Startups likely to go public in 2026; Helping citizens understand the air they breathe

It’s a new year filled with new possibilities.

But before that a quick rewind. In 2025, India quietly became the growth beacon for global retailers, with premium fashion and beauty brands leading the charge and remaining buoyant despite wider market headwinds. 

From lipsticks and biscuits to shoes and apparel, global brands increased their bets on Indian consumers’ aspirational spending, riding a shift in behaviour that goes beyond discretionary indulgence. 

If pickleball, protein and microdramas were among the top consumer trends of 2025, industry watchers expect frisbee, concert culture and ‘fibremaxing’–adding fibre to meals–to become the talking points of 2026. 

ICYMI: The CapTable looked at data that makes India’s Northeast a hotspot for online lifestyle brands.

Elsewhere, AI slop–low quality, mass produced content generated using AI tools–heightened fears of a dead internet in 2025. In fact, one of the most viewed AI slop channels, Bandar Mera Dost, is from India. According to a recent study, the channel, which has about 2.4 billion views so far, is likely earning around $4 million a year.

What will be the future of content remains anyone’s guess.

Meanwhile, despite the many gloomy headlines on global warming and natural disasters, 2025 saw major climate wins. Renewable energy also picked up momentum in 2025.

Lastly, from floating solar farms on Narmada River to melting icebergs, here are 12 stunning images from NASA that tell the story of Earth in 2025.

Tell us your predictions for the year 2026. And, once again, a Happy New Year!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Startups likely to go public in 2026
• Helping citizens understand the air they breathe

Here’s your trivia for today: In which country do people traditionally jump off a chair at midnight on New Year’s Eve to avoid having bad luck in the new year?

Outlook 2026

Startups likely to go public in 2026

For nearly three years now, India’s startup ecosystem has faced a series of uncomfortable reckonings. Yet, there is one area where investors have had little reason to complain: exits. Since Zomato (now Eternal) reset expectations with its IPO in mid-2021, India has steadily built a pipeline of startup listings. In 2025 alone, six large startups went public—minting founder-billionaires and handing windfall gains to venture funds. 

Key takeaways

• Since 2021, startup listings have largely performed well, restoring investor confidence in exits and setting up 2026 as a potentially strong IPO year.
• Long-awaited listings from companies like Flipkart, PhonePe, Zepto, PayU India, and Razorpay signal a shift from speculative growth stories to scale-driven, market-tested businesses. Several have already started preparing for their IPOs.
• As these startups approach listings, scrutiny is intensifying around profitability paths, governance, and revenue diversification.

Startup

Helping citizens understand the air they breathe

Air pollution in India is not confined to a single season, it is a year-round crisis. Fine particulate matter such as PM2.5 and PM10 has become an invisible but constant presence in everyday life across cities and towns, even as accurate, localised air-quality data remains fragmented and difficult for most people to access.

Delhi-based Prana Air addresses this gap by building portable air-quality monitoring devices that measure AQI. The company also runs AQI.in, a real-time environmental data platform that enables users to track air quality at the city and neighbourhood level.

Building visibility

• AQI.in provides live AQI readings, PM2.5 and PM10 levels, health advisories, short-term trends, and clear air-quality classifications, from good to hazardous, aligned with India’s CPCB framework.
• Prana Air currently offers nearly 20 products across consumer and professional segments, priced between Rs 999 and Rs 1.77 lakh, including pocket PM2.5 Wi-Fi monitors, CO₂ meters, indoor air-quality monitors, and N95 anti-pollution masks.
• Beyond air, the company is now piloting water-quality sensors in residential tanks in Delhi, with plans to scale across cities, and is also building hyperlocal weather monitoring capabilities.

News & updates

• Rejected bid: Warner Bros Discovery will likely reject Paramount Skydance’s amended $108.4 billion hostile bid for the storied Hollywood studio despite a personal guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison backing the media giant’s offer, Reuters reported, citing a source.
• Steel tariffs: Shares of major Indian steel companies climbed between 2% and 5% on Wednesday after the country imposed a three-year import tariff on select products to curb cheap shipments from China.

In which country do people traditionally jump off a chair at midnight on New Year’s Eve to avoid having bad luck in the new year?

Answer: Denmark

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