MUMBAI: Venture capital investors are increasingly betting on startups founded by former tech executives, a trend highlighted in a new report that shows operator-led ventures are securing a disproportionate share of funding despite the broader investment landscape remaining selective.
Operator-Led Startups Gain VC Momentum
According to a joint report by Tracxn and venture capital firm RTP Global, the number of operator-led startups — defined as ventures founded by professionals with prior experience building and scaling tech companies — remains small. Only 189 such startups were founded between 2023 and 2025, representing less than 1% of all tech startups in that period. Yet their share of total ecosystem funding nearly doubled to 11% in 2025 from 5.8% in 2023, growing faster than the rest of the startup pool.
On average, operator-led startups also secured larger cheque sizes and higher valuations during early seed and Series A rounds. The report noted that as India's most disruptive startups like Flipkart, Swiggy, Meesho, and Zomato scaled, they became training grounds for a generation of operators who are now founder-class themselves.
"As India’s most disruptive startups like Flipkart, Swiggy, Meesho, Zomato grew, they became training grounds for a generation. Operators have become a founder class. Fewer than one in a hundred companies in this market are operator-led, yet they now land one in ten of its $1 million plus rounds," said analysts in the report.
Key Metrics from the Report
The report, which analyzed tech startup data from 2023 to 2025, provides several comparative metrics. The table below summarizes the funding trends and startup formation numbers:
| Metric | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator-led startups' share of total funding | 5.8% | – | 11% |
| New operator-led startups launched | 37* | – | 50 |
| Total tech startups founded | – | 7,805 | 2,633 |
*"A couple of years ago" — inferred as 2023 or earlier.
In 2025, about 50 new operator-led startups were launched, up from 37 such firms that started operations a couple of years prior. Meanwhile, the broader startup space contracted: only 2,633 tech startups were founded in 2025, compared to 7,805 in 2024.
Founder and Investor Perspectives
Nishit Garg, partner at RTP Global's Asia investment team, emphasized the unique advantages operator-founders bring. "Operator-founders bring a distinct company-building muscle shaped by experience, scaling teams, navigating constraints and executing through multiple phases of growth," Garg said.
He added that the value of these qualities is heightened as AI reshapes product development. "As AI fundamentally changes how products are built, the qualities that operators bring of execution focus and capital discipline become even more valuable."
The report's findings indicate that even in a contracting startup ecosystem, investors are willing to back experienced founders with proven execution capability. This trend mirrors global patterns where serial entrepreneurs and former executives often outperform first-time founders in capital efficiency and scaling success.
For enterprise technology decision-makers, the emergence of operator-led startups signals a shift in the quality of solutions reaching the market. Many of these ventures are likely to address real-world business problems with pragmatic, operationally sound products — precisely the kind of technology that resonates with CTOs and supply chain leaders. As these startups grow, they may become attractive partners or acquisition targets for larger enterprises seeking innovation grounded in industry experience.
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