Best 31 Startups in India – Updated List

ByNextWhat Research Desk Success Story
best startups in india

India’s startup ecosystem has surprisingly bloomed during the last decade and today sta8nds out as one of the most accelerated innovation and entrepreneurial locales around the world. Indian startups have not just transformed the traditional sectors but are also doing new category-building in their own space, with the support of technological developments and growing digital markets. Indian startups are gaining rapid growth and are attracting much attention around the globe with backing from the government under programs such as Startup India and Make in India, along with an increase in venture capital investments.

This wave of innovation covers sectors from fintech and health care to e-commerce, education, and mobility as a solution to wide challenges faced by millions. Here is a list of some of the top startups in India that have come from this esteemed nation, with a short glance through each company, along with its founding details and LinkedIn profile.

List of Top Startups in India

1. Zerodha

Zerodha is India’s largest online discount brokerage company providing an online trading platform for stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and many more. Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath founded the company in 2010. Since Zerodha provided a flat-fee brokerage model that collided with the conventional brokerage’s traditional trade system, it was growing exponentially. As a result, its smooth platform, cost-effective services, and education plans through Zerodha Varsity have now been a favourite among retail investors. It is a boot-strapped company, and its valuation crosses $2 billion.

  • Founding Year: 2010
  • Founders: Nithin Kamath, Nikhil Kamath
  • LinkedIn: Zerodha LinkedIn

2. OYO Hotels

OYO Hotels & Homes, founded by Ritesh Agarwal in 2013, is one of India’s largest and most recognized hospitality startups in India. Originally known as “Oravel Stays,” it rebranded to OYO, aiming to provide affordable and standardized accommodations worldwide. The company has its headquarters in Gurugram, India, and has expanded operations into over 80 countries.

3. Ditto Insurance

Ditto Insurance is an insurance advisory platform focused on a customer, which demystifies the labyrinth of jargon and processes around insurance for an average customer. Starting in 2021 with the founders of the Finshots newsletter, Ditto further prunes out the mystery surrounding health and life insurance. It helps millennials navigate through the entire sphere of insurance majority of new entrants into the insurance world. Unbiased advice without hidden sales pitches sets up the brand as one of the most reliable advisory platforms.

  • Founding Date: 2021
  • Founders: Finshots Team (Shreekrishna Yogananda, Saikrishna Prakash)
  • LinkedIn: Ditto Insurance LinkedIn

4. Skyroot Aerospace

Skyroot Aerospace is one of the revolutionary space-tech startups in India, committed to creating low-cost reliable launch vehicles for small satellites. Founded in 2018 by former ISRO scientists, Skyroot is the first completely privately owned space-launch startup in India. The company is developing the Vikram series of rockets to launch small and micro satellites necessary for businesses and scientific research.

5. Licious

Licious is a D2C brand in meat and seafood that revolutionized the way fresh meat can be delivered to consumers. Founded in 2015, by Vivek Gupta, and Abhay Hanjura, Licious operates on the model of farm-to-fork, providing fresh high-quality meat products directly to consumers with utmost hygiene. It has significantly grown over the last few years since demand for fresh and hygienic meat arose following the pandemic.

  • Founding Year: 2015
  • Founders: Vivek Gupta, Abhay Hanjura
  • LinkedIn: Licious LinkedIn

6. Curefoods

Curefoods is a cloud kitchen startup in India which operates the likes of EatFit, Yumlane, and Aligarh House Biryani. The startup was founded in 2020, leveraging technology to drive a multi-brand food business under one roof, optimizing food preparation, delivery logistics, and customer experience. Capitalizing on the trend when there was growing demand for cloud kitchens due to the pandemic, the company is building its solid presence in India’s food-tech space. It was founded by Ankit Nagori who had earlier worked with Flipkart.

