BENGALURU: In the first quarter of this calendar year (January-March 2025), start-ups have witnessed a 9% increase in funding at $2.5 billion, and in March alone, it has raised $1.5 billion.
In the same quarter last year, start-ups had raised $2.3 billion, according to data sourced from Tracxn. This increase in funding shows that investors are betting big on start-ups, especially late-stage ($1.8 bn in Q12025).
In contrast, seed-stage witnessed a 56% decline in fund raising as total funding stood at $157 million, a drop of 55.77% compared to $355 million raised in the same quarter last year.
Early-stage funding too saw a decline of 52% to $528 million in March quarter.
Q1 2025 saw three 100 million+ funding rounds when compared to two in Q1 2024. A major part of these $100 million+ funding rounds are from Auto Tech, Enterprise Applications, and Real Estate and Construction Tech, according to Tracxn.
Neha Singh, Co-Founder of Tracxn, said, "While the funding environment remains dynamic, India’s start-up ecosystem continues to demonstrate adaptability and growth. Key sectors like Auto Tech, Enterprise Applications, and Retail are attracting investor interest, and the rise in acquisitions signals a maturing market. Innovation and entrepreneurship remain at the core of this ecosystem, positioning India for long-term success.”
In its Geo Quarterly India Tech Report, Tracxn highlighted that a total of 38 acquisitions took place in Q1 2025, a 15.15% increase from the previous quarter and a 40.74% rise from 27 acquisitions in Q1 2024. The largest deal was Magma General’s $516 million acquisition by DS Group and Patanjali Ayurved, making it the highest-valued acquisition of Q1 2025, surpassing Minimalist’s $350 million acquisition by HUL.
Delhi-based tech firms accounted for 40% of all funding seen by tech companies across India. This was followed by Bengaluru accounting for 21.64%.
While Auto Tech received funding of $1.1 billion, which was an increase of 339.71% compared to $245.7 million raised in Q1 2024, Enterprise Applications received $650.7 million, a drop of 8.12% compared to $708.2 million raised in the year-ago period. Retail received $481.5 million in funding, a drop of 2.30% when compared to $492.9 million raised in Q1 2024.