India’s startup ecosystem has added a fresh wave of billion-dollar companies this year. According to the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Unicorn and Future Unicorn Report 2025, eleven new ventures have entered the unicorn club, raising the country’s total tally to 73. This milestone underscores both the resilience and the evolving maturity of India’s new-age economy, even as the pace of unicorn creation becomes more measured compared to previous years.

India Adds 11 New Unicorns in 2025

A unicorn—defined as a startup valued at over $1 billion—remains a rare milestone globally, and India continues to hold its position as one of the fastest-growing unicorn hubs.

In the Hurun report, Ai.tech, an AI-driven startup studio founded by Divyank Turakhia, leads the new unicorn entrants with a valuation of $1.5 billion. Other new additions include Navi Technologies, Rapido, Netradyne, Jumbotail, DarwinBox, Vivriti Capital, Veritas Finance, Moneyview, Juspay, and Drools.

Bengaluru Remains India’s Unicorn Capital

India’s tech geography is as dynamic as its innovations. Once again, Bengaluru dominates the nation’s unicorn landscape with 26 unicorns, collectively valued at $70 billion

Followed by:

• Delhi-NCR: 12 unicorns worth $36.3 billion

• Mumbai: 11 unicorns valued at $22.8 billion

This regional leadership extends to 2025’s unicorns as well—Bengaluru produced three new unicorns this year, Mumbai added one, while two others are headquartered in the U.S. with strong Indian operational roots.

Funding Momentum: Peak XV Partners Dominates

India’s startup investment activity remained strong, with multiple prominent funds deploying capital across early-stage and late-stage ventures. Peak XV Partners emerged as the biggest investor of the year with 42 startup bets, reinforcing its influence in India’s venture ecosystem. This growing investor diversification, coupled with the rise of category-creating companies, demonstrates a steady but healthy evolution in India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The report also highlights the deepening diversity in leadership. Women-led startups continue to make their mark. Women founders such as Ruchi Kalra (OfBusiness), Vineeta Singh (SUGAR Cosmetics), and Garima Sawhney (Pristyn Care) are among those driving billion-dollar enterprises. India’s youngest unicorn founders remain 22-year-olds Kaivalya Vohra and Aadit Palicha, the brains behind Zepto. 

India’s Most Valuable Unicorns in 2025

The top of the valuation chart is led by Zerodha at $8.2 billion, followed by Razorpay and Lenskart, each valued at $7.5 billion, and Groww, standing strong at $7 billion. These companies collectively employ over 206,000 people, with Lenskart, OfBusiness, and PhysicsWallah leading employment numbers among unicorns.

The Changing Rhythm of India’s Unicorn Growth

While India celebrated a surge in unicorn creation in 2024—when seven startups crossed the billion-dollar mark—the momentum moderated in 2025, with six startups rising to unicorn status: Netradyne, Porter, Drools, Fireflies.ai, Jumbotail, and Dhan. Despite the modest count, India today boasts 125 unicorns cumulatively valued at over $366 billion, having raised more than $115 billion to date.

The pattern of 2025’s unicorns is consistent with India’s post-pandemic economic direction.

• Logistics: Netradyne, Porter

• Ecommerce and Retail: Drools, Jumbotail

• Artificial Intelligence: Fireflies.ai

• Fintech: Dhan

Over 125 soonicorns—startups valued between $200 million and $1 billion—stand poised to join the club soon, indicating a still-vigorous pipeline. The pipeline is equally promising: D2C jewellery brand BlueStone is closing in on a billion-dollar valuation on the stock market, while proptech platform Square Yards is expected to raise a unicorn-level round, potentially pushing this year’s count even higher.

India’s Startup Ecosystem: Signs of Maturity and Market Correction

After a slow 2023 that saw only two unicorns, India rebounded in 2024 with seven fresh entrants. But 2025 shows a more tempered trajectory: six new unicorns, including Netradyne, Porter, Drools, Fireflies.ai, Jumbotail, and Dhan.

This slowdown is widely interpreted as a sign of:

• Corrected valuations, following the funding exuberance of previous years

• Increased focus on profitability

• Sectoral consolidation, especially in logistics and ecommerce

Despite this moderation, India still hosts 125 unicorns, having collectively raised more than $115 billion to date.

Top 20 Most Valuable Indian Unicorns in 2025

The 2025 leaderboard features industry titans across fintech, ecommerce, SaaS, and enterprise services.

