Meet India's boldest founders. Raw, real & ready to scale. ET Soonicorns Summit 2025
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Time of India
12 hours ago
- Time of India
ET Soonicorns Sundowner 2025: How healthcare and HRTech are quietly powering Hyderabad's startup ascent
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Healthcare Booking Platforms have demonstrated remarkable capital efficiency, raising a massive $335.7 million across just 20 funding rounds from 58 unique investors. This translates to an average funding of $16.8 million per round, a testament to the high conviction investors have in the scalability and market potential of health-tech solutions emerging from the region. Companies are innovating in areas such as telemedicine, online diagnostics, and at-home healthcare services, addressing critical gaps in the healthcare landscape. Similarly, the HRTech sector has been a hotbed of activity, securing $311.7 million from 43 investors across 40 rounds. The sector is not only attracting significant capital, including a mega-round, but is also witnessing a phenomenal entrepreneurial boom, with 155 new companies founded during the period. This indicates an intense focus on creating innovative solutions for modern workforce management, from recruitment and payroll to employee engagement and upskilling. Hyderabad-based startup Darwinbox has already achieved unicorn status, paving the way for others in this space. While the titans of Bengaluru and Mumbai have long dominated India's startup narrative, a powerful new current of innovation is surging from the heart of Telangana. In a surprising twist, it's not the usual suspects of e-commerce or fintech leading the charge. Instead, the Healthcare Bookings and HRTech sectors have emerged as the unexpected engines driving capital, innovation, and immense growth in the Hyderabad cluster, signalling a major shift in India's technology month, the city's dynamic startup ecosystem is set for its most definitive pulse check yet. On July 31, 2025, The Economic Times, in collaboration with leading data intelligence platform Tracxn, will unveil the much-anticipated 'ET Top Soonicorns and Minicorns X Top Sectors AP-Telangana 2025' report at the inaugural ET Soonicorns Sundowner in Hyderabad. To be formally launched by Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Special Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana, the report signals the start of a new city-focused spin-off from the ET Soonicorns Summit , India's largest congregation for soonicorns or startups valued at or near $1 numbers speak for themselves. Between January 2020 and May 2025, the twin states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana saw a flurry of startup activity, but Hyderabad emerged as the undisputed epicentre. The city alone accounted for over 2,500 new startups and attracted a staggering $2.1 billion in funding. This represents an astonishing 99.7% of the total startup capital invested in the entire region, cementing Hyderabad's status as a complete and self-sustaining startup surge has transformed the city into a magnet for talent and investment, fostering a vibrant landscape that spans from early-stage seed ventures to scalable 'soonicorns' and 'minicorns' or startups valued between $100 million and $500 million. This growth hasn't gone unnoticed, with Hyderabad now ranking among the top startup hotspots in Asia The forthcoming 'ET Top Soonicorns and Minicorns' report, which analyzes over 1500 companies, reveals a compelling story about where the smart money is flowing. The analysis classifies sectors into priority tiers, with 'P0' representing the top 10 sectors with the highest number of active investors—a clear signal of broad market at the pinnacle of the P0 category are Healthcare Booking Platforms and HRTech. Together, these two sectors have attracted over $640 million in combined funding, drawing significant interest from a diverse range of are some key insights:Beyond the top two: A diversified and thriving ecosystemWhile Healthcare and HRTech command the lead, the report highlights a robust and diversified ecosystem. The EdTech sector, particularly K-12 EdTech and Continued Learning, has seen the birth of over 370 new companies. Though the total funding is more moderate, the sheer volume of new ventures and investor interest points to a highly competitive and innovative early-stage E-commerce and logistics verticals also feature prominently in the P0 list. Online Grocery and Logistics Tech have attracted significant investor attention, reflecting the region's strengths in consumer-facing and supply chain MarketingTech stands out for having produced the highest number of minicorns at four among the P0 sectors, signaling a healthy pipeline of companies poised for significant report also identifies 'P1' sectors, characterised by high total funding from a more concentrated group of investors. These include high-growth frontiers such as Electric Vehicles (EVs), Beauty Tech, and Alternative Lending, which are attracting substantial capital and producing a new generation of promising ET Soonicorns Sundowner: Where data meets dialogueThe evening of July 31st promises to be a confluence of the sharpest minds in the region, bringing together founders, investors, and policymakers for insightful discussions, storytelling-led sessions, and exclusive networking data and insights from the upcoming 'ET Top Soonicorns and Minicorns' report, in collaboration with Tracxn, to be launched at the ET Soonicorns Sundowner Hyderabad, will provide the first truly definitive look into the mechanics of this silent revolution. As the spotlight shifts to Hyderabad, one thing is clear: the city is not just building startups; it is building the future, one innovative solution at a time. The nation will be watching closely as this southern powerhouse takes its well-deserved place on the main stage of India's startup-innovation new ET Soonicorns Sundowner 2025 series aims to cast a spotlight on the nation's undercelebrated innovation corridors, with Hyderabad rightfully claiming the inaugural in its fourth year, the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 is scheduled to take place on 22 August.360 One is the presenting partner of the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 (This article is generated and published by the ET Spotlight team. You can get in touch with them at etspotlight@ .)
