The year 2025 proved to be an exceptionally dynamic one for the Indian startup ecosystem. Despite the surge in the number of IPOs from the startup ecosystem, 2025 was an unprecdented year when it comes to startup shut downs.
As per the data compiled by Inc42 and our exclusive reporting in many cases, nearly 25 startups shut down their operations as of December 23, 2025. This is more than double the 12 startup shutdowns in the previous year.
As per central government data, over 6,000 startups have shut shop, but this only includes those that are struck-off from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The real number could be much higher because even some of the companies that are in the below list continue to remain on the record at the MCA.
Now, let’s look at the startups that shut down in 2025. As one can expect, capital crunch played a big role behind the discontinuation of almost all the businesses this year. For instance, subtl.ai, BharatAgri, Blip, Otipy and several others called it quits after multiple failed fundraise attempts.
In contrast, late stage startups BluSmart and The Good Glamm Group had to put a hard stop to their journeys due to major controversies or operational failures. The shutdown of these two led to thousands losing their jobs overnight. While shutdowns impacted almost every sector, the most affected sectors this year turned out to be enterprise tech and AI, followed by consumer services, mobility and fintech.
Here’s a look at the major startup shutdowns of the year, as part of Inc42’s annual ‘Year In Review’ series.
After multiple attempts at another fundraise, EV three-wheeler (E3W) manufacturer Altigreen shuttered down manufacturing in June 2025. The winding down of production effectively led to the startup shutting shop.
As per sources, the shut down came on the back of a severe cash crunch and increasing business liabilities. In its last disclosed financial performance for FY24, the startup’s loss zoomed about 3X YoY to INR 243 Cr while revenue increased about 16% YoY to INR 121 Cr.
The situation, which was acknowledged by the startup, led to closure of its Karnataka manufacturing factory as well as its office. However, Altigreen hasn’t made any official confirmation on its closure till now.
Founded in 2013 by Amitabh Saran, Shalendra Gupta, Lasse Moklegaard, and John Bangura, Altigreen developed EV technologies and solutions focussed on commercial last-mile mobility, primarily through its range of electric three-wheelers. The startup had raised over $40 Mn from investors like Reliance, Jupiter Capital, Sixth Sense Ventures, among others.
Bengaluru-based enterprise tech startup ANS Commerce, which was acquired by Flipkart in 2022, wound up operations without any clear reasons in February. The IPO-bound ecommerce major, however, said that it planned to absorb a large portion of its workforce moving forward.
The D2C-focussed SaaS platform was acquired in 2022 by Flipkart amid the Walmart-owned company’s bid to strengthen its ecommerce playbook.
Founded in 2017, ANS Commerce enabled businesses to establish digital storefronts, integrate with major marketplaces and manage ecommerce operations including marketplace management, warehousing, and fulfillment.
Following the closure, ANS’ founders Amit Monga, Sushant Puri, and Vibhor Sahare took up roles with Flipkart-backed fintech super.money.
Aravind Srinivas-backed AI startup Astra shut down its operations due to disagreements between cofounders.
In July, the startup’s founders and CEO Supreet Hegde announced the development in a post on LinkedIn. Along with hinting towards disagreements with cofounder Ranjan Rajagopalan, Hegde also pointed out the lack of trust from enterprises and the rise in the number of AI agents leading to confusion among clients.
Founded in 2023, Astra offered an AI-powered sales analytics platform that helps businesses optimise salesforce mapping, standardise lead-to-conversation ratios, and improve overall sales effectiveness.
Subsequent to shutting down Astra, Hegde took up an executive role at DevRev while Rajagopalan has been working on a new startup in stealth mode.
Two-wheeler focussed used marketplace Beepkart pulled the plug on its operations in August due to thin margins and high operating cost. The shutdown came after the startup raised close to $20 Mn in capital from marquee investors like Stellaris Ventures, Chiratae Ventures and InnoVen Capital.
The startup had raised capital to fuel aggressive expansion back in 2022 and then in 2024. This backfired as multiple outlets were set up within close proximity, cutting into each others’ customer base.
At the time of shutdown, cofounders Hemir Doshi and Abhishek Saraf were in talks to sell BeepKart’s assets and tech stack. They were also planning to return capital to investors. Following the closure, Saraf joined Meesho in October and is building the grocery supply chain of the ecommerce major.
