The Year Of Moonshots, AI And IPOs: Meet The Newsmakers Of 2025

Inc42’s annual Newsmakers list is back, putting the spotlight on the founders and operators who grabbed the headlines in 2025. Usually, we focus on stakeholders across the ecosystem from policymakers to investors, but this time around our choices are startups founders — with just the one exception as you will see.   

The usual names —  Deepinder Goyal, Aadit Palicha, Vijay Shekhar Sharma among them — obviously made the cut, not just because of their profile, but also because this was a year where they had a significant role in setting the narrative or disrupting it. 

And of course with Indian startups making a beeline for the stock exchanges, we also have a fair share of founders who took their companies public. The likes of Groww, PhysicsWallah, Pine Labs and others all feature. 

And 2025 was also a year of calculated risk. From AI to a new push towards healthtech 2.0 and longevity to the ban on real money gaming. This also tested founders and created new opportunities for giants. This was a major factor in some of our choices as you will see. 

Without any further delay, these are Inc42’s Newsmakers of 2025.

Note: The below list is not meant to be a ranking. The personalities have been selected on Inc42’s editorial discretion and listed in alphabetical order 

Aadit Palicha: Growth, Controversy, And Momentum

For Aadit Palicha, 2025 was a year of speed meeting scrutiny. 

Zepto raised $450 Mn at a $7 Bn valuation in October, taking net cash close to $900 Mn. Soon after, the company removed platform and delivery fees, escalating price competition across quick commerce even as rivals warned of rising industry burn.

Operationally, Palicha faced pushback on multiple fronts. Zepto was fined by the consumer protection authority for dark patterns such as drip pricing and hidden checkout fees. 

Palicha publicly admitted the experiments were a mistake, rolled them back within weeks, and reset the app flow, framing the decision as customer-feedback driven rather than regulator-led. 

He also responded directly to Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s remark on startups producing “delivery boys,” countering with data on Zepto’s scale, over 1.5 Lakh livelihoods created, tax contributions, and supply-chain innovation. 

At the same time, Palicha sparred with rivals over everything from market share to cash burn. But as Zepto looks to list in 2026, the next year will present yet more challenges for Palicha and cofounder Kaivalya Vohra who are likely to become the youngest startup founders to take their company public.  

Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra, And Varun Khaitan: Rewiring India’s Services Layer

Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan took Urban Company public in September 2025 with a INR 1,900 Cr IPO that was subscribed over 100x and listed at a 57% premium, valuing the company at roughly INR 25,000 Cr. 

The offering combined a INR 472 Cr fresh issue with a INR 1,428 Cr OFS, marking one of the cleanest consumer-services listings India has seen, backed by profitable growth rather than narrative alone.

In the past year, Urban Company leaned hard into repeatability. Appliance-led services like water purifiers, AC servicing, annual maintenance contracts and hardware bundled with maintenance became a core revenue engine.

The strategy translated cleanly into numbers. FY25 revenue rose 36% to INR 1,261 Cr, with PAT jumping to about INR 240 Cr. In Q2 FY26, Urban Company reported revenue of INR 376 Cr, up 41% YoY, driven by 28% growth in order volumes to 11.2 Mn and higher hardware sales. 

The company also launched instant services like “Insta Help” and within an hour repairs. These were pushed as frequency drivers despite near-term margin pressure.

Amrish Rau: From PoS To Full Merchant Stack

Amrish Rau finally brought Pine Labs home.

After filing the DRHP in June, Pine Labs listed in November through a INR 3,900 Cr IPO, anchored by a INR 2,080 Cr fresh issue, valuing the company at about INR 25,000 Cr. 

The listing capped a restructuring-heavy phase under Rau, who moved into the chairman and managing director role ahead of the IPO.

Financially, the timing mattered. Pine Labs returned to profitability in Q2 FY26 with a INR 6 Cr net profit, reversing a INR 32 Cr loss a year earlier. Revenue rose 18% YoY to INR 650 Cr, and EBITDA margins expanded to 19%.

More structurally, Rau completed Pine Labs’ shift from a PoS-heavy business to a broader merchant commerce platform. 

By 2025, the company was monetising payments, BNPL, invoicing, loyalty programmes, and gift cards as a single stack across nearly a million merchants.

Alakh Pandey And Prateek Maheshwari: Redrawing The Education Map

PhysicsWallah cofounders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari oversaw one of the most anticipated public listings of the year and the first new-age edtech IPO. This itself was enough for them to make the list.  

