Indian startups chase scale through overseas acquisitions

Established Indian startups are gearing up for large cross-border acquisitions, as they look beyond domestic markets to drive growth, diversify revenue and justify valuations secured in private and public markets, industry executives and bankers said.

- Priyamnvada C & Mansi Verma

In 2025, companies pursued 26 outbound deals worth $1.1 billion, the highest on record, while domestic acquisitions touched a four-year high of $4.1 billion across 137 transactions, data from Venture Intelligence showed. Inbound deal value declined sharply to $863 million across 24 transactions, compared with $3.34 billion across 11 deals a year earlier.

After just four outbound deals across 2021 and 2022 and none in the years that followed, volumes jumped to 26 last year, making 2025 the biggest year on record for outbound mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by Indian startups in both value and volume, per Venture Intelligence data.

Experts said the pickup in outbound activity comes as Indian founders pursue scale. Several late-stage startups are now using acquisitions to add overseas revenue and customers faster than organic expansion would allow.