The Economic Times Soonicorns Summit 2025, India’s largest gathering of soonicorns, returns to Bengaluru this August with a fresh ambition: to chart a roadmap for how Indian artificial intelligence (AI) and deep-tech startups can help startups scale from research labs to revenue models. With 2025 AI startup trends in India indicating exponential growth, the summit focuses on what it takes to build scalable AI-first companies in emerging tech hubs.

This is the fourth edition of the ET Soonicorns Summit, a premier gathering of soonicorns, or startups expected to reach unicorn status or a valuation of $1 billion or more soon. Scheduled to take place on August 22, 2025, in Bengaluru, the theme this year is: ‘From Research Labs to Revenue Models: The Billion-Dollar Blueprint for Scaling Indian AI Startups’.

Following the momentum of a breakout 2024 edition that saw seminal conversations with industry icons, including the likes of Hari Menon (BigBasket), Mayank Kumar (upGrad), and Aman Gupta (boAt), the 2025 edition sharpens its lens on AI-first disruption across fintech, edtech, healthtech, and consumer tech, deep-tech funding flows, and sustainable scaling strategies.

The ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 arrives at a time when AI startup trends in India point to massive growth across generative (Gen) AI, vertical software as a service (SaaS), and deep tech research and development (R&D) as indicated by $11.3 billion in startup funding, seven new unicorns, and growing global investor interest in India’s digital-first economy.

With $11.3 billion in startup funding and a new wave of tech unicorns on the horizon, the 2025 edition brings together founders, VCs, policymakers, and tech leaders to decode the next scale blueprint for India’s startup ecosystem.

The summit features three focused mainstage tracks: AI & Deep Tech Dominance, From Pilot to Product-Market Fit, and the Leadership Track: Lessons from the Trenches. Apart from this, a series of coveted closed-door roundtable discussions featuring soonicorn founders will bring out unfiltered insights.

From startup scale and AI infrastructure to GTM strategy and storytelling, the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 in Bengaluru will bring together India’s top AI founders, tech and AI-focused investors, and product leaders for one action-packed day of insight and execution on 22 August.

This August in Bengaluru, ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 will explore how India’s soonicorns are embracing AI not as a buzzword, but as an economic growth engine and scale strategy. Here’s a sharp preview of the high-stakes sessions shaping India’s next potential unicorns and promising disruptors:

Featuring top AI startup founders in India, these sessions will go beyond company milestones to spotlight founder psychology, failure playbooks, and ethical dilemmas.

This isn’t your typical founder circuit.

You’ll hear from a fintech icon whose quiet commitment to climate action could surprise you. A unicorn builder who's become one of India's most influential podcast voices on startup psychology and personal growth. An electric motorcycle maker whose first love was aviation. Or a SaaS pioneer who’s turned his raw, hard-won playbook into a manual for global scale.

Expect these firesides to go beyond company-building to reveal the mindsets, obsessions, and contradictions that make today’s most iconic founders tick.

With regional editions expanding into Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra, and Telangana, the Soonicorns Summit 2025 aims to capture India’s multi-city AI innovation wave, especially from emerging hubs such as Hyderabad and Pune.

This extends the soonicorns conversation into India’s fastest-growing innovation clusters.

As India’s startup ecosystem matures and AI becomes the defining growth engine, ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 will serve as a strategic platform for founders, VCs, CTOs, and policy leaders. Whether you’re building the next AI unicorn or investing in India’s deep-tech future, this summit promises not just trends but takeaways.

Don’t miss your chance to be part of India’s defining AI and startup event—speaker reveals and regional editions of the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 are coming soon.

Stay ahead of the curve; stay tuned. Speaker announcements and agenda reveal for the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 will be unveiled shortly.

360 One Wealth is the presenting partner of the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025.