30 Startups To Watch: Startups That Caught Our Eye In June 2026

by · Inc42

SUMMARY

  • Indian startups raised $5.2 Bn in H1 2026, down 9% YoY, but deal activity remained healthy with 501 deals, up 7% from a year ago. June also saw blockbuster fundraises from CRED, Sarvam and Square Yards
  • Sarvam and Square Yards joined the unicorn club, major investors booked gains by selling stakes in listed new-age firms, and the IPO pipeline strengthened with Jio, Zepto and OYO preparing for public listings
  • Amid the momentum, Inc42's 72nd edition of 30 Startups To Watch, powered by Peak XV, spotlights promising early-stage startups across AI, defence tech, D2C and other emerging sectors
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June was quite an eventful month for the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. One of the most talked-about moments last month was CRED founder Kunal Shah stepping away from the fintech unicorn to take charge of global operations at Meta’s WhatsApp.

His exit was followed by big tech Meta picking up a 20% stake in CRED for a massive $900 Mn. The deal gave a strong lift to monthly funding numbers, but it was far from the only big-ticket fundraise in the startup ecosystem last month.

AI juggernaut Sarvam also raised $234 Mn from HCLTech at a billion-dollar valuation, making it the country’s second AI unicorn. Soon after, proptech player Square Yards also raised $95 Mn at a unicorn valuation, becoming India’s 131st unicorn.

Overall, Indian startups raised $5.2 Bn in H1 2026, down 9% from $5.7 Bn raised a year ago. However, the deal count rose 7% YoY to 501 during the first half of the ongoing calendar year.

While deal activity remained strong, VC firms also took advantage of improving public market conditions to rake in big gains by trimming exposure in some of their long-held bets. Investors such as Sofina, Alpha Wave Ventures, Actis, Peak XV and Elevation Capital offloaded sizable stakes in new-age tech companies such as Pine Labs, Delhivery and Honasa Consumer.

The public markets, meanwhile, remained relatively quiet, with Turtlemint’s IPO concluding on a muted note. Nevertheless, the sentiment appears to be turning as a large pipeline of IPOs is beginning to formalise.

India’s biggest telecom player Reliance’s Jio Infocomm filed its draft IPO papers after a year of preparation, while unicorns such as Zepto and OYO-parent PRISM are also lining up mega public offerings for the second half of the year.

Against this buzzing backdrop, Inc42 is back with its flagship “30 Startups To Watch” series, where we track budding early stage startups.