42 Indian Tech & Startup Predictions For 2025

We’re so back! On the first day of 2025, the mood in the startup ecosystem is in stark contrast to how 2024 began.

A positive and bullish sentiment is running strong among startup founders and investors as the Indian tech and startup ecosystem showed its tenacity, maturity and resilience in 2024 after two years of  introspection and course correction. And so we move on to 2025, beginning as usual with our list of predictions for the tech and startup ecosystem in the year to come.

Our Indian Tech Outlook 2025 series has delved into individual sectors such as GenAI, climate tech and gaming, and we will continue to dive deeper into key sectors such as fintech and ecommerce through the first week of the new year.

But right now, the spotlight is on the trends that will dominate the year to come, based on which we can make 42 tech and startup predictions for 2025 — from the state of IPOs, to what will happen after the quick commerce boom, how the GenAI revolution will shape up and what to expect from the all-important VC and investor ecosystem.

Inc42’s Tech Predictions For 2025

When we did this exercise last year, we laid down around 25 predictions for 2024, and we are pleased to report that just a couple were off the mark, with 22 of our predictions coming true in 2024.

These include the increasing reliance on platform fees by consumer services startups, consolidation in the VC space, testing times for Paytm, the big GenAI push among enterprises, and more. Some of these trends continue in 2025, including the bigger spotlight on GenAI, profitability and IPOs.

So without further ado, here’s a look at our 42 tech and startup predictions for India in 2025:

Number Of Indian Startup IPOs To More Than Double In 2025

The Indian startup ecosystem is poised for a historic IPO surge in 2025, with at least 23 new-age tech startups already on course to join the public markets. This would be almost double the tally of 2023, when 13 new-age tech companies had their IPOs. The trend of smaller IPOs will also continue in 2025, as startups look to seek rightsized valuations from public markets investors.

Collectively, listed companies raised INR 29,000 Cr ($3.4 Bn) from the public markets in 2024, and with the likes of PhysicsWallah, Ather Energy, BlueStone, CarDekho, OYO, and OfBusiness expected to launch their IPOs this year, this number could well also double. The surge in public listings reflects growing confidence among tech startups around becoming ready for public markets, and with high interest for new-age tech stocks among retail investors as evidenced by the massive interest for MobiKwik and Swiggy at the end of 2024.

Pre-IPO Rounds Will Become More Prominent

The definition and scope of pre-IPO rounds are changing rapidly in the Indian startup ecosystem. Now, most rounds up to two years before an IPO are considered part of the pre-IPO phase, and several companies have already reached this point in 2024, including the likes of OYO and PhysicsWallah.

In 2025, we will see more and more companies raising large rounds in preparation for an IPO, especially with the emergence of specialised pre-IPO funds, increased participation from domestic HNIs and family offices that are looking to make gains and PE funds. According to investors, pre-IPO rounds are becoming crucial liquidity events for early investors and are helping companies build stronger foundations before going public.

Listed Tech Companies On QIP Route

In 2024, Zomato raised INR 8,500 Cr through a QIP, followed by Nazara’s INR 855 Cr preferential placement, and Zaggle which netted INR 595 Cr from its QIP. In 2025, we expect several such QIPs from the cohort of startups that went public between 2021 and 2023.

Listed companies in competitive sectors such as fintech and consumer tech segments prefer QIPs for fundraising as a means to reduce the regulatory and financial burden compared to options such as debt, secondary or rights issues. For instance, a QIP round would suit companies in competitive sectors such as Paytm or Nykaa, or even those like PB Fintech which are looking to expand into new segments.

Typically, such funds are allocated to new lines of business that came up after the public listing, such as acquisitions of adjacent or new verticals, investments in technology infrastructure (AI, in this day and age) or just for customer acquisition and brand-building for the long-term.

SEBI’s Eye On SME IPO Boom

India’s IPO market commanded an impressive 36% share of total global listings in Q3 2024, with 298 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) hitting the public markets.

However, the glut of SME IPOs has also drawn SEBI’s attention. The regulator’s focus is shifting decisively towards quality over quantity, with new rules expected to address issues such as pricing transparency, promoter backgrounds, and business sustainability. Remember the case of a Delhi-based motorbike dealer’s IPO which sought to raise INR 12 Cr but received bids worth INR 4,800 Cr? That’s for a business that just has two stores in the capital region.

SEBI is looking to curb such frothy enthusiasm in the market and protect retail investors while continuing to support the growth and maturity of the SME ecosystem.

