste and lithium battery recycling.
Lifted capacity to 24,000 tonnes a year in 2025.
recyclekaro.com ↗Vimag Labs
Electric motors that need no rare-earth magnets.
Raised a $5m Series A led by Accel in January 2026.
vimaglabs.com ↗Rayzon Solar
Hurun Gazelle 2026Makes solar cells and modules.
Among Hurun's five most profitable Gazelles; IPO approved, not yet listed.
rayzonsolar.com ↗Simple Energy
Hurun Gazelle 2026Electric scooters.
Raised ₹250 crore in equity and debt in June 2026.
simpleenergy.in ↗Matter Motor Works
India's first geared electric motorcycle, the Aera.
Raised $25m in August 2026.
matter.in ↗Ultraviolette
High-performance electric motorcycles.
Raised $85m led by Yali Capital and TDK Ventures in September 2026.
ultraviolette.com ↗Euler Motors
Electric cargo vehicles for deliveries.
Raised a $47m Series E led by Lightrock in March 2026.
eulermotors.com ↗Exponent Energy
Fast-charging batteries and chargers for commercial EVs.
Raised ₹200 crore in June 2026.
exponent.energy ↗Newtrace
Green-hydrogen electrolysers that use no rare earths.
Raised $6.3m in March 2026.
newtrace.io ↗Clean Electric
EV battery packs with every cell bathed in a non-flammable cooling liquid, for very fast charging.
More than 3,000 of its packs are in electric three-wheelers. It says a full charge takes about 12 minutes.
cleanelectric.in ↗Pranos Fusion
One to watchCompact fusion reactors and superconducting magnets.
Made plasma in its small test reactor in 2026, which it calls India's first private tokamak; a long way from fusion power.
pranosfusion.energy ↗Dharaksha Ecosolutions
Grows packaging from crop stubble and mushroom roots to replace thermocol.
Uses farm waste that would otherwise be burned, and the packaging breaks down naturally.
dharaksha.com ↗Chakr Innovation
Captures soot from diesel generators; also developing aluminium-air batteries as a lithium alternative.
Raised a $23m Series C led by Iron Pillar in September 2025.
chakr.in ↗CarbonStrong
Low-carbon binders made from industrial waste that can replace up to half the cement in concrete.
Raised a ₹12.5 crore seed round led by IAN Angel Fund in August 2026.
carbonstrong.in ↗Alt Carbon
One to watchSpreads crushed basalt on farms so rain locks CO2 away as stable bicarbonate.
Issued its first verified carbon-removal credits to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in November 2025.
altcarbon.com ↗Tvasta
One to watchIIT Madras spinout that 3D-prints houses using ordinary concrete.
Launched its Cedar construction printer in May 2026.
tvasta.construction ↗NewSpace Research & Technologies
Swarm, tethered and solar-powered surveillance drones.
Won a ₹168 crore Army order for a solar spy drone.
newspace.co.in ↗Garuda Aerospace
Drones for farming, defence and industry.
Raised a ₹100 crore Series B in April 2025.
garudaaerospace.com ↗Raphe mPhibr
Military drones and aerospace systems.
Raised $100m led by General Catalyst in June 2025.
raphe.com ↗Sagar Defence Engineering
Unmanned boats, drones and autonomous systems.
Licensed to make explosives and ammunition in 2026.
sagardefence.com ↗Big Bang Boom Solutions
Anti-drone systems and defence electronics.
Indian Navy contract for a camouflage cloak via iDEX, 2025.
bigbangboom.com ↗Skylark Drones
Drones and software that turn aerial surveys into maps for mines, solar farms and railways.
Signed a 2025 deal with Sensonic to pair drones with fibre-optic sensing on railway tracks.
skylarkdrones.com ↗The ePlane Company
Compact electric air taxis that take off and land vertically, small enough for rooftops.
Rolled out its full-scale e200X prototype in July 2026; certification flight tests are planned from mid-2027.
eplane.ai ↗Ati Robotics (ATI Motors)
Self-driving robots that tow carts and pallets around factories, on its own hardware and software.
Raised a $20m Series B led by Walden Catalyst and NGP Capital in January 2025.
atirobotics.ai ↗Flo Mobility
Autonomous robots that carry up to 1.5 tonnes around messy, changing construction sites.
Raised $2.5m in May 2026 and says more than 60 robots are deployed.
flomobility.com ↗QpiAI
Builds quantum computers and the AI software to run them.
Raised a $32m Series A with the National Quantum Mission in 2025.
qpiai.tech ↗QNu Labs
Quantum-safe encryption for networks.
