2025 proved to be a pivotal year for Indian startups, signalling a clear shift from rapid expansion to measured, sustainable growth. After two years of funding corrections, the ecosystem showed early signs of stabilisation, with venture funding witnessing a modest recovery and capital increasingly flowing toward profitable or near-profitable businesses. The year also saw a sharper focus on cost discipline, AI-led efficiency, and sector-specific depth, even as fewer but stronger startups moved closer to IPO readiness. According to industry data, this reset helped redefine founder and investor priorities, setting the stage for 2026 to be shaped by resilience, integration, and long-term value creation rather than scale alone.

• HungerBox: Sustainable Scaling Becomes the New Growth Benchmark

Reflecting a broader shift across enterprise and B2B startups, 2025 brought a renewed focus on intelligent scaling and operational discipline. Founders increasingly relied on technology and data to drive efficiency rather than expansion alone.

Sandipan Mitra, CEO & Co-founder, HungerBox, stated,

“2025 made it clear that sustainable startup growth isn’t driven by speed alone, but by how intelligently businesses use technology, data, and operational discipline to scale. AI and automation moved from experimentation to execution, enabling sharper decision-making and more efficient operations. As we move into 2026, the spotlight will shift to sustainable business models, sector diversification, and measurable impact. The next phase of growth will belong to startups that balance innovation with resilience and long-term value creation.”

Looking ahead, this signals a more mature ecosystem in 2026, where resilience and long-term value creation will take precedence over short-term growth metrics.

• EaseMyTrip: Travel Startups Shift from Scale to Purpose

For travel startups, 2025 marked a transition toward more thoughtful, customer-first growth. Platforms focused on improving usability, flexibility, and personalisation, responding to evolving traveller expectations.

Mr.Rikant Pittie, Co-founder & CEO, EaseMyTrip, stated,

“As we navigated 2025, it became clear that travel startups entered a more purposeful phase of expansion, combining scale with stronger, more meaningful product development. Travellers looked for platforms that could simplify planning, offer flexibility, and deliver more personalised experiences. This pushed travel-tech companies to move beyond single-service offerings and build solutions that address the entire journey. The emphasis was on usability, trust, and real customer value rather than just scale, reflecting a broader shift from growth at any cost to sustainable, customer-first innovation.”

This evolution is expected to deepen in 2026 as travel becomes part of a broader lifestyle and services ecosystem.

He further added, “Looking ahead to 2026, the next phase of startup growth will be driven by integration and personalisation. Travel will increasingly blend with lifestyle, mobility, and financial services, becoming part of a larger everyday ecosystem, while technology and data will shape smarter, more intuitive planning. Startups that can connect services seamlessly, reduce friction across touchpoints, and adapt quickly to changing traveller behaviour will stand out in a competitive landscape. At EaseMyTrip, this reinforces the importance of building future-ready platforms that align closely with evolving traveller expectations.”

•  Redcliffe Labs: Preventive Healthcare Moves to the Forefront

Healthcare and diagnostics startups witnessed a significant shift in 2025, driven by technology-led access and engagement. Preventive care increasingly moved from optional to essential, supported by digital-first models.

“The diagnostics and preventive healthcare space is undergoing a fundamental shift, powered by technology. AI-led test recommendations, digital-first reporting, and at-home sample collection are transforming how people access and engage with preventive care. As we move into 2026, the focus will increasingly be on personalised, affordable, and outcome-driven solutions that enable early detection and reduce long-term healthcare costs. Health-tech startups that can balance innovation with scale, accessibility, and real-world impact will shape the next phase of growth in the sector,” stated Aditya Kandoi, CEO & Founder, Redcliffe Labs

This shift highlights how health-tech startups are positioning themselves as long-term partners in wellness rather than episodic service providers.

1. NextLeap: Rethinking Education and Upskilling in the Age of AI

For education and upskilling startups, 2025 emerged as a moment of reflection as much as acceleration. While AI rapidly scaled access to content and teaching assistance, it also raised fundamental questions around learning depth, cognitive engagement, and skill development.

As per Arindam Mukherjee, Co-founder and CEO, NextLeap,

“2025 was a defining year for education and upskilling. While AI tools scaled content creation and teaching assistance at an unprecedented pace, we also saw a worrying trend—students increasingly using AI for instant answers rather than as thinking partners. This dual shift has forced the industry to reflect deeply on learning quality, foundational skills, and how AI should truly augment human intelligence rather than replace it. As we head into 2026, the focus will decisively move from degrees to demonstrable skills, from content to learning design, and from inputs to outcomes. Hiring will increasingly reward skill portfolios over credentials, and every AI company will inevitably become an education company. The challenge ahead is not resisting this future, but designing learning systems that make humans more capable, not more dependent.” 