Time of India
4 days ago
- Time of India
ET X Tracxn to unveil Andhra Pradesh-Telangana's next-gen startups and strategic sectors at Soonicorns Sundowner Hyderabad
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills P0 sectors – Denoting mature industries with a high number of unique active investors, indicating strong validation and stability. P1 sectors – Sectors that are still nascent but attracting high-conviction funding despite a smaller investor base, pointing to deep belief in future growth. Startup formation rates Capital flow trends and investor activity Exit pathways and acquisition dynamics Sectoral maturity vs momentum across AP and Telangana Venture-backed disruptors: NxtWave (EdTech): $232M valuation on $35.8M raised—an early signal of national reach and sector relevance. DhruvaSpace (NewSpace): Valued over $104M—reflecting long-term investor faith in capital-heavy DeepTech. Revenue-first engines: Hesa (Rural FinTech): $126M in reported revenue—proof of scale with deep Bharat roots. Next Education: $73M in capital raised across multiple rounds, signalling product-market fit and monetisation success. Which sectors are peaking vs. bubbling Where the next unicorns may emerge And how India's innovation geography is rapidly shifting On July 31, 2025, The Economic Times, in collaboration with leading data intelligence platform Tracxn, will unveil the much-anticipated 'ET Top Soonicorns and Minicorns X Top Sectors AP-Telangana 2025' report at the inaugural ET Soonicorns Sundowner in Hyderabad. Startups valued between $100 million and $500 million—popularly dubbed minicorns—may no longer be flying under the radar. In a strategic shift from focusing solely on unicorn-bound startups, the report brings to light the surge of minicorns, dominating the startup-innovation economy in Andhra Pradesh-Telangana across sectors such as electric vehicles (EVs), NewSpace, EdTech, and direct-to-consumer (D2C). This report promises to be a turning point in how South India's innovation corridors are mapped, measured, and be formally launched by Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Special Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana, the report signals the start of a new city-focused spin-off from India's largest congregation of soonicorns—the ET Soonicorns Summit. Now in its fourth year, the Summit is extending its geographic lens to spotlight India's undercelebrated but high-performance innovation corridors, with Hyderabad taking centre localised unveiling not only sets the tone for regional spotlighting but kicks off a new chapter in decoding India's startup heatmap with sharper granularity and sectoral report's findings are based on startup activity from January 1, 2020 to May 20, 2025, tracked via Tracxn's proprietary data. The report uses Tracxn's classification model to segment sectors into:Unlike previous editions that largely tracked soonicorns—startups nearing the $1B valuation mark—the latest report expands its scope to highlight both soonicorns and minicorns, offering insights into sectoral hotspots, capital flows, and business models poised to scale. The methodology anchors itself in a multi-dimensional ecosystem-first framework powered by Tracxn's proprietary data engine. It analyses:Against this dual-lens framework, the report identifies not just where money is flowing, but why. What emerges is a story of emerging sectoral champions, city-wise momentum, and next-gen minicorns that are becoming the backbone of India's future innovation centrepiece of this analysis is a curated list of 28 minicorns, primarily concentrated in Hyderabad. These aren't just valuation winners—they're category creators and deep-domain disruptors across EdTech, EVs, NewSpace, HRTech, and Digital unicorns that often emerge from later-stage funding and global market playbooks, these minicorns are tackling foundational Indian challenges—from digitising rural commerce to democratising access to education and space these minicorns follow two clear paths:This duality reflects the maturity of Hyderabad's startup base, where both high-burn tech bets and revenue-generating models are thriving side by report's P0 and P1 sectors reflect Hyderabad's strategic shift from being an outsourcing IT centre to a multi-sector innovation capital. Sectors such as Electric Vehicles, K-12 EdTech, and NewSpace are not only represented in the minicorns list but are also leading in active investor interest (P0) and deep funding concentration (P1).This convergence of capital, capability, and conviction marks Telangana's emergence as a minicorn breeding ET Soonicorns X Tracxn AP-Telangana report is not just a city ranking—it's a mirror to India's next growth wave. By moving beyond Bengaluru and Mumbai, the report underscores how cities such as Hyderabad are becoming critical to India's $1T digital economy also provides investors, policymakers, and founders with sharp insights into:The Hyderabad Sundowner is the first in a new regional spin-off of the flagship ET Soonicorns Summit, which returns to Bengaluru in August launching the city-focused data series at these intimate networking evenings, The Economic Times aims to build a year-round pulse on India's startup landscape, unlocking high-value insights from the ground July 31, the city's top founders, investors, policymakers, and operators will gather at the Sundowner for the exclusive unveiling, where the data meets the deal flow.360 One is the presenting partner of the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Time of India
Meet India's boldest founders. Raw, real & ready to scale. ET Soonicorns Summit 2025
Get inside the minds of India's most daring the fluff. Join the tribe. ET SoonicornsSummit 2025 Raw, real, and ready to scale. Apply to be in the room.
