Indian Women Founders Share 2025 Reflections & Outlook for 2026

By: WE Staff

Neha Singh, Co-Founder, Tracxn

For Neha, 2025 was all about seeing the Indian startup ecosystem mature. She hails a maturing of founding teams and founder adaptability as well.

2025 saw the Indian Startup Ecosystem Maturing

The biggest learning from 2025 was seeing the Indian startup ecosystem truly come of age, something that was often spoken about earlier but became tangible this year. After spending over 15 years in the ecosystem, 2025 stood out as a proof point of maturity. It was a record year for IPOs of VC- and PE-backed companies, with multiple funds achieving exits and liquidity flowing back to LPs, much of which is now being reinvested locally.

Founding teams were noticeably more seasoned, with a higher share of repeat founders and former CXOs from scaled startups, resulting in fewer but larger and more concentrated bets. Equally important was founder adaptability: as the narrative shifted from growth-at-all-costs to sustainable profitability, many founders recalibrated successfully. Finally, the investor base broadened, with Indian family offices increasingly participating in late-stage and pre-IPO rounds, reinforcing the ecosystem’s depth and resilience.

Neha’s 2026 Vision for Tracxn & Beyond

My vision for 2026 is centered on building depth, speed, and inclusivity across the ecosystem. I’m particularly excited about how AI is accelerating Tracxn’s journey toward becoming a truly global data powerhouse, compressing timelines dramatically, where products and datasets that once took months to build can now be launched in days. This step-change in capability opens up entirely new possibilities for scale, coverage, and insight quality.

Beyond technology, I hope 2026 marks a visible shift in leadership diversity: more women founders starting and scaling companies, more women stepping into CXO roles, and more women-founded companies reaching the public markets. That combination, AI-driven execution velocity, and a broader, more representative set of leaders would not only strengthen the ecosystem structurally but also make it more resilient, innovative, and globally competitive in the years ahead.

About Neha Singh: She is an Indian pioneer in the private investment arena and has over 10 years of experience working in venture finance, with some of her most notable investments including Practo and Freecharge. In 2012, she co-founded Tracxn (NSE: TRACXN), a global market intelligence provider for private company data, along with Abhishek Goyal.