As the ecosystem moves into 2026, this shift underscores a broader transition toward outcome-driven education models, where skill validation, applied learning, and human–AI collaboration will shape how talent is built and evaluated.

• Credgenics: Fintech’s Shift to Disciplined, Post-Disbursement Growth

2025 marked a clear maturation phase for India’s fintech ecosystem, particularly in digital lending. As scale increased, startups and lenders began focusing more sharply on risk management, compliance, and what happens after credit is disbursed. The year underscored the importance of strong post-disbursement frameworks, early stress detection, and borrower-centric recovery practices.

“In 2025, India’s fintech landscape matured with a sharper focus on sustainable & risk managed credit growth and regulatory compliance. As digital lending continued to expand, lenders increasingly recognised the need for stronger post-disbursement frameworks, especially around early delinquency identification and efficient debt recovery. Regulatory guidance from the RBI led fintechs and NBFCs to invest more in transparent, technology-led and borrower-centric credit management practices – moving away from manual and fragmented processes.

Looking ahead to 2026, fintech growth is expected to be driven by deeper use of AI, higher adoption of voice and video led engagements and extensive usage of data analytics across the credit lifecycle, especially for early stress detection, collections automation and personalised borrower communication. As digital credit penetration expands, fintech success will depend on balancing growth with disciplined recovery and customer-centric debt management,” said Anand Agrawal, Co-founder & CPTO, Credgenics.

As fintech enters 2026, this shift reflects a broader industry move toward trust-led growth — where technology, compliance, and customer experience are central to sustainable credit expansion.

1. Green Frontier Capital: Climate Tech Gains Momentum

2025 was a breakthrough year for India’s climate tech sector, with investments becoming more intentional and quality-focused. Startups demonstrating strong unit economics, regulatory alignment, and clear growth trajectories gained attention, particularly in sectors like mobility, energy transition, waste management, and agriculture. Founders increasingly emphasised capital efficiency, strategic partnerships, and profitability, laying the groundwork for a more mature ecosystem.

“The year 2025 was truly a transformative milestone for climate tech funding in India! After the enthusiasm of previous cycles and the necessary market adjustments, investments this year became more intentional and focused. Startups that showcased robust unit economics, aligned with regulations, and displayed a clear growth trajectory gained significant traction. Even amidst a more selective venture landscape, climate tech shone brightly, capturing a growing share of early-stage investments, particularly in innovative sectors like mobility, energy transition, waste management, and agricultural value chains.

What made this year so remarkable was the emphasis on the quality of capital over mere quantity. We saw enthusiastic participation from domestic institutional investors, family offices, and forward-thinking corporations, alongside patient global capital that genuinely understands the long-term climate challenges facing India. Robust policy support—from electric vehicle initiatives to scalable renewables and green hydrogen—has played an essential role in reducing risks associated with innovation and hastening commercialisation. Importantly, the founders in 2025 were laser-focused on capital efficiency, strategic partnerships, and achieving profitability, which laid a solid foundation for the ecosystem.

As we look forward to 2026, the outlook is nothing short of bright! India is stepping into a remarkable phase where climate innovation is in perfect harmony with market readiness. We expect to see increased follow-on capital for successful platforms, more substantial early-growth funding rounds, and enriched collaboration amongst startups, established companies, and policymakers. Climate tech is poised to evolve from a mere niche sector to a cornerstone of India’s economic growth and global competitiveness.

With surging energy demand, rapid urbanisation, and steadfast sustainability commitments, India stands out as one of the world’s largest climate investment opportunities. The next wave of thriving companies will likely be those adept at integrating impactful climate solutions with strong governance, scalable business models, and outstanding execution. We are genuinely excited about what 2026 holds—not just for the capital we plan to invest, but for the tangible, positive changes it will bring to our world,” said Karan Mehta, Venture Principal, Green Frontier Capital

Looking ahead, the climate-tech sector is expected to move from a niche focus to a central pillar of India’s economic growth, driven by startups that combine impact, execution, and scalability.

Taken together, these perspectives underline a broader reset in the startup ecosystem. 2025 laid the foundation for more resilient, integrated, and impact-driven businesses. As startups move into 2026, the focus will be on building platforms that last, combining technology, trust, and sustainability to deliver meaningful value at scale.