New Delhi: India’s technology companies raised $10.3 billion in the first nine months of 2026 up 7 per cent YoY even as the number of funding rounds fell 38 per cent to 1,134, a report said on Thursday.

"Early-stage funding surged 27 per cent to $4.2 billion while seed funding fell 37 per cent to $698 million, and late-stage held roughly steady at $5.4 billion," the report from data intelligence platform Tracxn Technologies Limited said.

The report covering all equity funding, exits and unicorn activity from January 1, 2026 to September 21, 2026, underlined that capital concentrated into fewer, larger bets as deal sizes climb and investors favour proven companies.

Enterprise Applications, FinTech, and Enterprise Infrastructure emerged as the top-performing sectors and nearly 18 rounds of $100 million or more were recorded, led by a $1 billion private‑equity round.

First‑time funded companies dropped 30 per cent to 338 and Series A+ rounds fell 23 per cent to 409.

Enterprise Applications, FinTech and Enterprise Infrastructure led sector flows, with Enterprise Infrastructure surging 436 per cent to $1.6 billion.

Enterprise Applications rose 49 per cent to $3.5 billion and FinTech surged 13 per cent to $2.2 billion. AI Infrastructure was the single most‑funded theme at $1.2 billion, followed by Digital Lending at $799 million and Payments at $773 million.

India minted 6 new unicorns in 9M 2026, up 50 per cent from 4 in the same period a year earlier, and did so on markedly less capital. New unicorns raised an average of $101 million before their unicorn round, less than half the $205 million averaged in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Funding for the new unicorns crossed the billion-dollar mark 4.9 years after their Series A, down from 6.6 years - a sign that India's most valuable companies are now being built faster and more capital-efficiently.

This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.