Sadhika Agarwal of Equirus InnovateX Fund on AI Infrastructure Bets, Cleantech Momentum, and India’s New IPO-Driven Startup Mindset

StartupTalky presents Recap'25, a series of exclusive interviews where we connect with founders and industry leaders to reflect on their journey in 2025 and discuss their vision for the future.

In this edition of Recap’25, StartupTalky speaks with Sadhika Agarwal, Leading investments at the Equirus InnovateX Fund, to understand how investor thinking evolved in 2025 amid a maturing Indian startup ecosystem. She reflects on how the surge of IPOs from once early-stage startups has fundamentally reshaped founder behaviour—bringing exits and public-market readiness into the core of long-term planning, rather than treating them as distant outcomes.

Agarwal shares what early scalability signals matter most while evaluating portfolio performance, including capital-efficient adoption curves and the shift from “good-to-have” products to “must-have” infrastructure. The conversation explores how AI is changing investment priorities especially the growing focus on AI infrastructure across software and hardware while also highlighting the rapid acceleration of cleantech themes such as renewable energy expansion and battery ecosystems. She also outlines the trends shaping optimism for 2026, from deep tech and advanced manufacturing to semiconductors and stronger startup–industry collaboration, and offers actionable advice for founders on building resilient teams that can compound through volatility.

StartupTalky: Looking back at 2025, what signals helped you identify which portfolio companies would scale well and which ones needed course correction?

Sadhika Agarwal: We are still in the early stages of deployment, so it would be premature to label outcomes as course corrections. That said, one of the strongest signals of scalability is a capital-efficient customer adoption curve where a product steadily evolves from being a “good-to-have” to a clear “must-have.” This reflects not just demand but revenue quality and market timing. For companies at the product or prototype stage, we pay close attention to the depth of customer interest, engagement levels and how tightly founders integrate feedback into rapid iteration cycles. Consistent execution against these signals is often a reliable predictor of long-term scale.

StartupTalky: What was the biggest shift you noticed in India’s startup ecosystem this year in terms of funding, valuations, founder behaviour, or market demand?

Sadhika Agarwal: 2025 was a defining year for the Indian startup ecosystem, marked by the sheer number of IPOs from companies that were once early-stage startups. This has fundamentally changed the founder mindset. For the first time in years, founders are seeing credible exit outcomes beyond perpetual fundraising cycles or opportunistic M&A. When discussions turn to exits today, going public is increasingly part of the conversation and more importantly, founders are beginning to build with that outcome in mind. A vibrant exit environment is a strong indicator of ecosystem maturity and creates far more predictable outcomes for both founders and investors.

StartupTalky: How did AI change the kind of startups you backed in 2025?

Sadhika Agarwal: Our focus has sharpened significantly around AI infrastructure across both software and hardware where we see long-term, scalable value creation aligned with the pace of AI adoption. At the application layer, AI undoubtedly enables faster, more intelligent workflows but it also introduces real cost considerations. Founders need to be thoughtful about monetisation before making products fully AI-native. As investors, we look beyond AI roadmaps or strategy decks. The real differentiator is execution: how effectively founders operationalise AI, embed it into core workflows and translate it into tangible business outcomes.

StartupTalky: Which sector or theme grew faster than you expected this year?

Sadhika Agarwal: Renewable energy capacity addition in India reached historic highs in 2025, with solar continuing to dominate. We will soon be announcing an investment in a company building mission-critical technology to support further capacity expansion in this sector. Another portfolio company, Pointo, is enabling cost-effective access to lithium batteries for three-wheeler owners across the country. We remain deeply bullish on cleantech innovation, driven by a confluence of factors improving supply chains, a maturing support ecosystem, strong regulatory push and a clear shift towards sustainability among both consumers and industry stakeholders.

StartupTalky: What early trends or market signals make you optimistic about 2026?

Sadhika Agarwal: We are highly optimistic about the continued upward trajectory of the cleantech sector, supported by strong government mandates, incentives, subsidies and infrastructure development. Beyond cleantech, we see significant momentum in broader deep tech areas advanced materials, AI infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and semiconductors. There is a visible increase in founders building truly transformative solutions in these domains, alongside growing collaboration between startups and large industrial players. Government initiatives are acting as important accelerators, helping shorten the path from innovation to impact.

StartupTalky: In 2025, many startups focused on profitability and discipline.

Sadhika Agarwal: The most resilient founders embraced short-term pain in service of long-term value creation. They focused relentlessly on building products that customers genuinely could not operate without, rather than optimising for vanity metrics. Equally important was tightening feedback loops, staying close to customers, listening deeply and responding quickly. This combination of discipline, clarity of value and customer proximity defined the founders who navigated the shift most successfully.

StartupTalky: Which portfolio company showed the strongest jump in product-market fit this year?

Sadhika Agarwal: Pointo stands out as one of the strongest beneficiaries of the cleantech momentum. The company is building India’s largest full-stack lithium battery distribution ecosystem, covering the entire battery lifecycle. With operations across 5 states, Pointo has seen strong adoption among three-wheeler owners and has secured robust financing partnerships with NBFCs. In West Bengal, where the company began, the brand has become synonymous with the category, a clear indicator of deep product-market fit.

StartupTalky: What is one clear, actionable advice you would give founders entering 2026?

Sadhika Agarwal: In the early stages of a company, founders and their core team are effectively the first product. Markets will remain uncertain but the real differentiator is how well teams absorb volatility rather than get destabilised by it. My advice to founders is to stay relentlessly curious, keep evolving as leaders, and consciously build teams that are adaptable and resilient. That ability to learn fast and respond thoughtfully to change often determines who compounds over time.

Explore more Recap'25 interviews here.