During this period, five startups including Jumbotail, Drools, Porter, Netradyne, and Juspay entered the unicorn club: Reports
CHENNAI: Indian startups raised around $6.72 billion funding during the first half of 2025, against $7 billion in the same period of 2024, but much lower than the funding in 2022 and 2021.
Supported by several deals exceeding $100 million, including four that crossed $200 million, startup funding in 2025 followed last year's trend, as per the data of TheKredible.
The H1 funding was close to $7 billion in H1 2024 and surpassed the H1 2023 numbers. However, it was lower than $20 billion raised in H1 2022 and $13 billion in H1 2021. On a month-on-month basis, June saw just under $1 billion in funding, lower than the $1.14 billion raised in May.
During this period, five startups including Jumbotail, Drools, Porter, Netradyne, and Juspay entered the unicorn club.
H1 2025 saw a mix of strategic and consolidation-driven acquisitions in the Indian startup ecosystem, with consumer goods giant HUL leading the charts through its $350 million acquisition of D2C skincare brand Minimalist. Everstone followed with a $200 million buyout of SaaS player Wingify.
Indian startups saw a wave of layoffs in H1 2025, with companies like VerSe, Gupshup, and Zypp Electric leading the cuts. However, overall layoffs stood at around 1,000 during H1, excluding public companies like Zomato and Ola Electric, which laid off 600 and 1,000 employees respectively. In comparison, Indian startups laid off 3,300 people in H1 2024.