Here are 12 Business founders to keep an eye on in 2025

India celebrated nine years of Startup India on January 16, 2025, marking the country’s rapid growth in fostering a robust and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. With more than 1.59 lakh startups recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the country has entrenched itself as the world’s third largest startup ecosystem.

Driven by over 100 unicorns, India’s energetic startup ecosystem continues to redefine innovation and entrepreneurship. Leading the way are innovative founders who are tackling local challenges to solve global problems. Here are the startup founders to keep an eye on in 2025.

Sahil Luthra

Founder and MD, Vijayan Trishul Defence Solutions

Sahil Luthra is one of India’s youngest defense entrepreneurs. As Founder and Managing Director of Vijayan Trishul Defence Solutions (VTDS), he is leading the company's mission to contribute to indigenous defense manufacturing, in alignment with the national goals of 'Make in India' and 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'. Under his leadership, VTDS is positioning itself as an emerging player in the development of advanced small arms and ammunition for the Indian Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies.

Sunil Kumar,

CEO, Everfast Freight Forwarders

Sunil Kumar is the dynamic CEO of one of India’s most renowned and reputed freight-forwarding brands. Under his leadership, Everfast Freight Forwarders has become a leading IATA-certified freight forwarder and an ISO 9001:2015 recognized company, known for its commitment to providing peace of mind to its customers. Kumar is a visionary leader with expertise in operations, finance, marketing, and human resources, in addition to his strategic role in higher management. He has an excellent track record of driving sustainable results across all facets of business development and management.

Asutosh Katyal,

Founder and CEO, Captech Technologies

Founded by Asutosh Katyal, a passionate technologist and entrepreneur, Captech Technologies has emerged as a trusted digital partner for some of India’s leading infrastructure developers. With a portfolio of over 500 digitized projects across urban infrastructure, real estate, and industrial construction, the company is redefining how large-scale developments are delivered—on time, within budget, and with accountability at every step. Captech has developed eFORCE, India’s first labor management platform, to bridge the critical gap between general contractors and labor contractors. Purpose-built for the construction industry, eFORCE brings end-to-end visibility, coordination, and digital efficiency to labor operations on site.

Aankith Aroraa

Founder and CEO, Streamline Beauty India

Aankith Aroraa, the Founder and CEO of Streamline Beauty India Private Limited, doesn’t just work with brands; he builds them. His approach goes beyond launching products, he builds legacies that shape industries and consumer experiences. With 22 years of expertise, Aroraa has scaled global icons like Olaplex, KEVIN.MURPHY, AVEDA, and OPI. His entrepreneurial insight has made Streamline Beauty the country’s top importer of luxury beauty brands. By launching 3TENX and MINISTRY OF PEDICURE, he has proven that he has an unmatched instinct for market shifts and industry evolution.

Sudheer Kanumalli

Founder, CTO,CyberMindr

With over 15 years in cybersecurity, Sudheer Kanumalli is redefining how organizations approach threat defense. His expertise in red teaming, vulnerability management, and compliance adds nuance and accuracy to an overcrowded field. The idea behind Sudheer's concept is straightforward but revolutionary: proactive cybersecurity rather than reactive protection. "CyberMindr isn't built for today's threat landscape, it is built for tomorrow's," he says. Powered by over 16,000 attack techniques, it offers zero false positives and complete visibility, giving security teams the confidence to act decisively. Today, CyberMindr helps businesses identify real attack paths and eliminate guesswork, before attackers even knock.

Mrityunjaya Prajapati

CEO, Kalp Studio

With over 16 years of experience in the software industry, Mrityunjaya Prajapati is a visionary tech leader and serial entrepreneur. Currently serving as CEO of Kalp Studio, a blockchain development infrastructure platform, he has been actively involved in leading tech foundations such as IEEE and Linux. Prajapati created several successful startups like Downloadfreak, Exioms and others. After advising and consulting with multiple startups in Bangalore, he joined Mai Labs as a Founding Member and CTO, and now leads Kalp Studio, which has onboarded over 15,000 developers and partners within six months—driving innovation in blockchain infrastructure worldwide.