Agritech startup BharatAgri, which helped farmers increase their incomes through systematic implementation of scientific farming techniques, had to wind down its operations amid a funding crunch.
Cofounder and CEO Siddharth Dialani told Inc42 that although the startup raised some capital from existing investors in 2024 to attain profitability, it was unable to secure fresh funding to continue its operations. It was looking to raise $6 Mn to $8 Mn in a fresh funding round. However, this round didn’t materialise.
On the financial front, BharatAgri reported a loss of INR 22 Cr in FY24, down 14% from INR 25.6 Cr in the previous fiscal. Although it managed to grow its top line by 78% YoY, its operating revenue failed to cross the INR 5 Cr mark.
Even after having first mover’s advantage in the fashion quick delivery space, Bengaluru-based startup Blip, which delivered clothing and accessories within 30 minutes, wrapped up operations within a year.
The startup’s cofounder Ansh Agarwal shared that the decision was taken due to a lack of capital to expand its business beyond Bengaluru.
The founders, Agarwal and Sarvesh Kedia got inspired by an idea to build Zepto for fashion. The Blip app went live on the Google Play Store and the Apple store in October 2024 with 25,000 SKUs and more than 10 retail brands in Bengaluru.
Following the closure, Kedia joined Progress as a sales engineer and Agarwal founded a new cleantech startup Rematter in December.
Prominent EV startup BluSmart spiralled down earlier this year after its founders faced allegations of misusing funds meant for EVs for personal luxury, leading to SEBI investigations, NCLT insolvency proceedings, and user complaints about refunds.
Launched in 2019, BluSmart was India’s first all-electric, zero-emission ride-hailing platform, offering a cleaner alternative to Uber/Ola with reliable service and a strict no-cancellation policy. The startup had gained significant traction in the NCR region as well as Bengaluru.
This fiasco resulted in more than 10,000 drivers losing jobs and an abrupt shut down of BluSmart’s app.
The Y Combinator-backed startup, cofounded by Vedant Agarwala and Royal Jain in 2022, was unable to sustain its business due to high cash burn and a lack of follow-on funding interest from VC investors.
Announcing the shut down, CTO and cofounder Agarwala said, “We didn’t raise on Demo Day. We spent the next year stuck in pivot hell, searching for what our company really wanted to be. We hired and, painfully, had to let go of both the engineers. We burned through the $500k we’d raised — and when we hit $1,500 MRR with our final pivot, we couldn’t break through.”
The startup’s shutdown came after multiple pivots during its three-year run. Initially, the startup’s core offering revolved around automating complex and time-consuming routine tasks for developers to minimise human errors. It operated the platform in its beta version for about one year since inception and had plans of introducing an “open-source project” by 2024.
CrickPe, the fantasy cricket platform launched by ex-BharatPe CEO Ashneer Grover’s startup Third Unicorn, halted operations less than two years after its debut ahead of the 2023 IPL.
In February this year, Grover cited regulatory challenges and the imposition of a 28% GST on online real money gaming (RMG) in India, along with the crowded competitive landscape, as key reasons for the shutdown.
Z47-backed elder care startup GenWise shut down operations in the latter half of 2025, as it failed to see traction with its target audience. The startup laid off most of its workforce amid exploration of a potential buyout, Inc42 learnt.
Founded in 2023 by BharatPe executives Nehul Malhotra, Geetanshu Singla and Rajat Jain, GenWise set out to build a lifestyle app for India’s senior citizens. The platform offered tools for digital payments, financial tracking, healthcare support, social engagement and an AI-powered companion aimed at reducing loneliness among elders.
Despite claiming a user base of over 30 Lakh senior citizens, the startup struggled to convert usage into sustainable revenue. In FY25, GenWise reported operating revenue of INR 1 Cr against a net loss of INR 12.1 Cr, following a loss of INR 5.7 Cr on negligible revenue in FY24.
Many startups became casualties of the distress caused by the real money gaming (RMG) ban implemented by the Indian government this year. One of the most prominent startups to get impacted by the same was Hike, which once commanded a unicorn valuation. It decided to shutter down its global operations post the ban. The ban put the startup in a tough spot to monetise and operate its Web3 and gaming products.