Raised ₹200 crore led by the National Quantum Mission in September 2026.
qnulabs.com ↗BQP (BosonQ Psi)
Quantum-inspired software for engineering simulation.
Raised a $5m seed led by Monta Vista Capital in 2025.
bqpsim.com ↗Bugworks Research
New antibiotics for drug-resistant infections.
Its lead antibiotic entered a Phase 1 trial in 2025.
bugworksresearch.com ↗String Bio
Turns methane into protein and other products.
Scaling a first-of-its-kind gas fermentation plant in Bengaluru.
stringbio.com ↗Pandorum Technologies
Bioengineered tissue therapies, starting with the cornea.
Raised an $18m Series B in February 2026.
pandorum.com ↗Immuneel Therapeutics
Lower-cost CAR-T cell therapies for cancer.
Raised a ₹100 crore Series B in June 2026.
immuneel.com ↗Mynvax
Protein vaccines for flu and COVID designed to survive heat, so they need no cold chain.
mynvax.com ↗Eyestem Research
One to watchLab-grown retina cells to treat dry macular degeneration, aiming for ₹3–4 lakh a treatment.
Raised $10m in 2025 to finish a Phase 2 trial.
eyestem.com ↗StrainX Bioworks
One to watchEngineered microbes that brew food proteins by precision fermentation.
Raised $13m co-led by Prime Venture Partners and Leo Capital in May 2026.
strainx.in ↗Not a tip sheet. These are companies worth knowing about, not investment ideas. Most are private, and many deep-tech firms have little or no revenue yet. Links go to each company's own site. Inclusion is not an endorsement and no company paid to appear.
India's next generation of billion-dollar companies is building things, not just valuations. The jobs are real, the IPOs are coming home, and the failures offer one timeless lesson: you can price a dream, but only a business can sustain it.
Check our numbers
Every figure in this report comes from these sources. Company-reported numbers are labelled as such. Where a source is paywalled, we cite a free report of the same news alongside it.
- RDI Fund: 22 projects backed (Business Today)
- RDI Fund's first cheques (YourStory)
- RDI Fund names 19 fund managers (Entrepreneur India)
- Sarvam becomes a unicorn, HCLTech leads (Business Today)
- Cognizant in talks to invest in Sarvam (Inc42, citing ET)
- Wipro commits $200m to its venture arm (Inc42)
- India Deep Tech Investment Alliance grows (Global Venturing)
- Netrasemi's Series A from Zoho (YourStory)
- Kunal Shah's angel portfolio, from Tracxn data (StartupTalky)
- India's top founder-investors (Business Standard) (metered)
- Rainmatter's ₹1,500 crore in 160+ startups (Entrepreneur India)
- LAT Aerospace buys Sharang Shakti (Entrepreneur India)
- Groww co-founders plan a ₹500 crore fund (Inc42)
- Hurun Gazelle Index 2026 (Business Standard) (metered)
- Gazelle Index 2026: growth and AI (YourStory)
- Gazelle Index: city split (Deccan Herald)
- Hurun Cheetah Index 2026 (IANS via Hans India)
- Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2026
- Tracxn India Tech Annual Funding Report 2025
- India tech funding, first nine months of 2026 (Tracxn data)
- DPIIT startup jobs, FY26 (PIB)
- DPIIT: 2.5 lakh startups, 25.42 lakh jobs (KNN)
- Jio Platforms listing (CNBC)
- Jio Platforms IPO (Axios)
- India tops global IPO market in October (Bloomberg) (paywalled)
- How Jio became India's second-largest company (Al Jazeera)
- Indian startup IPO tracker 2026 (Inc42)
- Shadowfax share rally (Value Research)
- Turtlemint lists at a discount (Entrackr)
- New-age tech stocks sell-off (Inc42)
- EloElo raises $80m (TechCrunch)
- NBCUniversal backs Story TV (Variety)
- Agrani Labs emerges from stealth (DCD)
- Agrani Labs in talks for ~$100m (Compsmag)
- Skyroot's Vikram-1 reaches orbit (IEEE Spectrum)
- India's first private orbital launch (Space.com)
- Matter's geared e-bike plant, Ahmedabad (DeshGujarat)
- 25 Indian startups that shut in 2025 (Inc42)
- 9,500 startup layoffs in 2025 (Inc42)
- 6,385 recognised startups shut (Angel One)
- Byju's insolvency: Kerala HC (LiveLaw)
- Dunzo admitted to insolvency (Inc42)
- Gensol and BluSmart insolvency (Business Standard) (metered)
- Builder.ai runs out of money (TechCrunch)
- Hike shuts after gaming ban (TechCrunch)
- 147 future unicorns, 2023 index (Forbes India)
