India startups raise $930 Mn in January with strong early-stage push

India’s startup funding showed steady momentum in 2026 as startups raised $930 million in January, compared to $870 million in December 2025 on a month-on-month basis. Funding volumes were lower on a year-on-year basis, down from $1.76 billion in January 2025. The month recorded no $100 million deals, yet overall activity remained healthy as 122 deals were closed, the highest monthly count since January last year. Like 2025, 2026 has opened on a positive note for IPOs. Companies such as PhonePe and Zepto are preparing for billion-dollar public listings.

According to data compiled by TheKredible, Indian startups raised a total of $930.39 million across 122 deals in January 2026. Growth and late-stage funding made up $508.1 million from 18 deals, while early-stage startups raised $422.29 million through 92 deals. In addition, 12 funding rounds remained undisclosed.

[M-o-M and Y-o-Y trend]

January 2026 saw $930 million in startup funding. This was higher than $870 million in December 2025, but lower than $969 million in November 2025. Deal activity rose to 122 deals in January, compared to 82 deals in December. On a year-on-year basis, funding in January 2026 remained well below January 2025, when startups raised $1.76 billion across 128 deals.

[Top 10 growth-stage deals]

Growth stage funding in January was led by Arya.ag, which raised $80.3 million in a Series D round, followed by Emergent with $70 million in Series B funding and Juspay with $50 million in a Series D round. Namdev Finvest also featured with $37 million raised through debt.

The rest of the top ten including Pee Safe, Sukino, Easy Home Finance, JJG Aero, Wint Wealth and Unbox Robotics raised between $32 million and $28 million, with deals spanning fintech, healthtech, agritech, AI, aerospace and robotics.

[Top 10 early-stage deals]

Early stage funding in January was led by Emversity, which raised $30 million in a Series A round, followed by BillionE with $25 million and Knight Fintech with $23.6 million. EtherealX and The Guild also featured with $20.5 million each. The remaining deals including Even Healthcare, Liquidnitro Games, Whizzo, Optimist and FutureCure ranged between $20 million and $11.5 million.

[Mergers and acquisitions]

January saw a mix of strategic acquisitions and acquihires across the startup ecosystem. Zappfresh, Urban Harvest and Cars24 expanded their core businesses by acquiring Avyom Foodtech, Cocosutra and CarInfo.

Fintech and blockchain activity was also notable, with Care.fi acquiring Aldun, Setu and Polygon Labs moving toward acquisitions, and Polygon Labs planning buys of Coinme and Sequence. Other deals included Snabbit’s acquihire of Pync, Batronics India’s majority stake in AYOU, and Menhood’s acquisition of Getmymettle.

[City and Segment wise deals]

Bengaluru dominated deal activity with 55 deals and $495.42 million raised, accounting for 53.25% of the total funding. Delhi NCR followed with 26 deals worth $175.72 million, contributing 18.89%. Mumbai recorded 14 deals and $95.14 million, making up 10.23% of the funding. Hyderabad and Chennai saw relatively lower activity, raising $32.65 million and $26.55 million respectively, together accounting for just over 6% of the total funding.

Fintech led funding activity with $201 million and 21.60% of the total across 10 deals. AI followed with 18 deals and $134.39 million, at 14.44%, while healthtech saw 13 deals and $125.56 million, at 13.50%. E-commerce and deeptech reported lower totals of $65.57 million and $59.52 million, at 7.05% and 6.40% respectively.

[Series-wise deals]

Series A rounds led the month with $267.36 million across 29 deals and made up 28.74% of the total capital. Series B followed closely with $260.10 million from 10 deals, equal to 27.96%. Seed stage companies closed 39 deals worth $104.27 million, contributing 11.21%. Pre Series A startups raised $51.82 million across 13 deals, while pre seed firms secured $8.04 million from 18 deals, accounting for 0.86% of the overall funding.

[Layoffs, shutdowns, departures and key hires]

January saw a relatively calm phase, with only two layoffs reported, including at public company Ola Electric. Beauty platform Alle and quick commerce platform Pync also announced the shutdown of their operations, while Pync’s founding team was acquihired by rival Snabbit.

Overall, the month recorded limited exits across the startup ecosystem, even as more than 27 key executive roles were filled. For a detailed overview of these developments, click here.

[Trends]

ESOP buyback: ESOP activity picked up recently as Innovaccer completed a $75 million buyback and BrowserStack announced a $125 million liquidity programme, following a muted 2025 that saw just over $75 million in buybacks. The total ESOP payouts stood at about $190 million in 2024, compared to $802 million in 2023, $440 million in 2021, and $200 million in 2022.

Early stage contribution: Early stage startups accounted for over 45% of total funding, a rare phase of early stage dominance. Emversity, BillionE and Knight Fintech stood out as the top contributors.  

[Conclusion]

This is  certainly a good sign, as it exhibits a certain degree of confidence in the future that has been missing for instance from the public markets, despite the string of successful IPOs. With the likes of Zepto that had single handedly raised large amounts also headed for IPOs, there is certainly space for smaller firms to get started as well. On top of that, the ESOP liquidity events are a welcome sign of the access to funds and confidence among these founders and investors as well. 

With the budget behind us as an event that has seen no significant change, it is now business as usual for the startup ecosystem as well, and expect a steady ramp up in investor interest and funding soon. India has done well to weather an extended slowdown and startups have come out with a more realistic view on prospects, and that is not a bad thing at all for the future. We also tend to believe that the AI wave is still in its infancy, and Indian founders will eventually find ways to ride it as well as anyone else, if not better, so the best is yet to come here as well.  All in all, FY26 may end with a whimper in terms of funding growth, but FY27 could be a whole new ball game.