Strategic M&As In Growth Stage

After a 20% spike in funding for the year in 2024, the next year is expected to see an even bigger jump. But when it comes to M&As the picture was bleak in 2024.

Mergers and acquisitions fell to an all-time low since 2014, and a lot of these acquisitions were distress sales or fire sales. While this trend is likely to continue, one new factor could very well emerge in 2025.

That’s listed new-age companies eyeing growth-stage startups with proven business models, and a measurable revenue boost. Sectors like fintech, enterprise tech, and consumer services are most likely to see this wave of established players acquiring startups either for the tech or to add new verticals. See the point about QIPs.

PE Activity To See Uptick In 2025

Private equity (PE) activity in India saw a near 25% growth in 2024 (January to November) touching $30.89 Bn across more than 1,000 deals. The streak of IPOs (even outside the startup ecosystem) has given fresh confidence to PE investors, with a huge inflow for healthcare, green energy and manufacturing. These are likely to be the big sectors for PE investors in 2025 as well.

Secondary Deals To Shoot Up

The wave of secondary deals in 2024 saw more than a dozen such deals, which gave early investors exits from the likes of Capillary, ixigo, Urban Company, Porter, and Pocket FM, among other startups. Expect more such deals as funds from the 2012-2013 vintage reach expiry dates in 2025, and VCs look to offload their portfolio to return funds to the LPs.

Enterprise Tech M&As To See A Boost

In the same vein as secondaries, we expect M&As to grow for sectors such as enterprise tech which are going through the AI churn and revolution. SaaS companies are shopping for tech capabilities, focussing on IP-led tech acquisitions. Watch for consolidation in areas like cybersecurity, cloud computing, and AI-enabled enterprise applications.

Edtech Consolidation On The Cards

The edtech sector is also expected to be in for significant consolidation in 2025, with even unicorns likely to be acquired, particularly with continued speculation around Unacademy.

The market is maturing beyond the pandemic boom, and with the focus on sustainable business models, there’s little room for the splurging VC dollars as seen in the past. Watch for interesting combinations of online and offline models, particularly in test preparation and skill development segments.

The public listing of PhysicsWallah is also likely to be preceded by a few acquisitions, especially as the edtech giant continues its multi-product strategy.

The End Of BYJU’S

This one is not exactly a stretch because the edtech giant was slammed left right and centre over the past year for its corporate governance issues, financial mess and serious allegations against cofounder and CEO Byju Raveendran of misappropriation of funds.

But after months of being in the insolvency resolution process in 2024, BYJU’S will finally find a suitor in 2025 that could look to either sell the assets and write off the company, or put a new management in place and start anew. Either way, the BYJU’S we know will more or less cease to exist this year

Legacy OEMs To Push EV Accelerator

India’s legacy automobile OEMs are finally waking up to the EV revolution, responding to the clarion call by Ola Electric, Ather Energy, Revolt, Pure EV and other startups that continued to gain market share in 2024.

In fact, towards the end of the last year, legacy players had already begun leveraging their manufacturing expertise, established dealer networks to gain market share at the expense of startups.

The Year For Electric Cars

The next big opportunity in India’s EV sector will come from electric cars. Mahindra, Tata, Maruti Suzuki, BYD, MG Motor and others will continue adding to their growing lineup of electric cars, backed by commercial adoption in the ride-hailing and corporate travel segment.

Next Phase For EV Charging Infra

As the EV battlefield expands beyond two-wheelers, the onus is on companies to invest in charging infrastructure and battery technology, which are long-term moats.

India Inc will need to take charge of EV infrastructure development, as this involves capital expenditure and the funds for that are often out of reach of startups. But building up EV charging infra capacity will take more than just a push from EV companies. Major real estate developers, retailers, and hospitality chains will need to adopt EV charging stations into their properties to attract a more premium clientele that will adopt high-tech electric cars.

Tesla’s India Entry Imminent

And speaking of premiumisation, Tesla’s official entry into India didn’t happen in 2024 but that could swiftly change. Tesla has shown some indications of its intent to invest in India, but a regulatory hurdle or two has always kept the Elon Musk-led EV giant out of the market.

Will the penetration of larger OEMs in the EV segment spur Musk to finally bring Tesla to India? One out-there take is that Tesla will partner with a local entity to enter the Indian market, just like Apple did, but establishing charging infrastructure will be critical for any plans Tesla has given the current state in that regard.

Extended Reality’s First Steps In Retail

India’s retail landscape is set for a revolutionary transformation through extended reality (XR) technologies, potentially bringing a sci-fi touch to neighbourhood kirana stores.

