India is becoming a top global hub for startup IPOs, says Peak XV’s Rajan Anandan. He expects 25-30 AI unicorns by 2030. “Valuations have to be reasonable, you have to have profitability, and consistent execution is what will get rewarded,” he said. India now leads the world in startup public offerings.
India is emerging as one of the world’s most vibrant IPO markets and can eventually become the startup IPO market of the world, according to Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, PeakXV Partners.
“It would be great to have a market that’s going up and to the right, but it’s not right now. However, India is the number one IPO market in the world, especially for start-ups,” Anandan said in an interaction with businessline here. “Of course, valuations have to be reasonable, you have to have profitability, and consistent execution is what will get rewarded,” he added.
Since 2021, the markets have opened up significantly for start-ups, he said.
“We [Peak XV] have taken 38 companies public. In the last 18 months, we had about eight or nine IPOs and we had six IPOs in calender year 2025. In fact, Peak XV is the only VC firm to have had five IPOs in five weeks [in 2025],” he said. We have one of our strongest IPO pipelines for the coming years, he added.
The VC also delved into his new book The Lift-Off Nation to define the next 10 years of Indian entrepreneurship. The upcoming decade will be defined by massive scale, driven by high-growth consumer spaces, massive domestic brands and deep technological innovation, he said.
AI opportunity
On the AI opportunity, Anandan believes India is best poised to build economical and right-size AI products suited to the consumption patterns of Indian users. “I think we are probably four or five years away from having a very large, 10 billion plus market cap AI companies...we will have 25-30 AI unicorns by 2030, easily,” he said.
While lauding IndiaAI Mission, he said the government support should combine grants for AI start-ups and researchers with long-term commitments to companies supplying compute.
Anandan was in Chennai for the 9th edition of The Better Call Show by Idea Pattarai, a fireside chat with entrepreneurs and investors. During the chat, Anandan highlighted Chennai’s potential to be India’s deep tech hub but urged entrepreneurs here to be talk more about their successes on public platforms. After the session, he also spent time with portfolio founders of MudhalVC, hearing their pitches and giving feedback.
Deep tech strategy
On deep tech, Anandan said India has multiple factors working in its favour but a significant R&D funding gap is a challenge.
He listed the stats captured in his book: “India spends about 0.65 per cent of GDP on R&D. China is at 2.5 per cent, US is at 3.5 per cent. So, we’re about $18 billion a year, but that should be about $100 billion; we are off by a factor of five.”
The ₹ 1 lakh crore RDI Fund is a game changer, he said, with an intention to encourage private-sector participation. India needs a much larger pipeline of researchers capable of commercialising scientific advances.
As for Peak XV’s own deep tech strategy, Anandan points to four semiconductor companies in their portfolio and several investments in space tech. “We are broad-based investors...But we will do more in semiconductors, in space, and in AI.”