Info Edge's ₹4,900 Cr Startup Portfolio Decoded: AI, Deeptech & Consumer Tech (2026 Letter)

Quick Facts

What You'll Learn

• How big Info Edge's startup portfolio actually is, and what it's worth on paper today
• Why the company started backing AI and Deeptech in 2020, before the hype
• How Consumer Tech (Zomato + Policybazaar) still carries almost all the value
• The Bikhchandani investing playbook in his own framing
• The financial tables every Info Edge shareholder should know

Info Edge is two companies in one. There's the operating business — Naukri.com and its sister portals throwing off cash. And there's the investing business, which analysts estimate now contributes 30 to 40% of the company's value, second only to Naukri itself.

This letter is about the second one. As of March 31, 2026, the scoreboard looks like this:

The letter organises everything around three themes the company believes "will define much of the value creation in the decade ahead": Artificial Intelligence, Deeptech, and Consumer Technology. A few companies sit in more than one theme, so the theme-level counts (54 + 45 + 42) deliberately don't add up to 135.

Info Edge made its first AI and Deeptech investments circa 2020 — "well before AI became the consensus investment it is today." Entering at the IP and R&D stage gave it cheap entry points and close founder relationships.

These 28 companies span Consumer AI, Enterprise AI, and AI Infrastructure — from prosumer tools to voice and agentic platforms to vertical AI for global markets. Of the 28, several have reached product-market fit; 15 have raised externally-led rounds from investors like Insight Partners, Peak XV, SIG and Vertex.

The deeptech portfolio is younger and riskier. Almost everything here was backed at TRL 3 or earlier — the IP-creation and R&D stage. The company is explicit: "We recognise the need to be patient in deeptech as companies could take a relatively longer time to mature."

The portfolio spans seven sub-sectors: Robotics & Manufacturing, Health & Biotech, Energy & Mobility, Space-tech, Semiconductors, Defence & Security, and Hardware & Sensing. The largest single position is Unbox Robotics, a profitable swarm-robotics business for warehouse automation with international deployments and a closed Series B.

This is the mainstay. Two decades of backing India's consumer internet produced the two outliers — Eternal (Zomato + Blinkit) and PB Fintech (Policybazaar) — that carry almost the entire portfolio's value.

The portfolio spans quick commerce, food delivery, insurance aggregation, travel, healthcare, fintech, gaming and education. A growing share is now AI-native or AI-enabled.

External validation is strong: 21 of 45 consumer companies have raised externally-led rounds from the likes of Accel, Peak XV, Lightspeed, Prosus, Temasek, Tiger Global and General Catalyst.

The letter doubles as a statement of investing philosophy. Stripped to its essence:

We cannot be running a sprint when our founders are running a marathon.

Some of the tenets the company spells out:

How the 18-year journey unfolded:

Key Takeaways

• Info Edge has deployed ₹4,900 Cr across 135 startups, now carried at ₹41,300 Cr (8.4x gross MOIC, ~33% gross IRR) — though ~90% of that value sits in two listed names, Eternal and PB Fintech.
• The portfolio is organised around three themes: AI (28 cos, ₹614 Cr, 2.1x), Deeptech (30 cos, ₹455 Cr, 1.2x) and Consumer Tech (45 cos, ₹2,755 Cr, 13.5x).
• Info Edge backed AI and Deeptech from ~2020, before the hype, at IP and R&D stage — giving it cheap entry points and close founder ties.
• Portfolio companies are winning flagship government programmes: Gnani.ai (₹177 Cr GPU credits), ePlane (₹285 Cr RDI) and Manastu Space (₹115 Cr RDI).
• The philosophy is patient, balance-sheet-funded, outlier-seeking capital — "we cannot be running a sprint when our founders are running a marathon."
• Markups are intermediate and unrealised; the company itself says the real test is years away, via exits and IPOs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much has Info Edge invested in startups, and what is it worth?

As of March 31, 2026, Info Edge had deployed about ₹4,900 Cr across 135 startups through its balance sheet (Redstart Labs), Capital 2B, and three Info Edge Ventures funds. That portfolio is carried at a fair market value of roughly ₹41,300 Cr — an 8.4x gross money multiple and an estimated ~33% gross IRR. Of the capital, ~₹3,600 Cr came from Info Edge itself and ~₹1,300 Cr from external limited partners.

Why is most of the value concentrated in so few companies?

Because early-stage investing is an outlier game. Info Edge says "one or two outliers per fund generate most of the returns." Its two biggest winners — Eternal (Zomato + Blinkit) and PB Fintech (Policybazaar), both first backed between 2007 and 2012 — now make up the bulk of the Consumer Tech theme's ₹37,214 Cr fair value, which is roughly 90% of the entire portfolio's value.

What are Info Edge's AI and Deeptech bets?

Info Edge has backed 28 AI companies (₹614 Cr, marked at 2.1x) and 30 Deeptech companies (₹455 Cr, marked at 1.2x), starting around 2020. AI spans Consumer AI, Enterprise AI and AI Infrastructure; Deeptech covers robotics, biotech, space-tech, semiconductors, energy and security. These are early, conservatively-marked positions the company expects to judge over a decade, not a quarter.

Where does the money to invest come from?

Mostly from Info Edge's own balance sheet, supported by the cash flows of Naukri.com. The company describes itself as "in the business of investing money, not raising money" — its team doesn't spend time fundraising and instead focuses on finding and backing founders.

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