After wrapping up operations in India, the startup tested its luck and ability in the US market. However, Hike’s founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal mentioned that this pivot would have required a complete reset – one that didn’t justify the capital or time investment.
Further, the international expansion also did not materialise as expected, resulting in a complete shutdown.
Hike was founded in 2012 as an instant messaging platform and later pivoted to Web3 gaming to tap into India’s growing gaming ecosystem.
Founded in 2020 by former Zomato executives Ragini Das and Anand Sinha, leap.club commenced operations with a “members-only” app, which connected women for events, workshops and conversations.
However, earlier this year, the startup announced halting its operations due to high customer acquisition costs and retention challenges.
The startup raised a total of $2.3 Mn in funding from the likes of Enzia Ventures, Artha India Ventures, Honasa Consumer founder Ghazal Alagh, Indifi’s Alok Mittal, and a host of other angel investors.
Once hailed as one of India’s most promising deeptech startups, Log9 Materials shut down operations in May 2025 after a prolonged struggle with technology missteps, mounting debt and a failed attempt to scale an asset-heavy business with venture capital.
Founded in 2015 by Akshay Singhal, Kartik Hajela and Pankaj Sharma, Log9 began with an ambitious vision to build aluminium-air fuel cells as a domestic alternative to lithium-ion batteries. The startup later pivoted to lithium-titanate (LTO) battery technology, positioning itself as a full-stack EV battery player spanning cell manufacturing, battery packs and EV leasing.
Log9 raised more than $60 Mn from marquee investors, including a $40 Mn round led by PETRONAS Ventures in 2023. However, its bet on LTO chemistry proved costly. While safer and faster-charging, LTO batteries were significantly more expensive and offered lower range compared to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which rapidly improved in performance while becoming dramatically cheaper due to Chinese scale.
The startup’s problems compounded after it ventured into EV leasing in 2022, a move that drove revenue growth — from INR 25.5 Cr in FY22 to INR 110.3 Cr in FY24 — but also ballooned losses to INR 118.6 Cr and pushed total debt to nearly INR 200 Cr. Customer complaints around battery performance, delayed payments from fleet operators and legal disputes further strained cash flows.
Bengaluru-based fintech startup Niro shut down operations in October 2025, citing regulatory headwinds, deteriorating credit quality and a prolonged capital crunch.
Founded in 2021 by Aditya Kumar and Sankalp Mathur, Niro operated as an embedded credit platform, enabling consumer internet businesses to offer customised lending products. At its peak, Niro claimed to have reached 170 Mn users and built an AUM of $100 Mn within two years of launch.
However, regulatory tightening around personal lending disrupted the business model, forcing the startup to pivot even as funding dried up.
Despite raising around $20 Mn and disbursing over $200 Mn in loans, Niro was unable to secure fresh capital or find an acquirer. In FY23, the startup reported operating revenue of INR 9.5 Cr and a net loss of INR 23.8 Cr.
D2C beverages startup O’Be Cocktails shut down operations in March 2025 after failing to find a buyer for nearly a year, marking the end of its attempt to build a premium ready-to-drink cocktail brand in India.
Founded in 2019 by Nitesh Prakash, the Bengaluru-based startup sold ready-to-drink cocktails across multiple states, including Karnataka, Goa and Telangana. At its peak, O’Be Cocktails had a presence in more than 1,700 wine outlets and worked with 22 private distributors.
Despite backing from prominent angel investors like Bhavish Aggarwal, the startup struggled to scale sustainably in India’s highly price-sensitive alco-beverage market. Prakash attributed the shutdown to the commoditised nature of the industry, which limited the scope for premiumisation and brand-led differentiation.
Following the closure, Prakesh joined Aggarwal’s Ola Electric as a VP-operations in October.
EV financing and leasing startup Ohm Mobility discontinued operations after five years, wrapping up its operations in July. The five-year-old startup failed to scale the business despite numerous pivots in its journey, its cofounder and CEO Nikhil Nair said.
Incorporated in 2020 by Nikhil Nair, Ohm connected EV fleet operators, manufacturers and battery companies with banks and other financial institutions to secure capital. The startup went through multiple pivots during these five years.