The company also raised $210 Mn in Series B, acquired 40% of Sarrthi IAS to enter the UPSC segment, and pulled off India’s first major edtech IPO post-BYJU’s fallout, listing at a valuation of INR 3,480 Cr, 33–38% above issue price. The company also reported back-to-back quarterly profits and had 25% revenue growth in Q2 FY26. 

In a sector scarred by excess and collapse, PhysicsWallah emerged as proof that scale, profitability and affordability can all be achieved with the right model.

Operationally, PW scaled to 150+ centres across 20 states, expanding hybrid Vidyapeeth and Pathshala models with pricing aimed squarely at Bharat’s mass market. 

Aravind Srinivas: Disrupting The Global AI Race

In a year crowded with AI announcements and new products, Aravind Srinivas stood out largely because of his bold statements as well as the audacious bid to acquire Google Chrome for close to $43 Bn. 

With pressure mounting on Google to disband its tech empire in the US, Srinivas wanted Perplexity to leverage Chrome’s distribution advantage to become the number one AI app in the world. As it turned out, Perplexity instead launched its own browser in the form of Comet. 

Perplexity’s valuation climbed into the $14–20 Bn range, making Srinivas youngest Indian-origin billionaire with an estimated net worth of close to $3 Bn.

The company’s partnerships played a big role in reaching new heights — a $400 Mn deal with Snap which embedded Perplexity into Snapchat search, while a major partnership with Airtel opened the Indian market at distribution scale few AI startups have access.

Srinivas also publicly warned against AI companionship apps, arguing they risk creating “synthetic realities” that manipulate user behaviour. 

Deepinder Goyal: A Year of Moonshots & Momentum

Deepinder Goyal entered 2025 with Zomato finally ready to become Eternal. While he had announced the direction last year, this was the first official year under the umbrella company. And at the same time, the biggest headlines for Goyal this year have been his other two bets. 

Firstly, Goyal ventured into longevity science and invested $25 Mn in his healthtech startup Continue Research. The startup’s first research paper “Gravity Ageing Hypothesis” drew some criticism, but it seems Goyal is ready to back this up with a proper product. 

In a related release, Goyal teased “Temple,” a forehead wearable for brain blood flow monitoring, positioning it as a deep-tech biomarker for cognition and aging.

That’s not all. Goyal also founded LAT Aerospace with Surobhi Das, investing $20 Mn in the startup which is developing hydrogen and electric airships and UAVs.

Harsh Jain: Leading Dream11 After Its Hard Reset

Few founders have faced such a test in their career. Harsh Jain had to hit hard reset with Dream Sports and Dream 11 after the ban on real money gaming. 

The bar wiped out about 95% of Dream Sports’ revenue and all profits overnight.

Paid contests on Dream11 were halted, dismantling the core business of a company last valued at around $8 Bn and generating roughly INR 6,400 Cr in pre-ban revenue. 

Jain chose not to challenge the law in court and instead committed to retaining Dream Sports’ 800-member workforce, redeploying teams to preserve institutional knowledge – one of the only companies in the space to not resort to layoffs. 

The group pivoted Dream11 into a free-to-play, AI-driven sports entertainment platform focused on creator watch-alongs, fan engagement, and second-screen experiences. 

Around 500 engineers were reassigned to build AI-led products across analytics, content, and commerce, leveraging Dream Sports’ 260 Mn user base and assets like FanCode.

The pivot shifts monetisation from entry fees to advertising, sponsorships, and media formats. Whether the rebuilt model can replace the scale of real-money gaming remains uncertain, but Jain’s response set a clear data point on how founders handle sudden regulatory shocks at scale.

Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh: Evolving From Trades To Wealth

Groww was the stock market’s darling this year, and not just because it’s a trading app. 

Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh capped 2025 by taking Groww public in a INR 6,632 Cr IPO that quickly turned into one of the year’s strongest listings. The year, however, was less about the listing pop and more about repositioning. 

With regulatory pressure building on high-frequency F&O trading, the founders pushed Groww beyond plain-vanilla mutual funds and discount broking. 

The company launched Groww Cloud for in-app algorithmic trading, expanded advanced F&O and STP tools, introduced loan-against-mutual-funds under Groww Credit, and leaned harder into research and automation for retail investors.

That shift was accelerated by Groww’s all-cash acquisition of Fisdom, adding mutual funds, insurance, pensions, and bank-led distribution to its stack. 

Financially, the pivot showed up in scale, with its FY25 revenue climbing to about INR 3,900 Cr. Post IPO, in Q2 FY26, Groww reported net profit of INR 471 Cr, up 12% YoY, even as revenue dipped 9.5% to INR 1,019 Cr.

Mohit Yadav and Rahul Yadav: A Breakout D2C Exit Story

Mohit Yadav and Rahul Yadav achieved what few Indian D2C founders manage at scale.

