Last year, predictions ran amok that the Indian startup ecosystem will once again become a force to reckon with in 2025 on the back of renewed investor sentiment and an unforgiving funding winter coming to an end.

Despite a 41% year-on-year increase in startup funding to $3.1 Bn in Q1 2025, the overall funding activity in the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem has remained flat since Q2 2024, according to Inc42’s latest “Indian Tech Startup Funding Report Q1 2025”. Indian startups raised a comparable amount in the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2024 as they did in the first quarter of 2025.

The needle failed to move on the deal count front, too. While Indian startups raised $2.2 Bn in 226 deals in Q1 2024, the deal count stood at 232 in Q1 2025. The metric was nowhere close to the number of deals secured in Q2 and Q3 (280 and 268, respectively). The most impacted quarter in terms of deal count was Q4 2024 at a mere 219 deals.

But, what about investor participation?

Well, in the past three months, 656 investors invested in Indian startups, up 42% from the 461 investors that infused funds in new-age ventures. Investor participation in the remaining three quarters, however, remained on par with the just concluded quarter (between 550 and 650).

In terms of deal count, fintech startups remained investors’ top bets in Q1 2025, followed by ecommerce and enterprise tech. Similarly, in terms of total funding, ecommerce bagged the most investor interest, followed by enterprise tech and fintech startups.

Interestingly, the most active investors during the quarter — venture debt firms Stride Ventures and Alteria Capital — were also the ones that were the most active investors in 2024. In the first quarter, the two invested in 27 and 26 startups, respectively.

Besides, Blume Ventures, Trifecta Capital, Antler, Peak XV, and 3one4 Capital made it to the list of the most active investors of the just-concluded quarter (Q1 2025). Without further ado, here’s the list of the most active investors.

Note: This ranking is based on data consolidated from Inc42’s India’s Top Startup Investor Ranking Survey [Q1 2025 Edition].

Stride Ventures

In the first quarter of 2025, the sector agnostic venture debt firm backed 27 startups like Wow! Momo, Glance and Park .

This followed an active 2024, during which the firm wrote 70 cheques for Indian startups. Stride kicked off 2025 with the launch of its largest fund yet — Fund IV — in December, aiming to raise $300 Mn. This came after the final close of its third fund at $165 Mn in May 2024.

In January 2025, Stride also partnered with DPIIT to help Indian startups grow and expand globally. Through this collaboration, the firm committed to........

© Inc42