IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad have emerged as key campuses in the educational journeys of founders behind India’s rapidly growing startups. According to the ‘2026 ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Cheetah Index,’ IIT Madras holds the highest representation among undergraduate institutions, while IIM Ahmedabad leads the list for postgraduate education.
The index uses the term ‘Cheetah’ to refer to unlisted startups founded in or after 2000, valued between $200 million and $500 million, and likely to achieve unicorn status within the next five years. It highlights the origins of India’s next wave of high-value startups and the educational backgrounds of their founders before entering the entrepreneurial landscape.
IIT Madras Leads the Undergraduate List
IIT Madras has emerged as the most common undergraduate alma mater among the founders in the 2026 cohort, with 13 founders having studied there.
It is followed by IIT Bombay, which produced 10 founders, and Delhi University, with nine. Next in line are Mumbai University, BITS Pilani, IIT Delhi, and Anna University, each producing eight founders. Notable IIT Madras alumni in this group include Aditya Kumbakonam and Anuj Krishna of MathCo, and Kiran Naik of Vegrow.
IIM Ahmedabad Tops the List for Postgraduate Studies
However, the picture changes when it comes to postgraduate education. IIM Ahmedabad tops this list, with seven founders from the cohort having studied there. Next in line is the Indian School of Business, which has produced six founders, while IIM Lucknow has produced five. IIT Madras, Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, and IIM Calcutta have each produced three founders.
Founders who studied at IIM Ahmedabad include Amit Lakhotia of Park+, Devesh Joshi of RenewBuy, and Sandeep Dalmia of Stanza Living.
Together, these institutions tell an interesting story about the educational backgrounds of India’s emerging startup leaders. IIT Madras has the strongest representation at the undergraduate level, while IIM Ahmedabad leads the way in postgraduate education.
India’s ‘Cheetah pool’ is growing
The educational backgrounds of the founders represent just one part of the broader story emerging from this index. When the index launched in 2021, there were 54 ‘Cheetah’ companies in India; by 2026, that number had risen to 110, more than doubling in five years.
The companies in this year’s cohort have a combined valuation of approximately ₹3 lakh crore, with an average valuation of around ₹2,820 crore. Collectively, these companies employ over 1.10 lakh people.
Shifts in the status of companies within this group highlight the rapid growth of some of these businesses. This year, ten Cheetah companies attained ‘Gazelle’ status, while three jumped straight to ‘Unicorn’ status. Six other companies entered the public markets in 2026.
The startup story is moving beyond traditional tech
The sectors these companies operate in are also becoming increasingly diverse. FinTech remains the largest category, boasting 17 ‘Cheetah’ companies; it is followed by SaaS with 16 companies and e-commerce with 12. The electric vehicle, healthtech, and artificial intelligence sectors each have eight companies.
Simultaneously, emerging sectors like CleanTech and Aerospace & Defence are growing rapidly. The 2026 cohort includes five companies from each of these two sectors. Aerospace & Defence, in particular, has witnessed remarkable growth; the number of Cheetah companies in this sector rose from just one in 2023 to five in 2026.
This shifting composition indicates that India’s startup narrative is no longer confined to consumer apps, software, and internet businesses. Entrepreneurs are now building companies in fields such as space technology, mobility, clean energy, healthcare, and AI.
Many of these sectors require deep technical expertise, substantial investment, and long development cycles; thus, the growing presence of such companies marks a significant shift in the ecosystem.
Bengaluru continues to lead the startup landscape
Despite the geographical diversity of the founders’ educational backgrounds, their companies are concentrated in specific startup hubs. Bengaluru hosts the highest number of Cheetah companies at 36, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) with 25 and Mumbai with 16. Together, these three centers account for 77 of the 110 companies, representing approximately 70% of the entire group. Pune is home to eight Cheetah companies, while Chennai and Ahmedabad have four and three, respectively.
This concentration highlights the advantages offered by established startup ecosystems, such as access to investors, technical talent, and business networks. However, this geographical footprint is gradually expanding. This year, Pune added four ‘Cheetahs’ (fast-growing startups), while Ahmedabad added two and Jaipur one. The growing presence of manufacturing, clean energy, and defense businesses could further help Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities play a significant role in India’s startup ecosystem.
What founders build after college matters more.
Data from IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad reveals where many of these founders started, but the journey they undertook after leaving these institutions is arguably more significant.
These 110 companies operate across diverse sectors, ranging from financial technology and software to electric vehicles, healthcare, and artificial intelligence. Many of them have already scaled significantly.
Six companies in this group recorded revenues exceeding ₹1,000 crore in FY2025, while another 26 reported revenues between ₹500 crore and ₹1,000 crore.
River Mobility recorded the highest year-on-year revenue growth at 1,780%, followed by Scimplify (1,016%) and Rozana (776%). The fact that these companies are reaching high-valuation categories highlights the rapid growth of some of these businesses. Skyroot Aerospace, Square Yards, and Astrotalk are on track to achieve unicorn status by 2026, while 10 other companies have reached ‘Gazelle’ status.
A prestigious college can provide a strong foundation, access to talent, and valuable networks, but it cannot build a successful company on its own. The real test lies in the post-graduation phase, building the product, acquiring customers, raising capital, and scaling the business.
Currently, data for 2026 indicates that IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad have emerged as two key academic institutions in the educational journeys of India’s emerging startup founders, one at the undergraduate level and the other at the postgraduate stage.
