2025 is a landmark year for startups, with global giants like SpaceX, OpenAI, and ByteDance leading valuations, while India boasts 73 unicorns. Zerodha, Razorpay, and Lenskart top the charts, proving product-market fit and timing drive success. From fast scaling to sustainable growth, their journeys offer founders a roadmap to stand out in 2026.

Lab-grown diamond startup Lucira has secured $5.5 million (₹48 crore) in seed funding led by Blume Ventures and Spring Marketing Capital. Founded in May 2025 by Rupesh and Vandana Jain, Lucira plans retail expansion, design upgrades, and a strong marketing push. With rising demand for sustainable jewellery, Lucira aims to blend ethics, design, and modern retail.

Noida-based fuel-tech startup Nawgati has partnered with Dubai’s Seed Group to modernise the UAE’s fuel retail sector. The collaboration combines Nawgati’s digital technology with Seed Group’s regional presence to enhance efficiency, transparency, and customer experience at fuel stations, aligning with the UAE’s vision for smarter, sustainable mobility solutions.

India’s startup market is gearing up for a landmark year as Groww, Urban Company, Meesho, PhysicsWallah, and Wakefit prepare their IPOs in 2025. With filings showing strong expansion plans and investor focus shifting to profitability, these startups mark the next phase of India’s digital economy entering public markets with greater discipline and scrutiny.

Single-agent systems perform tasks independently, making them simpler and easier to manage, while multi-agent systems involve multiple AI agents collaborating or competing to solve complex problems. Multi-agent setups enable scalability, specialisation, and adaptability in dynamic environments, though they require advanced coordination.

Business consultants help organisations solve challenges by analysing processes, identifying inefficiencies, and recommending solutions. Their expertise spans strategy, finance, marketing, technology, and operations. By offering unbiased perspectives and structured frameworks, consultants support businesses in scaling, adapting to market changes, and improving profitability.

Recent IT layoffs reflect a mix of global economic slowdowns, over-hiring during pandemic growth, and automation reducing certain roles. Companies are optimising costs while shifting resources toward AI and cloud-based services. For employees, it underscores the need to diversify skills, while for businesses it highlights the balance between scaling rapidly and building long-term workforce models.

Non-Fungible Tokens represent unique digital assets stored on blockchain, giving creators and buyers verifiable proof of ownership. Unlike traditional files, NFTs cannot be duplicated or altered, making them valuable for art, collectibles, and gaming. By enabling transparent transactions and new revenue streams, NFTs are redefining how digital goods are owned, traded, and monetised globally.

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy defines how a business brings products to market, targeting the right customers through clear positioning and channels. Successful GTM plans align sales, marketing, and operations, emphasise value, pricing, and partnerships, and track KPIs to reduce risks, boost adoption, and convert ideas into revenue opportunities.

India's electric vehicle (EV) adoption is boosted by loans with lower interest rates, flexible repayment options, and government subsidies under schemes like FAME-II. These incentives reduce upfront costs, making EVs more affordable for consumers and businesses. By combining financial support with charging infrastructure growth, India aims to accelerate its transition toward cleaner mobility.

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands sell directly to buyers through their own channels, gaining control over pricing, branding, and customer data. Business-to-consumer (B2C) involves selling through intermediaries like retailers and marketplaces, enabling scale but reducing control. While D2C allows deeper engagement and margins, B2C offers reach and convenience.

The IT workforce is shifting toward cloud computing, cybersecurity, AI, and automation. Traditional coding roles are evolving as demand rises for specialists in data science, DevOps, and systems integration. Soft skills like adaptability and critical thinking are equally important as remote and hybrid work models expand. Continuous reskilling is essential for workers to remain relevant.

The lean startup methodology emphasises building quickly, testing with real users, and iterating based on feedback. By creating minimum viable products, startups validate assumptions before scaling. This reduces wasted resources and helps pivot early if needed. The framework relies on continuous learning cycles build, measure, learn making it an effective approach for navigating uncertain markets.

Startup accelerators provide mentorship, funding, and networks in exchange for equity. Founders should evaluate program focus, mentor quality, and alumni outcomes before joining. The experience accelerates product validation, investor access, and market entry, but requires balancing equity dilution against long-term benefits. Accelerators serve as launchpad to scale operations faster and smarter.

In education, lead generation involves reaching prospective students through digital campaigns, nurturing them with personalised communication, and guiding them from inquiry to enrollment. Using tools like CRM systems, institutions track interest levels, analyse demographics, and optimise outreach strategies. This approach improves admission rates while building trust.

Drip campaigns are automated email or message sequences designed to nurture leads over time. By sending targeted content based on user behaviour, businesses build trust, reduce churn, and guide prospects toward purchase decisions. Effective drip campaigns segment audiences, personalize messaging, and track engagement metrics. They transform static outreach into customer lifecycle.

Immersive technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality are transforming industries from retail to education. They enable interactive simulations, product visualizations, and experiential learning. In retail, AR improves decision-making with virtual try-ons; in training, VR enhances safety and skill-building.

Startup incubators sustain themselves through equity in startups, rent from shared spaces, service fees, and partnerships with governments or corporations. Some also run venture funds, earning returns from exits. These models balance operational costs with long-term gains while supporting early innovation. This mix covers operating costs and creates long-term returns.

Chris Wood, Jefferies’ Global Head of Equity Strategy, cautions that the current rally in US AI stocks risks a “massive overinvestment bust.” He points out that tech giants’ capital expenditures on AI are soaring, and valuations appear stretched. Driven largely by retail investors, the momentum may reverse sharply if AI hype fails to deliver consistent earnings.

Zerodha Co-founder Nithin Kamath revealed he has invested just ₹10 lakh in the brokerage platform so far. He said ₹2.5 lakh was used for website, ₹5 lakh for office interiors and ₹2.5 lakh for miscellaneous expenses. "We came from extremely middle-class background and had no rich uncles. Dad was a bank manager and mother taught (musical instrument) Veena," he said.

The Indian Navy has signed a ₹66 crore contract with Odisha-based Coratia Technologies to supply indigenous Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (UWROVs) such as Jalasimha, Jaladuta, and Navya (ASV). These systems will support hull cleaning, inspections, salvage, and sonar mapping. The deal highlights domestic innovation while advancing the “Make in India” initiative in defence technology.

Agoda has cut customer support roles in Singapore, Hungary, and China, impacting about 50 staff in Singapore. The layoffs span positions from specialists to regional managers in the Customer Experience Group. Agoda says the move is part of efforts to boost efficiency, with new roles shifting to locations offering greater flexibility and capability.

The US Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by 25 basis points, marking its first cut in 2025. This has lifted Indian equity markets, especially IT stocks, which gain off US demand. Lower US yields and a softer dollar often attract foreign portfolio investment into emerging markets like India. However, optimism is tempered by inflation concerns and input costs.

CARS24, CarDekho, and Spinny are planning to raise a combined total of over $1 billion via IPOs in the next 12-18 months, reported Bloomberg. The unicorns are in early talks with bankers to assess investor appetite, it added. CarTrade Tech, the operator of CarWale and CarTrade platforms, is the only publicly traded company in the used-car business.

Construction materials solutions firm, Infra.Market, which is backed by Accel, has raised ₹730 crore in a new funding round led by Zerodha founder Nikhil Kamath’s Nksquared family office. Nksquared contributed ₹200 crore, and the total proceeds will reportedly value the company at ₹24,600 crore. Infra.Market plans to file its draft IPO papers this month, with a listing expected by 2025-end.