The rise of AI marks a notable shift in where these founders are placing their conviction.
AI has emerged as the leading sector for India’s operator-founders for the first time, with one in four operator-led start-ups founded in 2025 building in AI, according to the second edition of The State of Operator-Led Startups, released on Monday by RTP Global in collaboration with Tracxn.While operator-led start-ups accounted for less than 1 per cent of all technology start-ups founded between 2023 and 2025, they attracted 11 per cent of the total funding raised in 2025.The rise of AI marks a notable shift in where these founders are placing their conviction. Of the 189 operator-founded start-ups in the study, 51 are AI companies. Vertical AI leads within that cohort, with 30 of the 51 AI companies building domain-specific solutions, followed by Horizontal AI (7), Developer Tools & AI Builders (4), Infrastructure (3), and others across Consumer AI, Agentic AI, and Enterprise AI. While AI Solutions ranks first by start-up count, it ranks fourth by funding raised, suggesting this is still an early-innings story, with capital yet to follow the founder movement fully. The report highlights that this trend is closely linked to the changing economics of company building. As AI reduces product development timelines and lowers the cost of experimentation, founders with operational experience are increasingly able to combine domain knowledge with AI to build products around problems they have witnessed firsthand. The appeal of operator-led start-upsBeyond sector preferences, the report points to continued investor confidence in this cohort. Funding into operator-led start-ups grew from $11.1 million in 2023 to $131.7 million in 2025, an increase of 11.9x over the three years. Seed-stage funding grew faster still, rising from $4.3 million to $75.2 million, a 17.5x increase, while the number of $1 million-plus rounds closed by operator-led start-ups rose from 2 to 21. In a year when broader tech start-up formation contracted sharply, operator-led start-ups rebounded by 35 per cent in 2025, pointing to a cohort entering entrepreneurship with intent. The cohort progressed through funding stages with notable speed. Between 2023 and 2025, operator-led start-ups’ average seed round stood at $2.4 million, 1.7x higher than the $1.4 million average for the rest of India’s tech start-ups. At Series A, operator-led start-ups raised an average of $10.5 million, 1.25x higher than the $8.4 million average for the rest of India’s tech start-up ecosystem. Series A outcomes strengthened in this edition. The average Series A valuation for operator-led start-ups reached $53.3 million, up from the $38.5 million average recorded in the inaugural edition. Beyond AI, operator-led start-ups raised approximately $186 million between 2023 and 2025. Fintech & Insurtech, Retail Tech & E-Commerce, and Transportation & Mobility emerged as the three largest sectors by funding, while AI Solutions, Fintech & Insurtech, and Enterprise Solutions & Software were the three largest sectors by start-up creation. Commenting on the findings, Nishit Garg, Partner, Asia Investment Team, RTP Global, said, “Operator-founders bring a distinct company-building muscle shaped by experience, scaling teams, navigating constraints, and executing through multiple phases of growth. As AI fundamentally changes how products are built, the qualities that operators bring of pragmatism, execution focus and capital discipline become even more valuable. While this report highlights the growing momentum of operator-founders, our philosophy remains unchanged: we back exceptional founders, regardless of where they come from.” Neha Singh, Co-founder and CEO, Tracxn, added, “India’s founder landscape has evolved significantly over the past decade. Increasingly, experienced operators who have spent years building and scaling startups are choosing to become founders themselves. What’s particularly interesting in this year’s report is that even in a more selective funding environment, this cohort continues to attract capital quickly and progress through funding stages more effectively. Partnering with RTP Global for this second edition has allowed us to pair a long-term investor perspective with ecosystem intelligence and understand this founder movement through both experience and evidence.” Published on July 20, 2026