The New Unicorns of 2025: Full Breakdown

1. Dhan

Stock-trading platform Dhan became a unicorn in October after its parent company, Raise Financial Services, secured $120 million in a Series B round led by Hornbill Capital and MUFG. This round placed the company’s valuation above $1.2 billion.

Founded in 2021 by Pravin Jadhav, Jay Prakash Gupta, and Alok Pandey, Dhan has actively diversified through products like ScanX, Upsurge, Filter Coffee, and Fuzz, which offers AI-driven financial insights.

Financially, Dhan delivered a profit after tax of INR 400 crore in FY25—more than double the previous year—while its revenue surged to INR 900 crore, up from INR 373 crore.

2. Drools

Bengaluru-based D2C pet-care startup Drools hit unicorn status in May following Nestlé’s minority acquisition. Founded in 2010 by Fahim Sultan, the brand has over 650 SKUs, serving pets with prescription diets, value-driven meals, and high-protein formulations.

Drools exports to 22 countries and retails through more than 40,000 outlets. Its cat-food vertical, Purepet Cat, now contributes 35–40% of total revenue. Though it posted a INR 14-crore loss in FY24, its revenue climbed 50% YoY to INR 715 crore.

3. Fireflies.ai

Enterprise meeting-assistant platform Fireflies.ai reached the unicorn bracket via a secondary tender offer in June, achieving a valuation above $1 billion. Launched in 2016 by Krish Ramineni and Sam Udotong, the startup operates globally with a remote-first team.

Fireflies.ai supports 20 million users across 500,000 organizations, including 75% of Fortune 500 companies, and has processed over 2 billion meeting minutes. The startup prioritizes security with private data storage and does not use customer data to train its AI models.

4. Jumbotail

Bengaluru-based B2B marketplace Jumbotail became a unicorn after raising $120 million in June, led by SC Ventures. The milestone came shortly after acquiring Solv India, a move that expanded its reach to 500,000 small retailers across 400+ cities.

Founded by Karthik Venkateswaran and Ashish Jhina in 2015, Jumbotail has raised $263 million to date. Despite a net loss increase to INR 276.74 crore in FY24, revenue rose 7.9% YoY to INR 884 crore.

5. Netradyne

The first unicorn of 2025, Netradyne, secured $90 million in a Series D round led by Point72 Private Investments, pushing its valuation to $1.34 billion. Founded in 2015, it specializes in AI-powered fleet safety and video telematics, offering dashcams and driver-performance analytics.

Netradyne has analysed 18 billion driving miles, working with 3,000+ customers worldwide, including Indian Oil and GreenLine Mobility. It has over 450,000 active subscribers across sectors like transportation and utilities.

6. Porter

Logistics startup Porter became India’s second unicorn of the year after raising $200 million in a round led by Kedaara Capital and Wellington Management. Valued between $1.1–1.2 billion, the company serves both B2B and B2C logistics needs, including relocation, intercity courier services, and enterprise transport.

Founded in 2014 by Pranav Goel, Uttam Digga, and Vikas Choudhary, Porter partners with 300,000 driver-partners and serves 2 million SMEs, aiming to increase this base to 10 million by 2030. It turned profitable in FY25 with INR 55.2 crore PAT, coupled with a 58% revenue surge to INR 4,306 crore.

Gaming Startups Lose Unicorn Status

The 2025 edition of the Hurun report outlines key changes reshaping India's startup environment. The introduction of the Online Gaming Act 2025, which aims to eliminate real-money gaming, resulted in four gaming giants—Dream11, Games24x7, Gameskraft, and Mobile Premier League—losing their unicorn status. Zupee and WinZO also saw valuation declines.

Across the ecosystem, startups valued above $200 million are estimated to employ 374,000 people, with unicorns contributing 206,000 of these jobs.

Employment Impact

Startups valued at over $200 million employ 3.74 lakh people in India. Unicorns alone contribute 2.06 lakh jobs, underscoring the sector’s role as a major employment engine.

India’s Unicorn Story Is Entering a New Phase

Even as unicorn creation moderates, India’s pipeline remains robust and diverse. With traditional sectors like logistics, fintech, ecommerce, and enterprise services blending with AI-driven innovation, 2025 signals not a slowdown, but a shift toward maturity, sustainability, and long-term value creation.

The next wave of unicorns—spanning categories like D2C, proptech, and AI SaaS—indicates that India’s startup story is far from plateauing. Instead, it’s evolving into a more resilient, globally competitive force.

With inputs from agencies

Image Source: Multiple agencies

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