India’s auto-tech funding falls to $1.3 billion in 2026 YTD as funding rounds decline

India’s auto-tech sector has seen a sharp moderation in funding activity, with startups raising $1.3 billion in equity funding across 97 rounds in 2026 year-to-date, according to a Tracxn report dated October 15. The sector had raised $2.1 billion across 195 rounds in 2025. 

The slowdown becomes clearer when compared with the funding peak in 2021. Auto-tech startups raised $3.1 billion that year through 253 rounds. Funding fell to $2.6 billion in 2022, $2 billion in 2023 and $1.6 billion in 2024, before recovering to $2.1 billion in 2025. The number of funding rounds followed a similar trajectory, falling from 260 in 2024 to 195 in 2025 and 97 in 2026 YTD. 

Across the sector, Tracxn tracks 8,775 auto-tech companies, of which 1,111 have received equity funding. These companies have raised a cumulative $20.2 billion. Funding in the last two years alone stood at $3.6 billion. The ecosystem has also recorded 78 acquisitions and 28 IPOs. 

Bengaluru accounts for half of total funding

Funding remains heavily concentrated geographically. Bengaluru accounts for 50.5% of total auto-tech funding, followed by Gurugram at 18.1%, Mumbai at 9.5% and Delhi at 8.2%. Chennai accounts for 4.7%, Pune 2.9% and Hyderabad 1.2%. 

Bengaluru has recorded 832 funding rounds, the highest among major cities. Gurugram follows with 310 rounds, Mumbai with 237 and Delhi with 184. Companies such as Ola Cabs, Ola Electric and Rapido are among Bengaluru’s largest funded companies, while Gurugram is led by Cars24 and Spinny. 

The funding funnel also shows a steep drop as companies move towards later stages. Of the 1,111 funded companies, 198, or 18%, have reached Series A or beyond. Only 103 have reached Series B, 57 have reached Series C and 32 have reached Series D or later. The average time from first funding to Series A is 2.7 years, rising to 3.6 years for Series B and 5.7 years for Series C. 

Despite the overall slowdown, large cheques are still being written. Erisha E Mobility raised $1 billion in a Series D round in March 2025, followed by Rapido’s $240 million Series F in May 2026 and Simple Energy’s $180 million Series C in September 2026. Rideriver raised $102 million in August, while Ultraviolette and Yulu raised $85 million and $63 million, respectively. 

The median round size across 2021-26 was $418,000 for seed-stage companies, $5.1 million for Series A, $13.2 million for Series B and $39 million for late-stage rounds.