7. Cred

Launched in 2018, Cred is a members-only app that incentivises credit card payments. It is a reward platform targeting India’s growing middle class for urban clients that provides points, exchangeable into exclusive rewards from popular brands and cashbacks. Through data-driven insights, the application offers customized financial services including loans and rent payments. A unique business model that focuses on high-income users has quickly placed Cred among India’s fintech startups.

8. MPL (Mobile Premier League)

Mobile Premier League, also known as MPL, is an online gaming platform that enables its users to play skill-based games and win actual cash prizes. Launched in 2018, the platform has become extremely popular as millions of users participate in tournaments from fantasy sports to chess, among other types of games. One of the co-founders is said to be Sai Srinivas and Shubham Malhotra. It is adding new games and features to further enhance user experience as it goes global.

  • Founding Year: 2018
  • Founders: Sai Srinivas, Shubham Malhotra
  • LinkedIn: MPL LinkedIn

9. Ola Electric

Ola Electric is the electric vehicle arm of Ola, focused on the development and mass production of electric scooters. This company finds itself leading the EV revolution in India, hoping to bring sustainable transport to the average Indian. Founded in 2017 by Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola Electric has managed to make quite a splash with its flagship product, an industry-beating scooter called the Ola S1, priced competently and offering high-performance values.

10. Meesho

meesho - one of the top startups in India

Meesho, founded by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in 2015, provides sellers with an easy way of selling to millions without needing their e-commerce infrastructure. It offers a social commerce platform that enables small businesses, along with entrepreneurs, to sell online using the social media platforms of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. Meesho is one of the leading e-commerce startups in India.

  • Founding Year: 2015
  • Founders: Vidit Aatrey, Sanjeev Barnwal
  • LinkedIn: Meesho LinkedIn

11. Razorpay

Founded in 2014 by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, Razorpay is one of the leading payment gateway startups in India. The organization serves businesses through a secure platform for accepting and processing online payments. Razorpay grew very fast over the years as it continually aimed to provide seamless payments for both businesses and consumers. Through its all-around suite of financial services, it now encompasses payment gateway solutions, banking services, and corporate credit lines.

  • Founding Year: 2014
  • Founders: Harshil Mathur, Shashank Kumar
  • LinkedIn: Razorpay LinkedIn

12. GoKwik

GoKwik is one of the fastest commerce enabler startups in India that helps online businesses raise conversions at checkout and decrease return rates. Founded in 2020, GoKwik uses the smartest AI algorithms to make the customer buying experience seamless at the checkout stage, ensuring the cart does not get abandoned in the first place. This proprietary technology, with fraud detection, works in the background to give a seamless and secure payment experience.

  • Founding Year: 2020
  • Founders: Chirag Taneja, Suhail Tavawala, Ishaan Arora
  • LinkedIn: GoKwik LinkedIn

13. upGrad

Founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh, upGrad is an online higher education company that focuses on industry-relevant courses in collaboration with leading universities worldwide. The courses include data science, digital marketing, machine learning, and many more. The reason behind this website’s huge success is high-quality content, great faculty, and a focus on career outcomes for students.

  • Founding Year: 2015
  • Founders: Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, Ravijot Chugh
  • LinkedIn: upGrad LinkedIn

14. Unacademy

Unacademy started as a YouTube channel in 2010 and transformed into one of India’s largest online education platforms in 2015. Co-founded by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh, the platform offers courses for competitive exams, professional certifications, and school education. It provides live classes, recorded sessions, and a subscription model for students.

  • Founding Year: 2015 (as a platform)
  • Founders: Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh
  • LinkedIn: Unacademy LinkedIn

15. ZestMoney

ZestMoney, an online lending company, offers credit to consumers who don’t have any credit card. The originator of the company dates back to 2015 and was first started by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma, and Ashish Anantharaman. ZestMoney offers ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ services to its clients, helping them make purchases and pay in easy instalments. Moreover, it also ties up with e-commerce websites and retail stores, which makes it that much easier for people to procure credit.

