New Delhi: India has risen to the third position globally in tech startup funding, following the United States and the United Kingdom, while surpassing Germany and France, according to a report released on Thursday. In the first nine months of 2025, funding for Indian tech startups fell 23 percent year-on-year to $7.7 billion. This is down from $10.1 billion during the same period in 2024 and $8.3 billion in 2023. Neha Singh, co-founder of Tracxn, stated, “India’s ascent to third place globally demonstrates the resilience and adaptability of our startup ecosystem.
We are witnessing a clear transition towards maturity, characterized by increasing acquisitions, stable IPO activity, and ongoing unicorn creation, which are providing balanced exit options for founders and investors.” Sectors such as enterprise applications, retail, and transportation and logistics technologies are enhancing long-term investor confidence and driving India’s digital transformation, she added. Seed-stage funding amounted to $727 million, reflecting a 39 percent decrease from the previous year. Early-stage funding reached $2.7 billion, a decline of 10 percent, whereas late-stage funding decreased by 27 percent to $4.3 billion, as reported. The number of funding rounds exceeding $100 million fell to 10 from 16 last year and 15 in 2023, while the median round size increased to $1.5 million.
Enterprise applications led sectoral funding with $2.3 billion, followed by retail at $2 billion and transportation and logistics technology at $1.79 billion. In terms of exits, there were 110 acquisitions in 2025, marking a 15 percent rise from 96 in the same period last year. Demand for cloud and AI solutions has continued to drive acquisition activity in enterprise applications. In 2025, India added four unicorns, bringing the total to 122. Startups in Bengaluru maintained a dominant position, securing 31 percent of total funding, while Delhi accounted for 18 percent.
