Goldman Sachs: AI startup funding triples to $5 billion in 2025; IPOs may add $100 billion to market cap

Goldman Sachs has said funding for Indian AI startups tripled to $5 billion in 2025, with potential IPOs expected to add $50–100 billion to the listed AI market capitalisation over the next 2–5 years. The report identified 84 private AI companies valued at around $55 billion, highlighting India's growing presence in the global AI ecosystem, ET Now reported.

Goldman Sachs estimates that 25-50 per cent of these 71 companies could go public over the next two to five years. Assuming an average IPO valuation around four times their current estimated value, these listings could add USD 50 billion to USD 100 billion to India's listed AI market. "We estimate approximately $50bn to $100bn in incremental market cap could be added to India’s listed AI complex from prospective IPOs over the next 2-5 years, assuming 25-50% of the ~70 mid-to-late stage Private AI Contenders (currently estimated at ~$54bn value) list at a weighted average 4x valuation step-up,” an ANI report said.

The report added that the potential listings could broaden the market beyond its current concentration in AI infrastructure, introducing areas such as data centre operators, enterprise AI services, conversational AI, cloud and data management, healthcare AI and computer vision."Private equity (PE) funding for Indian AI startups has tripled since 2024," the report said, highlighting the rapid increase in investor interest in the sector.

Private equity investment in Indian AI startups rose to around USD 5 billion in 2025 from USD 1.6 billion in 2024. Funding in the first eight to nine months of 2026 had already matched the previous year's total, putting investment on course to exceed the 2025 record, according to an ANI report.

AI's share of India's PE funding rises to 20%; India ranks sixth globally in private AI funding in 2025

AI's share of total private equity funding in India also rose from around 5 per cent in 2024 to approximately 20 per cent in 2026. Citing Stanford University's 2026 AI Index Report, Goldman Sachs said India ranked sixth globally for private AI funding in 2025 and fourth for the number of newly funded AI companies.

Of the 84 companies identified, upstream AI enablers, including businesses involved in power, semiconductors and data centre infrastructure, account for an estimated USD 35 billion in value. Downstream AI adopters, which apply AI across sectors such as healthcare, financial services and enterprise software, account for USD 18 billion, while core AI model companies account for USD 2 billion.