Ten Indian start-ups have found a place in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) new 2025 cohort of Technology Pioneers.
Agnikul, CynLr, Dezy , Digantara, Equal, Exponent Energy, Freight Tiger, GalaxEye, SolarSquare, and ePlane Co are the Indian start-ups part of the technology pioneers of WEF in 2025. Interestingly, three of these — Agnikul, GalaxEye, and ePlane — are all incubated at IIT-Madras. All three are also from the aerospace and space technology realm.
The Technology Pioneers of WEF includes a group of 100 early-stage companies from 28 countries driving innovation across industries and borders. The 2025 cohort, as per WEF, is its “strongest cohort yet” marked by broader geographical representation, greater diversity beyond Silicon Valley and the rise of more frontier technologies.
“Many of the companies spotlighted are using artificial intelligence (AI) to reach greater scale and sophistication with fewer resources. Several are venturing into less explored frontiers — from asteroid mining and flying electric taxis, to leveraging satellite imagery to transform agriculture and harnessing energy from supernova explosions to locate critical minerals beneath the Earth’s surface,” WEF said in a note.
The 2025 cohort stands out for the concentration on breakthrough technologies including advanced robotics, customisable space launch services, micro nuclear reactors and more accessible quantum computing applications.
The geography of innovation is also evolving. While the US remains the top contributor to the community, Europe’s share has surged to 28 per cent (up from 20 per cent last year), reflecting the rise of strong tech ecosystems across the region. China and India are also emerging as major tech innovation hubs, WEF added.
This year also marks the 25th Anniversary of the Technology Pioneers programme. Since its inception in 2000, the community has recognized more than 1,200 companies, many of which have gone on to reshape industries worldwide. Alumni include household names such as Google, PayPal, Dropbox and SoundCloud.
These pioneers will contribute cutting-edge insights to Forum initiatives over a two-year engagement programme and will also be invited to participate in the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2025, taking place on 24-26 June in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China.