Startups Raise $5.3 Billion via Public Markets in FY25 as Fundraising Landscape Evolves

Venture-backed Indian startups raised $5.3 billion (over Rs 44,000 crore) in financial year 2024-25 from public markets via IPOs, FPOs, and QIPs, marking a structural shift in startup fundraising lifecyle in India. According to private markets-focused investment bank Rainmaker Group’s RainGauge Index -- an objective market cap, weighted index tracking the performance of 39 specified listed start-ups -- latest annual update for FY25 noted that public markets outpaced private capital for late-stage fundraising, solidifying their role as the dominant source of growth capital.

FY25 also marked the first full market cycle for India’s startup listings: from euphoric IPOs in 2021–22, sharp corrections in 2023, and rationalisation in 2024, to a new phase of resilience and re-rating. This unfolded with a backdrop of a cyclical economic slowdown in India in FY25, causing a lot of consumer-facing companies to battle margin compression and weak topline momentum.

Some of the startups that went public in FY25 were Awfis, Go Digit, Ixigo, FirstCry, Unicommerce, Blackbuck, Ola Electric, and Swiggy.

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The year also saw record over Rs 20,000 crore in secondary exits as PE/VC firms like Peak XV and TPG harvested early bets through block trades. Meanwhile, mutual fund participation surged, with average holdings in RainGauge Index companies rising from 10 per cent in March’24 to 14 per cent in March’25, a sign of growing institutional belief in innovation-led equities.

“FY25 didn’t just test India’s startup listings, it matured them,” said Kashyap Chanchani, Managing Partner, The Rainmaker Group. “The public market has become the preferred playground for India’s breakout companies. We’ve now seen the full arc - the IPO frenzy, the valuation winter, and now a clear re-rating driven by fundamentals. This is the age of seasoning. The market is no longer listening to stories, it’s pricing in substance.”

FY25 also delivered symbolic structural wins including Zomato joining the NIFTY50 and SENSEX, while Swiggy entered the NIFTY Next 50. Nykaa, PB Fintech, Ola Electric, and others were also inducted into the NIFTY MidCap150. 

Importantly, despite the early-year correction and record FII outflows of around Rs 78,000 crore in Q1, foreign investors returned strongly by Q4, driven by rate-cut expectations and India’s steady macro indicators.

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According to the report, startups can now be segmented into four performance archetypes: first, those achieving scale with profitability, second are the ones growing at the cost of margins, third which are optimising for profit over growth, and fourth are those under pressure on both. These archetypes are no longer theoretical, they are shaping investor sentiment, index inclusion, and public market outcomes. 

“FY25 made this segmentation stark, while companies like Policybazaar and CarTrade delivered profitable growth and strong re-ratings, others like Zomato and Delhivery balanced scale with selective margin recovery. In contrast, segments like quick commerce and EVs remained in high-burn territory, drawing sharper scrutiny,” the report noted.

The index is established with a base date of January 1, 2023 and a starting value of 100 and is calculated daily using historical share counts.