The startup picture in Chennai

Venture capital is present, but Chennai trails the southern leaders. Its registry shows 1417 companies that ever raised outside money, versus 6023 funded startups in Bengaluru and 2019 in Hyderabad; Dreamteam's possible Series A and CHOSEN's completed round show current momentum, not yet regional…

Startups in Chennai - Funding, Founders & Investors

Everything startup in one place: who's building, how the landscape clusters, the people and investors behind it, and whether the capital is real.

Shriram City

Provider of consumer and business loans

est. 1986 · 72,492 staff · raised outside money

Ramamurthy Thyagarajan — Co-Founder

Shiva Pampapathy — CEO

Randstad India

HR service provider using intelligent technology

est. 2005 · 65,462 staff · raised outside money

Moorthy Uppaluri — CEO & MD

Paul Dupuis — CEO

UDS

Integrated facilities management using digital integration and smart technologies

est. 1985 · 50,390 staff · raised outside money

Raghunandana Tangirala — Founder & Managing Director

Joshi Nitesh — CEO

Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company

Cholamandalam Finance expands funding sources for growth

est. 1978 · 42,100 staff · raised outside money

Ramram C — CEO

Indian Bank

155 year old Indian Bank in a completely new avatar

est. 1907 · 40,251 staff · raised outside money

Shanti Lal Jain — CEO

Asirvad Microfinance

Gold loan based NBFC with strong growth rate in India

est. 2009 · 32,159 staff · raised outside money

Raja Vaidyanathan Venkataraman Sattanath — Founder & Chairman

Indian Overseas Bank

Digital Banking Expansion Initiative

est. 1937 · 26,071 staff · raised outside money

Ajay Kumar Srivastava — CEO

TVS Credit

Provider of consumer personal and auto loans

est. 2009 · 24,387 staff · raised outside money

Ashish Sapra — Chief Executive Officer · 12th Delhi Public School

Equitas Small Finance Bank

Small finance bank

est. 2007 · 23,596 staff · raised outside money

Vasudevan Narasimhan — MD & CEO

Apollo Hospitals

India's first advanced cancer center established in 1983

est. 1983 · 19,619 staff · raised outside money

Prathap Reddy — Founder & Chairman

Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy — Co-Chief Executive Officer

Madura Microfinance

Digital microcredit for rural women SHGs

est. 2006 · 17,912 staff · raised outside money

Narayanan Muthiah — CEO

Tara Thiagarajan — Chairman & MD · Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University

Access Healthcare

Provider of revenue cycle management, BPO, IT, and finance and accounting services

est. 2011 · 17,726 staff · raised outside money

Anurag Jain — Co-Founder & CEO · Bachelor of Engineering BITS Pilani

Vardhman Jain — Co-Founder & Vice Chairman · Bachelor of Science The University of Texas at Austin

Star Health and Allied Insurance

Hospital providing cashless treatment & quick claim settlement

est. 2006 · 17,638 staff · raised outside money

Venkatasamy Jagannathan — Founder

Surinder Singh — Owner of Cyber cafe And Advisor At Star Health And Allied Insurance

United India Insurance Company

Expanding Digital Insurance Services Across Rural India

est. 1938 · 14,322 staff · raised outside money

Nagaraja Sarma Maddipatla — CEO & MD

Girish Radhakrishnan — CMD

TVS Logistics Services

Provider of automotive parts, logistic, and transportation services

est. 1995 · 13,217 staff · raised outside money

R. Dinesh — Managing Director

Prakash S — CEO

Buzzworks

Buzzworks: HR & Software Solutions with a focus on 1000cr+ turnover

est. 1999 · 11,807 staff · raised outside money

V Karthic — Co-Founder & CEO

Matrimony.com

Revolutionizing wedding services through technology-driven matchmaking

est. 1997 · 11,148 staff · raised outside money

Murugavel Janakiraman —

Murugavel Janakiraman — Founder & CEO · MCA University of Madras

Five Star Business Finance

Specialized financial services for small and medium enterprises in India.