HUL’s acquisition of a 90.5% stake in Minimalist valued the brand between INR 2,670–2,995 Cr, delivering a founder payout of roughly INR 1,500–1,950 Cr.

Notably, Minimalist reached an annual revenue run rate of around INR 500 Cr within four years and did so while remaining profitable. 

The business scaled on a limited SKU base, transparent ingredient-led positioning, and controlled discounts, avoiding the heavy influencer spends and cash burn common across Indian D2C beauty brands. 

Peyush Bansal: Taking His Vision Public

The pressure piled on Peyush Bansal just days ahead of the Lenskart IPO. The founder was being accused of selling public market investors an overvalued dud. 

Lenskart’s IPO valued the company around INR 70,000 Cr, and the company raised over INR 7,500 Cr from the issue despite these public concerns. It was Bansal’s steadfast defence of the valuation and his emphasis on Lenskart’s value proposition that may have eventually convinced many investors who might have been on the fence. 

Bansal also sold part of his stake via an OFS for more than INR 800 Cr while retaining operational control. Notably, ahead of the IPO, Bansal had bought 4.27 Cr shares at INR 52 each. This was a great year for him personally as well as for the company.

Beyond markets, Bansal emerged as Shark Tank India’s most active investor in Season 4, deploying INR 17 Cr across startups. His one of the largest deals was INR 5 Cr for a controlling stake in premium brand NOOE, aiming for global growth.

Prashanth Prakash: A Veteran In India’s Innovation Era

Prashanth Prakash is the only personality in our list who is not a startup founder. However, the founding partner of VC giant Accel, more than deserves the place given the stellar 2025 for his VC fund as well as himself.  

At the beginning of the year, Prakash was awarded the Padma Shri for his role in shaping India’s startup ecosystem, anchored by early bets on Flipkart, Swiggy, Myntra, and BookMyShow, and by Accel’s long-term presence in Indian venture capital.

At Accel, Prakash sharpened the firm’s push into AI, manufacturing and deeptech, arguing that 25–30% of VC capital could shift there within the next three years. 

Beyond investing, he remained active in policy and ecosystem-building. As chair of Karnataka’s Vision Group for Startups, he influenced state-level thinking on innovation, deeptech, and domestic capital formation. 

He also dipped his toes into the longevity tech space with Biopeak, a startup in which he has a majority stake. Biopeak is an extension of Prakash’s passion in exploring new frontiers in healthtech and medical science geared towards longevity. 

Toward the end of the year, he extended his ecosystem role by joining WTFund as a strategic advisor, backing founders under 25 in deeptech and emerging sectors.

Sridhar Vembu: Becoming The Voice For Indian AI

Sridhar Vembu and Zoho had a headline-grabbing 2025, particularly as the focus shifted on homegrown technology and sovereign AI. 

But before all that, Vembu took some by surprise by stepping down as Zoho’s CEO to become its Chief Scientist, moving full-time into research while continuing to guide company strategy. 

At the same time, Zoho looked to scale its Tenkasi rural employment model nationwide, operating over 100 rural offices and creating more than 3,000 jobs outside India’s metro ecosystems.

Zoho’s products also had a breakout year. Arattai, its messaging platform, climbed app charts, while Zoho secured major government mandates, including the NIC email system serving 33 Lakh users and adoption by the Education Ministry.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma: From Losses To Profits And AI-Ready

After one of the hardest years of his career in 2024, Vijay Shekhar Sharma delivered a turnaround that few expected despite the founder’s insistence in the past.

Paytm reported two consecutive profitable quarters in FY26, posting INR 123 Cr PAT in Q1 and INR 21 Cr PAT in Q2 despite a INR 190 Cr one-time impairment. On an underlying basis, Q2 profit stood at about INR 211 Cr.

Revenue rose 24–28% year-on-year across the two quarters, driven by growth in payments, financial services, and a subscription merchant base of 1.3 Cr.

Sharma positioned AI as Paytm’s next revenue lever rather than a cost story. The company rolled out AI-first merchant tools, including India’s first AI Soundbox with offline, multi-language edge AI, small language models for merchants, and AI-enabled PoS and analytics products aimed at monetising insights, personalisation, and partnerships.

The recovery, however, ran alongside regulatory consequences. Sharma settled with SEBI over IPO-era ESOP and disclosure violations, paying fines and disgorgement, surrendering 2.1 Cr ESOPs worth about INR 1,800 Cr, and accepting a three-year ban on receiving ESOPs from listed companies. 

Edited by Nikhil Subramaniam