Of course, a lot of this is hardware dependent but major plans are afoot from Google, Samsung and Apple to bring XR to the masses in the near future. Most electronics companies view this as the future of mobile computing, and major retailers will start investing in AR/VR solutions in 2025 to enable immersive shopping experiences

The integration of XR is expected to bridge the gap between online convenience and offline experience, creating the ‘phygital’ retail segment

‘Phygital’ Quick Commerce 

Quick commerce was the flavour of the year in 2024, but a number of new startups are looking to shed the dark store model for a retail-first model with delivery as an add-on.

The likes of FirstClub, The New Shop, and others are raising funds and expanding rapidly to tap into this wave. Expect these to compete with Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart, but we won’t be surprised if some of these become acquisition targets for giants.

Vertical Quick Commerce On The Up

Vertical-specific quick commerce models are emerging, with companies specialising in categories like fresh meat (Meatigo, Licious), medicines (Plazza, 1MG), fashion (Myntra, Slikk, Blip), food (Swiggy, Swish, Zing). While many of these platforms have the scale to sustain these quick commerce operations, several new startups will likely be at the mercy of VC funding to scale up.

Will investors back these new QC models or will these startups just become more acquisition targets for the giants?

Consolidation On The Quick Commerce Front 

Within QC, the focus for major players is shifting from customer acquisition to operational efficiency and sustainable unit economics either through the right product assortment or new categories.

It won’t be a surprise if some of this consolidation happens on the brand front if and when the delivery apps push for more private labels.

Cafe Wars In The Metros

Expect a tooth-and-nail battle in India’s metros for 10-minute cafe deliveries. Zepto Cafe, Blinkit Bistro and Swiggy Bolt have thrown the gauntlet but other startups are also emerging, essentially turning the cloud kitchen model on its head. Expect to see AI-driven demand mapping and automation in the kitchen being billed as moats for these apps.

Policy Scare For Quick Commerce 

It won’t be all rainbows and sunshine for quick commerce though. Ten-minute deliveries are big business, with the three major companies reporting more than INR 7,500 Cr in revenue in FY24.  But the impact of this growth is keenly felt by kiranas that claim to have suffered major losses due to the expansion of these quick commerce companies.

From a regulations point of view, the focus is also likely to be on gig worker policy, working conditions and hours, besides the impact on kiranas and retailers, if the past few months have been any indication. There are also health and safety concerns related to expired or damaged products, and there could even be new rules pertaining to foreign investments in quick commerce.

D2C & House Of Brands Evolution

It’s just not been a year for D2C startups or houses of brands. D2C startups raised more than $595 Mn across 115 deals in 2024, a steep decline from $1.4 Bn from 134 deals in 2023. However, with consumer preferences remaining just as dynamic as the past year, we could see a big rebound, if there are particular undercurrents or trends that emerge over the course of the year.

The growing adoption of digital platforms in Tier II and III cities will also open the doors for further expansion for brands, particularly those riding the quick commerce wave. However, the house of brands model is quickly fading away, especially as marketplace reliance drops among online shoppers.

Payments Apps Continue To Inch Beyond UPI

India’s payment apps should be preparing for life beyond UPI in early 2025. While UPI is still the backbone of digital payments in India, fintech startups have looked to diversify by offering credit, wealth management, payment aggregator and international remittances services.

UPI’s monetisation challenges could still take a few years to be solved, but super apps will continue to leverage it as an acquisition channel for cross-selling. Startups are exploring cross-border payments, targeting the massive NRI market and Indian diaspora that’s become familiar with UPI.

Fintech Super Apps Might Rethink Digital Commerce Push

India’s fintech super apps are evolving into digital commerce storefronts, expanding beyond financial services to shopping, travel bookings, and lifestyle services. While the idea is to boost customer stickiness and lifetime value, competing with dedicated platforms such as ecommerce marketplaces or OTAs has a huge bearing on how profitable these verticals are for fintech startups which have to continuously market the apps to boost engagement.

Jio Financial Services Will Shake Up Competition

Taking baby steps in 2024, Jio Financial Services (JFS) is looking like the next big thing in Indian fintech.

Throughout the past year, we have noted that JFS is a threat to fintech startups. The company is coming for every fintech startup — from banking to payments to digital lending to insurance to investment and even an AMC. And by virtue of being the most capitalised fintech company in India (roughly $25 Bn), it’s coming into the arena with a huge advantage.

