India’s venture capital (VC) ecosystem saw a strong recovery in 2024, with total funding rebounding to $13.7 billion—1.4 times the investment levels of $ 9.6 billion recorded in 2023, according to Bain & Company’s Venture Capital Report 2025. The report, created in collaboration with IVCA, highlights a resurgence in investor confidence, supported by strong domestic fundamentals, regulatory advancements, and rising public market activity.
“The first couple of months in 2025 have started a bit soft. Overall as we talk to investors there is general sense of optimism that this (2025) is also going to be a year where pretty good deal making is going to happen”, Prabhav Kashyap, Partner, Bain&Company told BusinessLine.
“When we talk to investors, the optimism around India continues. If we ask them which specifically are the emerging or growth markets they want to prioritise, India is the number one market that people continue to highlight. They do see that India is still going to be the major economy that is fastest growing”.
Tech-first sectors—comprising consumer tech, software and software-as-a-service (SaaS), and fintech—continued to dominate India’s VC landscape, securing over 60 percent of total funding in 2024. Consumer tech emerged as the largest sector, with investments surging 2.3 times to $5.4 billion. This growth was primarily fuelled by megadeals in business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce, travel tech, gaming, and edtech.
Sriwatsan Krishnan, Partner at Bain & Company said that India’s evolving investment landscape reflects a strategic shift towards sustainable, long-term growth—focused on profitability, innovation, and regulatory alignment, with policy reforms boosting momentum and funding.
“Investors are increasingly backing companies that exhibit strong unit economics and resilience in the face of global macroeconomic trends.Remarkably, the top 10 most-funded companies commanded a quarter of total VC inflows – nine of them being consumer-focused, underscoring the sector’s dominance in India’s evolving startup landscape,“ he said.
Quick Commerce Emerges as a Key Theme
Within the B2C commerce segment, quick commerce stood out as a breakout theme. The rapid adoption of quick commerce platforms by consumers, evolving business propositions from leading players, and credible paths to profitability have bolstered investor confidence in the sector. The Bain report suggests that quick commerce is now seen as a sustainable business model, driving a wave of fresh capital into the space.
Kashyap, who is a leader in Bain & Company’s India Private Equity Practice, said that overall there is very clear optimism on scalability of the quick commerce model.
“All the three major players in Quick Commerce have said they are going to continue their dark store addition. We expect the overall number of dark stores to touch 5,500 by the end of this year. Non grocery part is also beginning to gain traction. Fundamentally there is lot of tailwinds”, Kashyap added.
Signs of Recovery in Deal Activity
Despite lingering global uncertainties, 2024 was marked by cautious optimism among investors. While Asia-Pacific VC funding remained largely flat, India solidified its position as the region’s second-largest venture capital destination. Progressive regulatory reforms and a resilient startup ecosystem contributed to this positive trajectory.
The report underscores that venture capitalists in India continue to have substantial capital reserves, setting the stage for potentially robust deal activity in 2025. Growth-stage investments, in particular, are expected to rise, as investors look to scale promising businesses in well-established sectors.
Deal volumes in 2024 increased across deal sizes and stages, while average deal size remained stable. Small- and medium-ticket deals (
Emerging Sectors Gaining Traction
Beyond the tech-first sectors, new areas of innovation are attracting investor interest. The report identifies semiconductors, energy transition, and deep tech as emerging investment themes that are likely to see increased funding in 2025. As institutional support deepens and the ecosystem evolves, these sectors could become key drivers of long-term growth in India’s VC landscape, the report noted.