est. 1984 · 10,774 staff · raised outside money

Srikanth Gopalakrishnan — CFO & Joint Managing Director

Rangarajan Krishnan — Joint Managing Director

Belstar

Belstar Microfinance: Low Credit Risk Social Impact Model

est. 1988 · 10,457 staff · raised outside money

Jayaraman Balakrishnan — Chief Executive Officer

Optum

Health Services Modernization via Data Analytics and AI

est. 2008 · 10,001 staff · raised outside money

Richard Burke — Founder

Patrick Conway — CEO

Casa Grande PropCare

Provider of integrated facility management and specialized project services

est. 2011 · 9,174 staff · raised outside money

Arun Mn — Founder & Managing Director · BE HITS

Venkatraman — CEO

Sundaram Finance

Financial services to senior citizens with health issues

est. 1954 · 8,285 staff · raised outside money

Ravi S — CEO

T S Santhanam — Founder

Veritas

Inclusive finance for underserved customers leveraging technology

est. 2015 · 7,918 staff · raised outside money

Arulmany Duraisamy — Founder, CEO & Managing Director

CAMS

CAMS WealthServ 2.0: Analytics and AI-driven mutual fund services

est. 1988 · 6,362 staff · raised outside money

Vaidyanathan Shankar — Founder · IIM Calcutta

Anuj Kumar — CEO · IIM Calcutta

cluster · 3069 companies

Business Services

633 founded since 2018 · 129 funded

Sub-themes

it services · 1134marketing services · 438hr services · 309management consulting services · 188facility management services · 149bpo services · 148

e.g. Randstad India, UDS, Real Image Media Technologies

cluster · 1781 companies

Consumer

635 founded since 2018 · 117 funded

Sub-themes

wedding tech · 218local services · 213matchmaking · 209fashion tech · 203logistics tech · 190road transport tech · 156

e.g. Fast Track Call Taxi, Jodii, Matrimony.com

cluster · 1702 companies

Enterprise Applications

683 founded since 2018 · 140 funded

Sub-themes

hrtech · 372marketingtech · 272enterprise resource planning · 211sales force automation · 138enterprise software · 133saas · 129

e.g. Zoho, Zoho, Optum

cluster · 1216 companies

Retail

458 founded since 2018 · 100 funded

Sub-themes

fashion tech · 203b2b e-commerce · 127e-commerce enablers · 123in store retail tech · 99retailers · 87beauty tech · 85

e.g. Numeric India, Farida, Poorvika

cluster · 1088 companies

Healthcare

288 founded since 2018 · 95 funded

Sub-themes

hospitals · 173clinics · 107biopharma outsourcing · 96services for healthcare providers · 77medical device distributors · 68clinic chains · 64

e.g. Apollo Pharmacy, Apollo Hospitals, Access Healthcare

cluster · 1009 companies

Real Estate And Construction

244 founded since 2018 · 49 funded

Sub-themes

real estate & infrastructure developers · 229building materials · 151facility management services · 135construction contractors · 93architects · 90interior designers · 85

e.g. UDS, Casa Grande PropCare, Radiance Facility Force

cluster · 700 companies

Fintech

328 founded since 2018 · 152 funded

Sub-themes

investment tech · 192finance & accounting tech · 129payments · 122alternative lending · 94banking tech · 85cryptocurrencies · 36

e.g. CAMSPay, Intellect Design Arena, eMACH.ai

cluster · 683 companies

Consumer Goods

179 founded since 2018 · 62 funded

Sub-themes

food & beverage products · 202home furnishing products · 74beauty & personal care products · 74apparel brands · 71fashion accessories · 59household durables · 38

e.g. GRT, Arun Icecreams, HAP

cluster · 635 companies

Media & Entertainment

178 founded since 2018 · 37 funded

Sub-themes

internet first media · 149film & tv studios · 100social platforms · 59tech for film & tv · 56book tech · 47ott video · 43