Growing Profitability Pressure On Paytm

The spotlight on Paytm’s path to profitability will only intensify in 2025, especially after the company focussed on shoring up its financial state in 2024 through cutbacks and sale of key assets. With CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma claiming to be building an AI-first Paytm, the company could well turn around its losses in 2025 after a period of disruption in 2023 and early 2024.

Adani’s Fintech Ambitions

Incidentally, the Adani Group was speculated to be in talks with Paytm for a stake acquisition in the company. This would solidify the conglomerate’s fintech ambitions.

In its present state, the Adani One super app strategy hinges around travel and airport services but also includes digital lending and supply chain financing. The company also launched a co-branded credit card in collaboration with ICICI. If JFS is the biggest threat for fintech startups in 2025, it would be a mistake to ignore the potential scale that Adani One can reach with its strengths in the logistics, transport, FMCG and energy sectors.

Fintech Reverse Flipping Parade To Go On

Pine Labs, Groww, Razorpay, Freo — these are just some of the Indian fintech companies looking to flip back to India after being registered abroad since inception. A lot of this has to do with easing the engagement with financial services regulators and for easier taxation, and the reverse flipping parade is expected to continue for payments companies and lending platforms, where local presence is crucial for regulatory compliance.

SaaS-AI Convergence To Continue Unabated

The line between traditional SaaS and AI is fast blurring, as evidenced by the transformation seen by large SaaS giants such as Salesforce, Freshworks and Zoho. Other Indian SaaS companies are also busy integrating AI capabilities across their product suites to stay relevant in 2025.

The AI-SaaS convergence is particularly evident in HR, customer service, sales automation, marketing workflows and data analytics solutions. Companies will look to leverage India-specific language models in 2025, to unlock the SaaS value that’s thus far remained underpenetrated in India.

As a result of the convergence, SaaS giants are expected to go on an AI shopping spree, looking to acquire companies with specific AI capabilities including but not limited to natural language processing, computer vision, and predictive analytics, which can be infused into their SaaS products.

Big Tech Will Drive Agentic AI Models 

Like around the world, India is set to witness a surge in agentic AI models, with tech giants and startups building innovations to take GenAI to the next stage. In December 2024, Google launched Gemini 2.0 language model which is said to herald ‘a new agentic era’.

These are AI solutions that can perform complex workflow tasks and meet objectives with little or no human supervision.

Deloitte predicts that 25% of companies that use GenAI will launch agentic AI pilots or proofs of concept in 2025, which will grow to 50% in 2027. India has also started embracing this leap.

Ethical AI And Policy Framework

While significant steps towards regulating AI were missing, there’s definitely a wave of startups looking to embrace ethical AI in an effort to self-regulate the sector. The conversation around global AI regulations started taking shape in 2024, and is likely to become more concrete in 2025.

The Indian government’s INR 10,372 Cr IndiaAI Mission has mentioned ethical AI as one of the key objectives out of the seven initiatives it wants to focus on over the next five years.

Besides this, the concept of “responsible AI” has also evolved, and will continue to delve into compliance, transparency, data security as well as tangible benefits to humanity as debate points in 2025.

AI Video On The Cusp Of Breakout

OpenAI’s Sora, Kling, Pika, Veo — these are the first AI video platforms that will soon usher in the era of AI-generated videos, taking content creation to the next level. While Indian startups such as Invideo and others have already created automated video editing and creation platforms, a world of completely AI-generated videos created with just one prompt sounds revolutionary.

Indeed, this opens up a whole range of possibilities for edtech startups, digital media and D2C brands that have thus far experimented with AI text or images.

The Year Of Mixed Reality 

When Apple launched the Vision Pro in 2023, it sent a signal that the next battleground for electronics giants will be mixed reality (MR) headsets. Then in late 2024, Google outlined its own plans for MR, and now we are well and truly on the cusp of the AR/VR inflection point.

Call it mixed reality or extended reality, Indian early adopters will start experimenting with these devices this year, with products also on the cards by the end of the year.

Government’s AI And Semiconductor Focus To Sharpen

When it comes to the government’s focus, we know for sure that AI and semiconductors are the two big beacons.

The upcoming budget in February is expected to give a significant thrust to AI and semiconductor initiatives, treating them as strategically as India’s spacetech sector, which received a big boost last year.

Watch out for policies that encourage collaboration between academic institutions and industry players, particularly in areas like chip design and AI hardware.

The focus will be on reducing dependency on imports for semiconductors and pushing for more IP-led innovation in chip and electronics systems design

On the AI front too, the government’s attention will be on building domestic capabilities in cloud computing, AI infrastructure. As part of its IndiaAI MIssion, the central government is also working to deploy over 10,000 GPUs through strategic public-private collaborations.