  • Founding Year: 2015
  • Founders: Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma, Ashish Anantharaman
  • LinkedIn: ZestMoney LinkedIn

16. Cars24

Cars24 is a user-friendly car-selling and buying platform. It was founded by Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, and Gajendra Jangid in 2015. The company allows car sellers to sell their cars at ease as soon as possible, offering buyers a wide range of certified used cars. In using technology, this company deals with all levels of transparency and safety for hassle-free transactions.

  • Founding Year: 2015
  • Founders: Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Gajendra Jangid
  • LinkedIn: Cars24 LinkedIn

17. Urban Company

Founded by Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan, and Raghav Chandra in 2014, Urban Company is an at-home services platform, that connects consumers with professionals for everything from cleaning and beauty treatments to plumbing and electrical work. The company has rapidly scaled to become one of the largest service marketplaces in India and offers its services across multiple cities, as well as internationally.

18. Nykaa

Nykaa is the largest online beauty and wellness in India, selling a wide portfolio of products from international and Indian brands. The company was founded by Falguni Nayar in 2012 and, within such a short period, has grown into a billion-dollar brand not just through its online retail but also through offline sales with the experience of being omnichannel. The company sells across different categories, including makeup, skincare, haircare, and personal care; it has also launched its beauty product lines.

19. Ather Energy

Ather Energy is one of the electric vehicle firms in India that designs and manufactures e-scooters. It was founded in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. What gives Ather Energy fame today is its high-performance Ather 450X scooters. Ather Energy played a crucial role when it dared push India into an electric mobility revolution. The Company has gained recognition for its cutting-edge technology and sleek designs and their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

20. Zomato

zomato - best startups in India

Zomato is India’s largest online food delivery portal and was launched originally in 2008 as a review website about restaurants, founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah. In 2015, Zomato continued its journey into delivery services and, from then on, became an instantly recognizable brand. The user can place an order for food from a local restaurant, order food, read reviews, and find further dining options.

  • Founding Year: 2008
  • Founders: Deepinder Goyal, Pankaj Chaddah
  • LinkedIn: Zomato LinkedIn

21. Dunzo

Dunzo is that on-demand delivery service where you get anything, from groceries to documents. The users of Dunzo get their tasks done right there quickly. It was founded in 2015 by Kabeer Biswas, Mukund Jha, Dalvir Suri and Ankur Agarwal. The high pace of growth, especially in the metropolitan cities of India, has lifted Dunzo among the top on-demand delivery service applications in the country. There is the potential of having the user outsource her errands- from picking parcels to buying essentials from a local shop on the platform.

  • Founding Year: 2015
  • Founders: Kabeer Biswas, Mukund Jha, Dalvir Suri, Ankur Agarwal
  • LinkedIn: Dunzo LinkedIn

22. Delhivery

Delhivery happens to be among the best logistics and supply chain services corporations in India. It was founded in 2011 by four friends – Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Suraj Saharan, and Bhavesh Manglani – as a hyperlocal express delivery service that later became the logistics business of e-commerce. Today, the company has specialized in a variety of services, from transport and warehousing to order fulfilment.

  • Founding Year: 2011
  • Founders: Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Suraj Saharan, Bhavesh Manglani
  • LinkedIn: Delhivery LinkedIn

23. boAt

boAt is a lifestyle brand that offers stylish and affordable electronic accessories primarily in the audio category. The company offers headphones, earphones, and speakers. Founded in 2016 by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, boAt didn’t take long to capture India’s consumer electronics market, targeting more specifically millennials. Delivering excellent products at an affordable price has indeed catapulted the company as a leader in the market.

  • Founding Year: 2016
  • Founders: Aman Gupta, Sameer Mehta
  • LinkedIn: boAt LinkedIn

24. Groww

Groww is actually an investment platform where users can invest in stocks, mutual funds, etc. It was founded in 2016 by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh. Indians have seen the new way of approaching investments through Groww, as it has provided the process in a simplistic and easy-to-understand manner. Because of its simplified interface and support materials, many novice investors have been drawn into the platform’s fold.