e.g. Sun TV Network, The Hindu Group, TNQ

cluster · 628 companies

Education

158 founded since 2018 · 26 funded

Sub-themes

continuing education centres · 133higher education institutions · 118k-12 schools · 109continuing education chains · 70educational support services · 67test preparation centres · 26

e.g. Velammal Educational Trust, SRM University, TVS Training & Services

Founder & Background	Role	Company
Ramamurthy Thyagarajan Indian Statistical Institute	Co-Founder	Shriram City
Moorthy Uppaluri ex - CEO GE-ITC, ex - Microsoft, Wipro. Osmania University BE 1989, Northern Illinois University MS 1993, Spring Hill College MBA	CEO & MD	Randstad India
Paul Dupuis Bain, ex-Randstad, ex-Indian Staffing Federation, INSEAD, 2023	CEO	Randstad India
Raja Vaidyanathan Venkataraman Sattanath Ex- Reliance Retail. IIT Madras 1977, IIM Calcutta PGDM 1980	Founder & Chairman	Asirvad Microfinance
Ashish Sapra Ex-Bajaj Housing Finance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Bajaj Finance, American Express. EMPI Business School 1997	Chief Executive Officer	TVS Credit
Vasudevan Narasimhan Equitas Healthcare Foundation, ex-Equitas Micro Finance, ex-Dcb Bank, Agurchand Manmull Jain College - India, 1983	MD & CEO	Equitas Small Finance Bank
Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy Confederation of Indian Industry, stethUP.ai, ex-Dr Rela Institute and Medical Centre. The Wharton School BA	Co-Chief Executive Officer	Apollo Hospitals
Tejesvi Veerepalli California State University-Fresno BBA 2010	Co-CEO	Apollo Hospitals
Madhu Sasidhar Ex-Cleveland Clinic, Ohio Respiratory Care Board, Envera Health, Community Health Systems. Jawaharlal Institute Of Postgraduate Me	Co-CEO	Apollo Hospitals
Vikram Thaploo Ex-Steeplejack, Barista Coffee Company. Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad 2022, Indian School of Business 2018	Co-CEO	Apollo Hospitals
Narayanan Muthiah Ex-GMR Group, ING Vysya Bank, Bank of Madura. Guru Nanak College BCom 1978	CEO	Madura Microfinance
Tara Thiagarajan Founder Sapien Labs & SciSphere, Teach70. Kellogg School of Management MBA 1998, Stanford University PhD 2004	Chairman & MD	Madura Microfinance
Anurag Jain Chairman-Access Healthcare Services,Perot Jain,North Texas Food Bank \| Ex-WorldHaus,Dell,Founder-Brigade Corporation \| BITS Pilani	Co-Founder & CEO	Access Healthcare
Vardhman Jain Vice Chairman-Access Healthcare Services \| Ex-Perot Systems Business Process Solutions India,Vision Healthsource \| Loyola College	Co-Founder & Vice Chairman	Access Healthcare
Surinder Singh Star Health And Allied Insurance, Jammu university	Owner of Cyber cafe And Advisor At Star Health And Allied Insurance	Star Health and Allied Insurance
V Karthic Ex-WoNoBo, times of india. Annamalai University BBA 1995	Co-Founder & CEO	Buzzworks
Murugavel Janakiraman Founder-MeraLuv,Matrimony \| Qwen,University of Madras MCA 1993	Founder & CEO	Matrimony.com
Rangarajan Krishnan Managing Director-Prayaan Capital \| Ex-Five-Star Business Finance India,International Finance,World Bank \| Sri Sathya Sai Institut	Joint Managing Director	Five Star Business Finance
Jayaraman Balakrishnan Technology Development Board, ex-Alpha Assets Advisory Services, Indian Overseas Bank. American college Madurai B.Com 1982, Indira	Chief Executive Officer	Belstar
Richard Burke Founder-Optum	Founder	Optum

backgrounds shown where available

651 investors are on record backing Chennai companies. The most committed:

