Year in Review: How early-stage aggression shaped India’s VC strategy in 2025

If 2025 revealed one unmistakable trend in India’s startup ecosystem, it was the comeback of early-stage investing. As marquee public listings delivered strong returns this year, the country’s top venture capitalists (VCs) showed renewed willingness to open their chequebooks to young founders.

The numbers tell the story. According to Tracxn, 2,130 startups raised funding in 2025, and more than 1,300 of them were at the early-stage. Together, these Seed and Series A stage companies bagged a total of $3.85 billion in investments. 

The top ten most active VCs accounted for 15% of overall investments in the startup landscape, with a majority of players hopping on to company cap tables during the early stage. Of these investments, almost half of them were in Seed and Series A stages. 

As The Captable reported in September this year, the seed-stage funding remained robust, with investors choosing to write bigger cheques into fewer companies. In Series A, while the total number of deals slipped compared to previous years, the cheque sizes swelled. 

However, the early-stage momentum did not extend to growth-stage and late-stage investments this year. Only 10% of the total deals this year went to Series B and Series C (growth-stage) companies, and about 5% reached late-stage startups (Series D and beyond). Despite the dip, investors have put on a brave front, dismissing any concerns. 

Experts echo this sentiment, noting that the dip in growth and late-stage deals are simply cyclical, and what goes around will come around. Investors have also pointed out that VCs have become more cautious with growth-stage capital after many burnt their fingers making flippant deals during the 2018 funding rush. 

Amidst a critical investment year, a period during which a string of VCs also refreshed their capital pools with new funds, here is a look at the top 10 VCs who kept capital flowing and stood out as 2025’s most active backers. 

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Inflection Point Ventures (IPV)

Inflection Point Ventures had one of its most active years yet, emerging as 2025’s busiest VC firm by deal count. The NOTO ice cream and desserts-backer closed almost 43 deals across sectors, accounting for 4% of this year’s overall investments. IPV stuck to sectors it knows best, making a majority of its deals in consumer and retail as well as in enterprise applications, according to Tracxn. 

During this year, the VC firm also announced a Rs 984 crore angel fund to back early-stage companies in India and outside the country. 

Accel

Accel had a busy year, balancing fresh fundraises with active portfolio expansion. The Prashanth Prakash-led firm closed a $650 million new fund to back early-stage startups in artificial intelligence (AI), consumer startups, fintech, and manufacturing, among other sectors. 

During the year, the Indian arm of the global VC firm participated in 41 funding rounds, spanning a few growth-stage deals in companies like Delhi-based Internet services company Wiom and a Series D round in ecommerce startup CityMall. 

Venture Catalysts

The Mumbai-based venture capital firm participated in 37 rounds of funding this year, according to Tracxn. The firm’s investments were largely focused on consumer and retail startups, backing companies such as lab-grown diamond jewellery brand Reina Diamonds and beauty-tech startup Kult. 

A multi-stage VC firm, Venture Catalysts majorly made early-stage bets year. In September, it raised Rs 150 crore by selling an equal mix of primary and secondary shares to expand its leadership teams, launch new funds, and roll out AI-enabled tools for due diligence and LP reporting. 

Blume Ventures

Blume Ventures, known for backing Yulu and Namma Yatri, participated in 34 funding deals in 2025, placing a majority of its investments in Seed and Series A rounds. Some of the firm's bets this year include D2C fashion brand Freakins, personal care brand Plush, and deeptech imaging startup Optimized Electrotech. 

The VC firm also raised $175 million as part of its initial close of its fifth fund that is targeting a total corpus of $250 million to $275 million by early 2026.

In October, the company highlighted 2025 as a pivotal year for the firm’s disbursement goals marked by momentum in exits and distributions to LPs across Fund I and Fund II. 

Its Fund III and Fund IV portfolios demonstrated strong growth during this period, with Blume anticipating an aggregate Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) of over $80 million across all funds in 2025, it had said. 

DPI is a key performance metric that measures the cumulative cash distributions a fund has returned to its investors relative to the capital they invested. 

Additionally, the firm is looking for its IPO pipeline to kick off with insurtech Turtlemint’s listing. Turtlemint has filed its draft red herring prospectus with regulators. 

Peak XV Partners

Peak XV Partners was plagued by a rising number of exits of senior executives this year. Despite this, the VC firm kept itself busy in 2025, participating in around 35 funding rounds, with a clear focus on Series A startups. 

Some of the firm’s recent big-ticket investments include YC-backed startups such as Hyperbound, MarqVision, and PostHog. These investments saw the India-based firm expanding its overseas portfolio, having hired former Y Combinator and Blackstone investor Arnav Sahu to lead its US investment strategy while it continues to make investments in India.

Moreover, Peak XV also cashed in big bucks amidst a string of recent and upcoming listings of its portfolio companies such as Wakefit, Pine Labs, Bluestone, and Groww. At the same time, the company is also preparing to raise a fresh $1.4 billion fund—its first independent raise since parting ways with Sequoia.

Rainmatter

Nithin Kamath’s Rainmatter by Zerodha was the sixth most active VC firm in 2025, participating in around 29 rounds of funding. Again, majority of the firm’s investments were in Seed and Series A companies. 

Some of the firm’s notable bets this year include material sciences company AltMat and sports infrastructure firm Michezo Sports. The firm also participated in Two Brothers Organic Farms’ Rs 100 crore Series B round, marking one of its few bets in growth stage startups. 

This year, Rainmatter added a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore under an alternative investment fund (AIF) to deploy over the next two-three years in sectors such as fintech, climate, and healthcare. 

Alteria Capital

Venture debt fund Alteria Capital, which most recently pumped in Rs 100 crore into wearable technology firm Ultrahuman, participated in 28 funding rounds this year. 

The firm has over $550 million in assets under management and has a portfolio of over 200 companies, including over 15 unicorns. Some of the firm’s debt-financing this year include food-tech unicorn Rebel Foods and women-focused activewear brand BlissClub. 

Antler

Global early-stage VC firm Antler launched a programme in India in the second half of 2020 and has gone on to back over 100 Indian companies since then. In 2025, the firm participated in 24 funding rounds, all of which were in companies at the Seed stage, according to Tracxn. 

This year, it launched Antler India’s first AI Residency programme. Under this programme, Antler will initially commit Rs 4 crore, coming onboard as a first investor with the potential to invest up to $30 million and participating in rounds until Series C, if required. 

Z47

The Bengaluru-based VC firm has backed segment heavyweights such as ride-hailing firm Ola, fintech firm Razorpay, and D2C brand The Whole Truth. In 2025, the firm invested in 24 companies, which include AI-powered sales and ecommerce platform for wholesalers, WizCommerce and agentic AI startup Oolka. 

The firm is looking to raise its first fund, post its split from US-based Matrix Partners, with a target corpus of $300 million to $400 million, and is expected to launch it sometime next year, Mint had reported. 

Info Edge Ventures

In May, shareholders of Indo Edge (India) Ltd, approved a plan to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore in its third venture fund to back early-stage startups—signalling that the firm is doubling down on its venture arm, having seen much success with its bets in food-tech major Zomato and travel booking platform, Ixigo. 

This year, the firm participated in 23 rounds of funding, which include Tractor Junction and Recur Club. 

Overall, 2025 marked a pivotal year for the VC ecosystem. From heightened interest in deeptech to smaller bets on artificial intelligence, the Indian VC ecosystem is on the hunt for the next spotlight sector. With sufficient dry gunpowder in hand and prudent distribution of cheques, the ecosystem is gearing up to explore emerging sectors with renewed confidence.