  • Founding Year: 2016
  • Founders: Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, Neeraj Singh
  • LinkedIn: Groww LinkedIn

25. Zepto

Zepto is one of the new-age companies that have sprouted in 2021 as a key player in quick-commerce companies in India. It focuses on grocery and daily household item deliveries within 10 minutes through a dark store network strategically spread across a city. It has attracted a wide range of millennials and working professionals who are passionate about having their needs met speedily. Under the age of 20, at the time of founding, Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, founders, have substantially raised venture capital for scaling the business across India.

  • Founding Year: 2021
  • Founders: Aadit Palicha, Kaivalya Vohra
  • LinkedIn: Zepto LinkedIn

26. Lenskart

lenskart - best startups in India

Lenskart is at present one of the largest online eyewear retailers in India. The company was launched in the year 2010 by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi. It has changed the eyewear industry altogether by providing fashionable eyewear at affordable prices and with good accessibility to consumers all over the nation. Omnichannel presence has been a core strength factor for Lenskart, consisting of online and offline stores.

  • Founding Year: 2010
  • Founders: Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, Sumeet Kapahi
  • LinkedIn: Lenskart LinkedIn

27. Swiggy

Swiggy is one of the largest food-delivery startups in India, connecting consumers with local restaurants and delivering food straight to customers’ doorsteps. Founded in 2014 by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini, Swiggy has scaled rapidly across India and extended its services to grocery delivery with Swiggy Instamart. Swiggy has experienced success because of its efficient delivery network, user-friendly app, and very wide range of partner restaurants.

  • Founding Year: 2014
  • Founders: Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini
  • LinkedIn: Swiggy LinkedIn

28. Paytm

Paytm is a digital payments and financial services company. It has transformed the way Indians make payments for goods and services. Founded in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm was first a mobile wallet but now it also offers banking products, insurance, and investment products. With a massive network of merchants and consumers, Paytm has emerged as one of the largest digital platforms in India.

  • Founding Year: 2010
  • Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
  • LinkedIn: Paytm LinkedIn

29. CarDekho

CarDekho is one of the largest startups in India providing an online platform for customers to buy and sell new and used cars. It was founded in 2008 by Amit Jain and Anurag Jain. The site enables users to compare or review cars, subscribe for insurance, and many more such facilities. For the buyers, it links them up with dealers as well as offers financing options. CarDekho has made the company the first stop for car buyers in India due to its comprehensive automotive ecosystem.

30. Freshworks

Freshworks is a cloud computing company established in 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy, with a focus on SaaS products. It aims to make customer engagement, customer support, and IT services management easier for businesses all over the world while providing unobtrusive solutions through its SaaS offerings. The company started with Freshdesk, a customer support software, but within subsequent years, it adapted to other forms of software solutions; these include Freshservice, which is its product for IT service management, Freshsales for CRM, and Freshteam for HR management.

  • Founding Year: 2010
  • Founders: Girish Mathrubootham, Shan Krishnasamy
  • LinkedIn: Freshworks LinkedIn

31. BluSmart

BluSmart is India’s first all-electric ride-hailing service startup in India, adapting its approach to meet the challenges of urban mobility with a thrust into sustainability. Set up in 2019, BluSmart ensures a safe, clean, and dependable transport experience towards reducing air pollution in metropolitan cities. The company is building its charging station network to support its electric vehicle fleet, making BluSmart a pioneer in green mobility in India.

  • Founding Year: 2019
  • Founders: Anmol Singh Jaggi, Punit Goyal
  • LinkedIn: BluSmart LinkedIn

The list is about the most successful and innovative startups in India, which have defined the entrepreneurial landscape of the country and offers a brief insight into their journey, operations, and growth potential.

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