Meet The 10 Indian Startups Selected For WEF's Tech Pioneers
At least ten Indian startups, including Digantara, Agnikul Cosmos and The ePlane Company, were selected for World Economic Forum’s 2025 cohort of Technology Pioneers.
The Technology Pioneers of WEF includes a group of 100 early stage companies from 28 countries driving innovation across industries and borders.
This year’s selection reflects a global surge in breakthrough innovation across domains such as smart robotics, spatial AI, flying taxis, and scalable quantum technologies.
The Indian startups featured in the 2025 list are Agnikul, CynLr, Dezy, Digantara, Equal, Exponent Energy, Freight Tiger, GalaxEye, SolarSquare, and The ePlane Company.
These ventures span a diverse spectrum from spacetech and robotics to AI-powered diagnostics, SaaS platforms, clean energy and urban air mobility.
As part of their recognition, these startups will contribute to WEF initiatives through a two-year engagement programme.
This continues India’s strong presence in the programme. In 2024 as well, 10 Indian startups were chosen from a global pool of 100 companies across 23 countries. Last year’s cohort included the likes of Pixxel, Sarvam AI, and Cropin, among others.
The US led the 2025 list with the highest representation of 29 startups, while India and China followed jointly in second place, with 10 startups each.
Notably, the 2025 edition also marks the 25th anniversary of the Technology Pioneers programme.
Since its launch in 2000, the initiative has recognised over 1,200 startups, including Google, PayPal, Dropbox, and SoundCloud, which have redefined global industries.
According to WEF, “The 2025 cohort stands out for its concentration of companies developing breakthrough technologies to address pressing global challenges. These include advanced robotics, customisable space launch services, micro nuclear reactors, and more accessible quantum computing applications.”
Let’s take a look at the 10 Indian startups which made into the WEF’s 2025 Technology Pioneers list:
AgnikulFounded in: 2017
Founded by: Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM
Headquarter: Chennai
Sector: Spacetech
Agnikul is an IIT Madras-incubated startup working on developing launch vehicles that are affordable and customisable as per customer needs.
The spacetech startup has garnered support from investors like Celesta Capital, Rocketship.vc, Artha Venture Fund, Mayfield India, among others.
Founded in: 2019
Founded by: Nikhil Ramaswamy and Gokul NA
Headquarter: Bengaluru
Sector: Deeptech
CynLr automates the manufacturing processes. It is building robots with intuitive vision that enables manufacturers and logistics providers to build fully automated factories.
It is backed by multiple investors, including Anicut Capital, growX ventures, Arali Ventures, Java Capital, Pavestone Capital, and Venture Catalysts.
Founded in: 2019
Founded by: Hitesh Kakrani and Dr. Jatin Kakrani
Headquarter: Bengaluru
Sector: Healthtech
Dezy (previously known as Smiles.ai) is a dental care startup which leverages AI-powered diagnostic technology to build affordable and accessible dental care. It also offers products and services to its customers with its proprietary technology platform and onboarded healthcare professionals.
Some of its notable investors include Alpha Wave, Chiratae Ventures, Peak XV Partners (through its Surge program), MBX Capital, Spring Marketing Capital, Wami Capital, Peyush Bansal and Amit Chaudhry of Lenskart.
DigantaraFounded in: 2018
Founded by: Anirudh Sharma, Rahul Rawat, and Tanveer Ahmed
Headquarter: Bengaluru
Sector: Spacetech
Digantara offers crucial operational support to commercial space operators and space surveillance intelligence to global space agencies.
It also aims to create an ecosystem for small satellites in India in collaboration with local partners. The startup has launched Pushan-Alpha, a satellite serving as a space weather testbed in a sun-synchronous orbit.
Digantara is also developing a Space Mission Assurance Platform (Space-MAP) to address challenges in space operations and traffic management, offering a comprehensive, one-stop solution for space activities.
It counts Peak XV Partners, Kalaari Capital, Campus Fund, Aditya Birla Ventures, Global Brain and SIDBI Venture Capital, among its investors.
EqualFounded in: 2022
Founded by: Keshav Reddy and Rajeev Ranjan
Headquarter: Hyderabad
Sector: Enterprisetech
Equal provides an integrated solution that combines identity verification with consent-driven financial data sharing. It claims to help in fraud prevention and regulatory compliance through integration with over 50 ID databases and 4,000 API providers.
Its backers include Prosus Ventures, Tomales Bay Capital, Blume Ventures, Binny Bansal (Flipkart cofounder), Kunal Shah (CRED founder), Harsh Jain (Dream11 founder), and Karan Adani (Adani Ports MD), among others.
Exponent EnergyFounded in: 2020
Founded by: Arun Vinayak and Sanjay Byalal Jagannath
Headquarter: Hyderabad
Sector: Cleantech
Exponent Energy is making 15-minute rapid charging for electric vehicles through its battery management system, charging algorithms, thermal management and a charging network.
Exponent Energy’s notable investors include Lightspeed India Partners, 3one4 Capital, YourNest Venture Capital, Eight Roads Ventures, and TDK Ventures. The family office of Pawan Munjal, Chairman of Hero Motocorp, also invested in the company
Freight TigerFounded in: 2014
Founded by: Swapnil Shah
Headquarter: Mumbai
Sector: Logistics
Freight Tiger operates a digital freight network. It offers a technology platform that connects shippers, transport companies, and logistics service providers, enabling end-to-end integrated logistics solutions.
Its notable investors include Tata Motors, Lightspeed India Partners, Florintree Advisors, Astarc Ventures, Pawan Munjal Family Trust, Moonstone Investments and Aroa Ventures (Ritesh Agarwal’s family office) among others.
GalaxEyeFounded in: 2021
Founded by: Swapnil Shah
Headquarter: Bengaluru
Sector: Spacetech
GalaxEye is a space technology startup specialising in advanced Earth observation solutions. The company is developing a unique multi-sensor imaging satellite system, known as The Drishti Mission, designed to provide high-quality, all-weather, day-and-night satellite imagery.
GalaxEye has secured funding from several notable investors, including Infosys, Speciale Invest, Mela Ventures, ideaForge, Rainmatter, among others.
SolarSquareFounded in: 2021
Founded by: Neeraj Subhash Jain, Nikhil Satejlal Naha
Headquarter: Bengaluru
Sector: Cleantech
SolarSquare offers rooftop solar panels for residential and commercial purposes. It also provides financing facilities to customers at a 0% interest rate.
It has raised funds from Lightspeed, Elevation Capital, Rainmatter, Gruhas Proptech and Stride Ventures, among others.
The ePlane Co.Founded in: 2019
Founded by: Satya Chakravarthy and Pranjal Mehta
Headquarter: Chennai
Sector: Advance hardware and technology
The ePlane Co. is developing flying electric taxis designed for intra-city transportation. It isdeveloping e200x, an eVTOL aircraft designed to provide faster intra-city commutes and cargo transport and reduce traffic congestion in urban centres.
Speciale Invest, Antares Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Anicut Capital, Java Capital, Micelio Fund, Naval Ravikant, Redstart, Samarthya Investment Advisors, and First Cheque are among its prominent backers.
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