In its most recent pivot, the startup rolled out Ohm Daily to focus on providing financial products for daily earners, particularly gig workers and professionals in the mobility sector.
“While we didn’t crack the model that could scale and sustain, we got a front-row seat to what works, what doesn’t, and why. We failed at a few business models, but now understand their ins and outs deeply,” Nair said.
Following the shutdown, Nair started a daily savings app Zeny in August. The app enables daily savings of INR 100 and above into low risk mutual funds via UPI auto-pay.
Farm-to-fork vegetable delivery startup Otipy shut operations in May 2025 after failing to raise fresh capital, leaving around 300 employees without notice or pending salaries.
Founded in 2020 by Varun Khurana and Prashant Jain, Otipy operated as a B2B2C social commerce platform for fruits, vegetables and daily essentials. A wholly owned subsidiary of Crofarm Agriproducts, the startup delivered produce directly to consumers through a network of community resellers.
Despite steady topline growth – standalone revenue rose 68% to INR 160 Cr in FY24 – Otipy continued to burn cash, posting losses of INR 52 Cr during the year. The startup had been in talks to raise an extended Series B round of around $10 Mn but failed to close the financing.
The shutdown followed months of delayed salaries and unpaid vendor dues, culminating in a townhall meeting where employees were asked to seek alternate opportunities.
Digital gold savings startup Plus Gold wound up operations in 2025, roughly a year after gaining fame from its Shark Tank India appearance. Despite raising $1.2 Mn from investors like Venture Catalysts and Acko’s Varun Dua, the startup failed to raise follow-on capital.
Founded in 2022 by Veer Mishra and Raj Parekh, Plus Gold operated a full-stack platform enabling users to save and invest in digital gold via flexible purchases and monthly SIPs. The app, available on Android and iOS, allowed redemption as cash or jewellery and crossed over 1 Lakh downloads on the Google Play Store.
Despite early traction, high operating costs and weak unit economics made the business capital-intensive and difficult to scale. While the startup halted its core operations, the founders had plans to transition Plus Gold’s brand and app infrastructure to another digital gold player to ensure continuity for users.
However, it is yet to be discerned whether this plan actually materialised. Both the cofounders have since taken up vice president roles at fintech major Paytm.
AI-based enterprise tech startup subtl.ai halted operations in July after failing to secure fresh capital, with its web domain also expiring in recent weeks.
Despite raising $200K from angel investors and engaging in fundraising discussions for a $1 Mn seed round, the startup was unable to secure follow-on capital. In a LinkedIn post announcing the shutdown, cofounder and CEO Ramesh cited misplaced assumptions around investor commitments and the broader funding slowdown.
Founded in 2019 by Vishnu Ramesh and Manish Shrivastava, subtl.ai set out to build a “Private Google” for enterprises. The startup developed GenAI-powered knowledge agents to help organisations automate information discovery, internal queries, ticket management and form-filling tasks.
subtl.ai generated cumulative revenue of about INR 55 Lakh since 2020 but struggled to scale sustainably. Its founding team also saw changes, with a third cofounder exiting in 2023.
After shutting down subtl.ai, Ramesh took on the role of CTO at AI startup Asthra AI. Founded by ex-Novartis associate director Guruprasad Padmanabhan in 2024, Asthra offers AI co-pilots to pharmaceutical companies to aid them automate the process of filing regulatory documents.
Supply chain intelligence startup Wherehouse.io shut down operations in December 2025, days before its cofounder Vaibhav Chawla was detained by the Delhi Police and released hours later, according to sources.
Founded in 2021 by Vaibhav Chawla, Jeevan Prakash and Lavelesh Sharma, Wherehouse.io operated a network of micro-warehouses that enabled consumer brands to offer faster deliveries. The startup claimed operations across more than 20 cities with around 2,500 warehouses at its peak.
Chawla announced the shutdown in a LinkedIn post, citing circumstances that made it untenable to continue operations. He later alleged that he and members of the Wherehouse.io team were detained and questioned by authorities following what he described as a “frivolous” complaint. The exact reasons for the detention remain undisclosed.
After raising an undisclosed investment from investors like Better Capital and Titan Capital in 2021, Wherehouse.io didn’t see any further investor interest.
