Prince Kariappa

This figure is not a single cheque being signed today; rather, it is an expectation of capital inflows across multiple layers of the AI ecosystem

For Misbah Ashraf, co-founder of fintech platform Jar, becoming an entrepreneur was never about a fashionable career choice. It was a necessity born out of survival.

Today, a new set of companies, including hyper-local, kitchen-first platforms like Swish, are attracting large cheques, despite operating in what appears to be an already “solved” category. What exactly are investors seeing that others don’t?

India’s startup IPO surge has delivered mixed results, with many listings struggling post-debut, while traditional companies quietly generate steadier investor returns.

Among the wave of tech companies preparing to get listed in 2026, two standouts are InMobi, the country’s first unicorn, and Fractal Analytics, a deep-tech AI and analytics firm.

As capital becomes more selective, India’s fintech ecosystem appears to be entering a consolidation phase, one where fewer companies raise larger, more patient rounds.

Budget 2026 shifts focus from subsidies to infrastructure, but success will hinge on execution and last-mile credit delivery.

The Union Budget 2026 marks a clear departure from reactive fiscal policymaking, prioritising long-term capability building across deep technology, manufacturing, MSMEs, and capital markets.

The proposal includes an exemption until the year 2045, with the Finance Minister clarifying that it applies to global companies operating through partnered entities from India.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman used the Budget to sharpen the government’s push for India’s small businesses, announcing a mix of fresh funding, cluster revival, and tighter credit linkages aimed at strengthening the MSME backbone.

Total funding nearly doubled year-over-year, largely driven by Raphe mPhibr’s USD 100M Series B round led by global investments firm General Catalyst. The number of annual funding rounds increased from 5 in 2016 to 42 in 2024, before moderating in 2025 YTD.

India’s internet story is increasingly being shaped not by the metros but by what lies beyond. While the country has crossed an estimated 958 million internet users, according to Kantar’s Internet in India report 2025, penetration remains uneven across states.

As India heads into Union Budget 2026, expectations across markets and industry remain restrained. After several years of elevated pandemic-era spending, the government is firmly back on a fiscal consolidation path, narrowing the deficit from over 9 per cent of GDP in FY21 to 5.6 per cent in FY24, 5.1 per cent in FY25 (RE), and a budgeted 4.9 per cent in FY26. 

As India gears up to sharpen its fiscal priorities ahead of the Union Budget 2026, the virtual digital assets (VDA) and web3 ecosystem finds itself at a strategic inflection point.

Budget 2025 reinforced a capital-led growth rulebook, prioritised public capex, manufacturing-linked incentives, and long-term innovation financing. This was supposed to act as a lever to rope in private investment rather than relying on broad fiscal stimulus. 

As the Union Budget 2026 approaches, expectations are building across India’s financial services and startup ecosystem for policy signals that go beyond headline allocations.

India's VC market in 2025 was defined by selective capital, larger cheque sizes, and a clear shift toward profitability, execution depth, and exit visibility.

Globally, the capital reallocation toward technology-led fundamentals is already visible in hard numbers. To boost investments and stimulate growth in sectors such as the manufacturing sector, the government must consider reintroducing accelerated depreciation as a targeted fiscal incentive.

AI in Bharat's FinTech sector is becoming far more intuitive and deeply personal. The next phase of growth will be shaped by platforms that understand people in their own languages and reflect the rhythms of everyday financial life.

The investor conversation around it has matured, with the focus no longer on whether a startup uses AI, but on whether it shapes how the business operates.

Insights from early-stage venture firm Antler India and alternative credit platform BlackSoil illustrate how the year 2025 laid the groundwork, with 2026 shaping up to be a year of design rather than exuberance.

The sector is being defined by less speculative model-building and more by deployment, defensibility, and real-world integration.

After an "enthusiastic" post-pandemic capital cycle, venture investors and founders alike have recalibrated expectations, shifting focus from rapid scale to resilient business models.

GST collections have remained robust, and the decline in the October Consumer Price Index is supposed to provide the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with a bit of wiggle room for potential rate cuts - a move that could accelerate capex spending and consumption-led growth.

RBI supervisory disclosures and BIS working papers have highlighted the rising operational and fraud-related risks as fintechs continue to expand into credit, wealth, and banking-related services.

Speaking to Entrepreneur India, the company heads discussed the investment approach as it looks ahead to 2026.

Global and domestic institutions increasingly treat consumer-tech IPOs as part of their long-duration growth bucket, comparable to specialty retail or branded consumer platforms rather than traditional loss-making tech ventures. Retail investors, however, are engaging with offerings such as this in a structurally different risk environment.

Amidst the ambiguity, industry leaders opine that India's next big step should be toward a structured and modular regulatory framework.

With the proceeds from the fresh issuance, Meesho said it plans to scale its existing technology and cloud infrastructure, hire engineering and AI talent, alongside expand its marketing efforts.

Looking back on his early days as an entrepreneur, Bahl said that the difficult years in the restaurant business became the stepping stone for Veeba.