After a pathbreaking 2025, 2026 has already kicked off on a high note. January saw two new-age tech listings materialise, the year’s first unicorn, and a clutch of IPO filings. The scale underpinning this momentum is hard to ignore. India enters 2026 with 127 unicorns, 147 soonicorns, 60+ minicorns, 58 listed new-age tech ventures and over 2 Lakh DPIIT-registered startups. Together, these moves signal that the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem is ready to set the agenda for India’s next growth chapter. But momentum does not mean smooth sailing. The past month threw up uncomfortable reminders of what comes with scale. The fraud allegations engulfing beleaguered real-money gaming giant WinZO and the intensifying debate over gig worker welfare raised questions of trust, governance, and accountability. And then there’s the quiet, deeper shift underway. With sustained government and institutional push, the ecosystem appears to be stretching beyond its familiar consumer-facing playbook to deeptech and other frontier technologies. Deepinder Goyal’s decision to step away from the day-to-day operations at Eternal to pursue riskier new ventures is emblematic of this mood. Against this backdrop, we are back with Inc42’s flagship “30 Startups To Watch” series. In line with the… Read MoreInc42 Media