Consumer Spending Boost Imminent In 2025

Reports towards the end of the year suggest that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman would look to boost consumer spending and usher in tax relief for the middle class in the Union Budget in February 2025.

A Reuters report claimed that the government would cut income tax for individuals making up to INR 15 Lakh per year, which would be a relief for many Indians whose salary hikes have not kept pace with inflation.

Crypto Startup Revival 

India continues to lead in global cryptocurrency adoption for the second consecutive year, and in 2025, the cryptocurrency ecosystem is expecting a major boost from the US federal government, which spells good news for the rest of the world too.

Despite regulatory uncertainties, funding is expected to return to crypto startups focussing on infrastructure and enterprise applications, rather than just trading platforms. As the crypto investor ecosystem matures, companies will look to bolster cybersecurity ops and antifraud action in light of the WazirX fiasco in 2024.

Composite AI Will Change Distribution 

With the increasing dependence on GenAI to solve complex business problems and workflows, native GenAI companies are slowly integrating multiple AI methodologies to create stage and size-agnostic AI solutions. Some industry leaders have dubbed this composite AI, which largely uses classic natural language processing (NLP), GenAI, and predictive AI to provide more nuanced output.

Gartner said in a research report this year that composite AI represents the next phase in AI evolution. Rather than focusing solely on GenAI, AI leaders must look to composite AI techniques where there’s a lot more value to be unlocked.

India’s Green Hydrogen Ambition Grows Taller 

Green hydrogen is the north star for India’s clean energy project. The push for public-private partnerships resulted in collaborations between state-run corporations and businesses. Investors would be watching this space keenly to see which companies are able to engage with government organisations more regularly. This is similar to how companies in the drone and defence tech industry have to go about scaling up.

Besides VC dollars, the ground will remain open for PE players, government grants and corporate venture capital funds to back green hydrogen startups that can partner with large power companies.

Netflix Dives Deeper Into Live Sports

Netflix may not have IPL in India, but it has scored something of a coup with WWE streaming rights for the country, as well as the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031.

This came after the wildly-popular boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul which got 65 Mn viewers. While localising content will be a key moat against the upcoming JioCinema-Hotstar juggernaut, live sports could give Netflix a big boost, especially when WWE has 350 Mn TV viewers in India.

GenAI Gives Speed To Game Development

Generative AI has captured the attention of the world, and it’s true for gaming too. For example, game developers have already started using GenAI tools such as Sora, Pika, Claude AI, Cursor, and DALL-E 2.

The use of AI-powered platforms are helping game developers to create richer experiences with reduced time and resources, Nitish Mittersain, joint MD and CEO of listed giant Nazara Technologies, told Inc42 earlier. Rapid advancements in AI creation tools are bridging the talent and capital gap that Indian startups struggled with in the past.

Satellite Internet Services To Grow In Stature

Reliance Jio got the go-ahead for satellite internet services in 2024, adding another pipeline to Reliance’s telecom arsenal, but in 2025, we are likely to see other companies also jumping into the fray. However, regulatory hurdles will be a thorn in the side of foreign companies looking to take on Jio, as experienced by Musk’s Starlink in 2024.

India’s Short Drama Moment 

ReelShorts, DramaBox, MoboReels, Topshorts, ShortMax, Goodshorts — these are the apps that are driving the short drama mania in China and Southeast Asia, and now it’s India’s turn. In fact, India is set to get its first vertical video and short drama platform ‘Reelies’ in 2025.

Interactive, episodic storytelling and personalised content delivery are some of the hallmarks of short drama apps. One step ahead of short videos, these mini dramas are specifically designed for mobile consumption and ideal for the Indian market, where some companies have seen success with micro-transactions for such short-form content.

More Making In India For Apple, Samsung

After the Indian government heightened restrictions on import of laptops and tablets in 2024, a number of PC makers have turned to manufacturing and assembling such devices in India, adding to their smartphone assembly lines.

In early 2024, Samsung became the first foreign brand to initiate local laptop manufacturing in India, having set up capabilities in late 2023 in its existing Noida factory.

Of course, Apple has also made a serious push in this regard over the past few years. In 2025, this is set to continue as the company is looking to move half of its existing supply chain from China to India. Apple’s ecosystem of component makers and suppliers are projected to collectively employ around 5 Lakh people in India over the next few years.

Apple is also boosting local component production to make the most of the production-linked incentive targets. The company is in advanced discussions with Murugappa Group and Tata Group to assemble and possibly manufacture components such as iPhone camera modules.