The startup funding reset, two years on
Venture funding has stabilised well below the 2021 peak — and founders have quietly rebuilt their unit economics around the new normal.
Arjun Nair
6 min read
The funding winter is over, but spring looks nothing like the old summer. Venture investment into Indian startups has settled into a band roughly a third of the 2021 peak — and almost nobody in the ecosystem expects that peak to return.
Funding found a floor, not a rebound
Venture capital raised by Indian startups, $ billion, calendar years
The more interesting shift is qualitative. The median funded startup in 2025 was older, closer to profitability, and priced at a lower revenue multiple than its 2021 counterpart. IPOs, not late-stage private rounds, have become the exit story — and public-market scrutiny is quietly disciplining private valuations.
Written by
Arjun Nair
Arjun writes on markets and corporate finance. Before journalism, he spent five years as a sell-side equity analyst.
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