Delhi NCR-based startup Zing shut down its 10-minute food delivery operations in October, less than a year after launching services in Gurugram.
Founded in October 2024 by Tarun Arora and Rachit Sahi, Zing set out to build a quick-service food platform delivering freshly cooked snacks such as paranthas, sandwiches and chai within 10 minutes. The startup operated a single kitchen in Gurugram but failed to expand beyond the pilot, despite seeing some early traction.
Cofounder and CEO Arora told Inc42 that the startup overestimated demand for quick food delivery, with customers preferring established restaurants even at longer delivery times. The startup had raised some initial capital from Inshorts cofounder Azhar Iqubal.
Notably, Zing faced a data security breach in June 2025 when the app’s backend exposed sensitive user data, including order history. Rising inventory costs, weak repeat demand and the inability to raise follow-on capital further constrained expansion in a capex-heavy model. The startup has since exited food delivery and is pivoting to quick commerce for perishables.
Healthtech startup Zoplar shut operations in February 2025, barely a month after raising $3.4 Mn in its Series A round, following a regulatory crackdown on refurbished medical device imports.
Founded in 2022 by Amit Sah and Umesh Sharma, the Delhi NCR-based startup operated a procurement platform for small and mid-sized hospitals, supplying refurbished medical devices along with after-sales service. Zoplar catered to over 300 hospitals, primarily in and around Delhi NCR, helping them reduce capital expenditure.
The shutdown was triggered after the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) intervened, saying that imports of second-hand or refurbished medical devices were not permitted in India. The CDSCO directed customs authorities to halt such shipments, leading to the final blow for the startup.
Important to mention that Zoplar had recently shifted to importing refurbished devices in bulk to scale margins. Post the regulatory intervention, the founders decided to wind down operations and return the Series A capital to investors.
Builder.ai, which allowed developers to build apps and websites without little to no coding knowledge using AI, went through a major collapse as creditor Viola Credit seized $37 Mn from the company’s accounts.
The startup laid off the entire workforce in a company-wide meeting in April and has wound down operations amid the insolvency proceedings in the UK, where the parent company is headquartered.
Due to capital crunch, the company couldn’t pay salaries and had to shut down operations. Builder.ai was backed by notable investors including Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Microsoft, Iconiq Capital and Jungle Ventures, raising a total of $450 Mn in funding till date.
Among the first movers in the Indian hyperlocal delivery space, Dunzo struggled to survive amid mounting losses, shrinking scale, and an inability to raise fresh capital. The startup shut down operations earlier this year.
Notably, Reliance backed Dunzo in 2022. Despite consistent cash burn, Dunzo had to scale back operations over the past two years amid growing competition from emerging quick commerce players like Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto.
Further down the line, Reliance wrote-off Reliance Retail’s $240 Mn investment in Dunzo, officially marking the startup’s end. As of now, all cofounders of the startup have moved to take up new roles.
While Kabeer Biswas has taken up a role with Flipkart to scale its quick commerce arm, Flipkart Minutes, CTO Mukund Jha founded vibe coding startup Emergent late last year. Besides, cofounder Ankur Agarwal has also founded a new startup TheEthnic.Co and cofounder Dalvir Suri is on a break.
Ecommerce unicorn Good Glamm Group was in the headlines this year due to its collapse due to a failed expansion strategy.
The group, which owned brands including MyGlamm, Organic Harvest, Moms Co, POPxo and Good Creator Co brands, delayed payments to employees and vendors as it failed to integrate its portfolio effectively.
With lack of capital and mounting loss, lenders stepped in and started enforcing their claims on individual brands. In July, Sanghvi took to LinkedIn to announce that the lenders have decided to enforce their charge on the individual brands under the group and will sell them one by one.
“The decisions, the choices that didn’t work, the risks that didn’t pay off, and the people who have been impacted: employees, vendors, partners, lenders, shareholders… I take responsibility, and responsibility isn’t just about reflection, it has to be commitment,” he added.
Post the closure, Sanghvi started CoFounder Circle, an AI-native accelerator for startups and MSMEs. With the accelerator, Sanghvi aims to bring together cofounders, team members, service providers, vendors, mentors, incubators, and investors on one platform.