Manoj Dhanotiya

Founder and CEO, Micro Mitti

Serial entrepreneur Manoj Dhanotiya is the Founder and CEO of MicroMitti, Central India’s first proptech firm focused on democratizing wealth creation through innovative real estate investment opportunities. With over 15 years of management, technology, and entrepreneurial experience Dhanotiya has founded and scaled multiple successful ventures, including AiTrillion, a leading SaaS ecommerce sales and marketing automation platform. His mission is simple yet ambitious: to make real estate investment accessible, transparent, and rewarding for the common man, regardless of their financial background or experience.

Rohit Tandon

Co-founder, Fraterniti Foods

Rohit Tandon, a visionary entrepreneur in India's restaurant industry, co-founded Fraterniti Foods alongside Karan Makan. Known for pioneering ventures like Blinkk, Yolo, and Zoca, Tandon has played a key role in redefining the dining landscape with his sharp market insights. Under his leadership, Fraterniti Foods is on an ambitious path to expand beyond 135 outlets, introducing exciting new brands like ZYXX, specializing in high-end energy bars, and Hermanos, a premium restaurant concept. Further strengthening its portfolio, Fraterniti Foods recently launched CDELI, a contemporary bistro and bar, and Nomai, an upscale Chinese and Thai luxury dining experience.

Rahul Bajaj

Co-founder and CEO, Digital Darwin

Rahul Bajaj is a deeptech innovator and alumnus of FMS and BITS Pilani. With leadership roles at DiGiSPICE, Fortis Healthcare, and Sutherland Health, he brings a wealth of experience in digital transformation. At Digital Darwin, he is spearheading the development of cutting-edge AI platforms like Speeed.AI and Healthmates.AI, which are currently deployed by the Sports Authority of India to support over 3,000 elite athletes, as well as across multiple hospitals and OPD clinics nationwide.

Krisha Shah and Khushee Patel

Co-founders, Stella Fine Jewellery

Krisha Shah and Khushee Patel, best friends and Co-founders of Stella Fine Jewellery, are transforming the landscape of lab diamond jewelry, making it accessible to everyone. In 2023, they started with a vision “jewelry for every-wear, everywhere”. They believe in celebrating everyday life and have launched lightweight and comfortable jewels, proving that luxury doesn’t have to be cumbersome. They have designed custom pieces for many of their customers and look forward to creating jewels that every individual relates to.

Abhijit Shukla

Founder, TAN

Abhijit Shukla is an Indian founder redefining blockchain infrastructure with TAN, a next gen Layer-1 built to solve what Bitcoin and Ethereum still struggle- high gas fees, slow transactions, and unfair validator rewards. With a background in tech and a vision for decentralization that’s both scalable and sustainable, Abhijit created TAN using a novel Block Per Reward Proof of Stake (BPoS) consensus. His goal? To make blockchain fair, fast, and future-ready. Under his leadership, TAN has already processed over 200,000 transactions, generated more than 1 million blocks, and connected over 3,000 unique wallets on the TAN Devnet. It continues to gain traction among developers, investors, and blockchain-native communities worldwide.

Raj Kazi

Secretary and CEO, St. Joseph Day School, Kolkata

Raj Kazi, the dynamic Secretary and CEO of St. Joseph Day School, Kolkata, has been leading the institute since 2014, carrying forward the legacy of his father, Kazi Safikul Islam, who founded the school in 1996. Under his visionary leadership, the ICSE-ISC affiliated school in Howrah has flourished into a center of excellence. The youngest secretary in the education sector, Raj Kazi also manages RK Trading Company, an import-export firm, and heads RK Welfare Society, which offers free food, clothing, books, and education to the underprivileged—blending entrepreneurship with social service.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.