

Pilot to proof: India's agentic AI startups face a funding test
SaaS players that are rapidly adding AI-powered products. Startups must build technology that can’t easily be replaced by large language models while also generating revenue and scaling.“There’s the SaaS and software companies that are building on top of AI models and launching agentic solutions to their customers.
They’ll be at par with the application layer companies,” said Atul Gupta, managing partner at Trident Growth Partners.Data from Venture Intelligence shows the top 10 large deals across 2025 and 2026 so far went to established SaaS players like Innovaccer, Uniphore, UnifyApps and Fractal Analytics.Last week, Fractal launched Flyfish, an agentic platform for B2B sales, while Innovaccer now builds agentic solutions for healthcare in the US, raising $275 million in January 2025 from B Capital Group, M12, and others.Despite these challenges, investor interest in agentic AI remains strong. Global funding rose to $6.4 billion in 2025, up from $4.8 billion in 2024, according to Tracxn.
But investors remain divided over whether startups should build broad platforms or focus on niche solutions.“Our thesis a couple of years ago was that there will be specialised space. But we’re uncovering that horizontal platforms are able to gobble these up totally,” said Goyal.
“However, classic business applications need application integrations because process and work can sometimes be very specific to individual companies.”Horizontal platforms like Lovable, Emergent, Replit and Rocket.new cater to prosumers and builders. Lyzer and Kogo.ai, offer a 'marketplace' which allows companies to shop for and then integrate agents into workflows, with Lyzer recently raising $14.5 million at a $250 million valuation from Accenture and
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