Most active — backed 2+ companies

WestBridge Capital

ICICI Venture

Peak XV Partners

Norwest

IFC

Lok Capital

Nalanda Capital

Kotak Mahindra Bank

Apax

British International Investment

Unitus

HDFC Bank

Institutional

Peak XV Partners · VC fundNorwest · VC fundLok Capital · VC fundUnitus · VC fundCaspian · VC fundSequoia Capital · VC fundBessemer Venture Partners · VC fundCanaan · VC fundGoodwell Investments · VC fundAavishkaar Capital · VC fundSwedfund · VC fundKindle Ventures · VC fundHelion Venture Partners · VC fundUnitary Helion · VC fund+ 44 more

Private & corporate backers

WestBridge CapitalICICI VentureIFCNalanda CapitalKotak Mahindra BankApaxBritish International InvestmentHDFC Bank360 OneMadison India Capital+ 583 more

hover a name to see who they backed

Funded startups — peer cities

Bengaluru

6,023

2,019Hyderabad

1,417Chennai

1,313Pune

625Kolkata

Companies that have raised

Company	Industry	Rounds	Latest Round	Founded
Ramcharan	chemicals	2	2021-12	1965
Shriram Capital	financial services	5	2014-08	1974
CAMS	information technology and services	2	2017-12	1988
Vasan Eye Care	hospital & health care	5	2013-10	2002
Equitas	financial services	11	2020-01	2007
Sify	information technology and services	1	2023-09	1995
TVS Logistics Services	automotive	0	—	1995
Medall	hospital & health care	11	2024-02	2008
Cavinkare	consumer goods	2	2013-06	1983
IMC Group	gambling & casinos	1	2010-10	1935
Karaikal Port	maritime	1	2012-05	2006
Kauvery Hospital	hospital & health care	5	2023-03	1999
UniverCell	retail	1	2008-10	1997
Cognetix	telecommunications	1	2001-08	1997
Landmark	retail	1	2009-11	1987
Appstar Applications	information technology and services	2	2022-05	2020
Shasun Pharma	pharmaceuticals	1	2012-02	1976
Newgen	publishing	1	2004-10	1996
EQL	financial services	6	2022-02	2020
Gho Agro	food production	1	2016-11	2016
Anabond	chemicals	1	2008-04	1979
Janus Technologies	information technology and services	1	2017-09	2013
emiBazaar	retail	3	2015-05	2011
Anderson Diagnostics and Labs	hospital & health care	1	2022-06	2009
IVP Semi	semiconductors	1	2024-07	2023

round amounts sparse for tier-3 cities — counts shown, dollar totals withheld

Company	Industry	Founded	Employees
Web Weavery	marketing and advertising	2026	—
Vasan Engineering	mechanical or industrial engineering	2026	—
Friday	computer software	2026	—
BPCA	financial services	2026	—
Dream Dzines	marketing and advertising	2026	—
Inspo AI	design	2026	—
JustBuyAnswers	education management	2026	—
LinkUp Media	marketing and advertising	2026	—
Qwiklo	internet	2026	—
Algonit	computer software	2025	—
Sukish	management consulting	2025	—
90s Kart	retail	2025	—
Cryip	online media	2025	—
Scoutedge	sports	2025	—
Chiseled	computer software	2025	—
Allsec	marketing and advertising	2025	—
Intervoo	e-learning	2025	—
TopGEO AI	marketing and advertising	2025	—
Ai Expert	media production	2025	—
Leonora Advisory	financial services	2025	—

The startup picture in Chennai

Shriram City

Randstad India

UDS

Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company

Indian Bank

Asirvad Microfinance

Indian Overseas Bank

TVS Credit

Equitas Small Finance Bank

Apollo Hospitals

Madura Microfinance

Access Healthcare

Star Health and Allied Insurance

United India Insurance Company

TVS Logistics Services

Buzzworks

Matrimony.com

Five Star Business Finance

Belstar

Optum

Casa Grande PropCare

Sundaram Finance

Veritas

CAMS

Business Services

Consumer

Enterprise Applications

Retail

Healthcare

Real Estate And Construction

Fintech

Consumer Goods

Media & Entertainment

Education

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