India is one of the biggest startup producers in the world. Several indicators signal that Indian startups are set to take a big growth shift in 2025. Those indicators are like Indian startups’ funding growth, strategic hiring, and decline in Layoffs. Let’s find out everything.
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Indian Startups Funding Recovery.
According to reports, Indian startups raised $131 billion in the last 9 years. Over the past 9 years, Indian Startups secured the highest funding of $32 billion in 2021. In the upcoming 2 years, 2022 and 2023, Startup funding significantly declined to $10.8 billion, due to several global economic factors.
After the 2023 funding slump, Indian startups saw %22% Year-on-Year increase, reaching $13.2 billion in 2024. Moreover, Indian startups are estimated to raise funding of $15 billion, with a 25% growth rate, compared to last year.
This positive upcoming trend is setting startups up to hire across industries such as fintech, edtech, healthtech, and artificial intelligence. Due to rising funding, startups are moving from survival to development mode. Startups reinvest in talent acquisition, business expansion, and product development.
Rising Entrepreneurs From Tier 2 and 3 Cities.
After the Indian startup decade, a new geographic entrepreneurs is emerging, defending Indian startups’ success. Not only the urban elite of NCR or Mumbai, but also the rising consumer, entrepreneurs, and youth of tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
Due to this rising rural talent, startups’ 2025 hiring trend is shifting toward tier-2 and tier-3 cities. To save metro cities’ high cost, such as Bengaluru, Noida-NCR, and Mumbai, startups are expanding their recruitment base across cities such as Jaipur, Kochi, Coimbatore, and Indore.
This strategy has helped startups tap the untapped talent pool while cutting costs significantly. Moreover, Remote or Hybrid work models make it easier to build a strong team and to improve workforce diversity.
Layoffs: A Significant Decrease.
According to Layoffs.fyi report, layoffs in Indian startups fell by 46% in 2024, indicating a return to stability. In 2024, India’s Startups laid off approximately 9,000 employees, compared to the previous year’s data, around 16,298 employees were laid off in 2023.
Globally, startups that had full-stop hiring are now actively recruiting talent across Engineering, Marketing, Product, and Operations roles, focusing on long-term growth.
