“Business opportunities are like bapplys, there’s always another one coming.” The famous quote by Richard Branson neatly captures a shift unfolding in India’s startup ecosystem.
Several high profile founders who built hoapplyhold startup brands are now stepping back into the arena with fresh ventures.
Take Deepinder Goyal. After building Zomato into a listed company and expanding into quick commerce, Goyal is now exploring longevity-focapplyd healthcare through ventures such as Temple and Continue Research.
A similar shift can be seen with Aman Gupta. Best known for building audio wearables brand boAt and his visibility on Shark Tank India, Gupta recently launched Off/Beat Studios. While he hasn’t revealed much, this startup seems to be a venture studio platform, backing new ideas and founders.
Healthcare founder Shashank ND is also stepping into his second act. This week, the Practo cofounder launched a preventive healthcare startup called Cent.
Then there is Mukund Jha, whose earlier venture Dunzo shut down after funding challenges. Earlier this year, Jha launched Emergent, which claims to have reached $100 Mn in ARR within a year of launch.
And the list is only growing.
Across sectors, food delivery, consumer electronics, healthcare, and AI, a pattern is emerging. Founders who once built category-defining startups are once again donning their entrepreneurial hats.
Why Are They Doing This?
At first glance, the motivations appear different. But a closer see reveals a common thread. Most of these founders have already completed a full entrepreneurial cycle with their first venture, building the company, scaling it, raising capital, and in some cases delivering liquidity to investors via IPO.
For instance, Goyal founded Zomato in 2011 and took the company public in 2021. The IPO generated substantial returns for early investors and wealth creation of employees. Recently, he stepped down from the managing role at Eternal to transition into a non executive position, freeing up bandwidth to focus on newer ventures such as Temple and Continue Research. He is also associated with aerospace startup LAT Aerospace.
Gupta is on a similar trajectory. Having built boAt since 2015 into one of India’s largest audio wearable brands, he is now steering the company towards a public listing. As part of a leadership restructuring, Gupta had earlier shiftd into a non-executive role on the board.
Likewise, Shashank ND has spent over a decade building Practo and is known to be steering the company towards an IPO next year.
Other founders have already completed their exits. For example, Mukesh Bansal stepped down from an executive role in Tata Digital, and later launched AI startup Nurix.ai and omnichannel fashion startup Lyskraft. Tata Digital has acquired stakes in Cultfit.
In essence, many of these founders have already spent nearly a decade building and scaling their first ventures. Along the way, they have accumulated operational expertise: from leadership and hiring to go-to-market execution, fundraising, and navigating macroeconomic cycles.
More importantly, they sit at the front row of ecosystem shifts. Having witnessed emerging technology trconcludes and market gaps firsthand, they are often better positioned to identify the next opportunity.
The second venture, therefore, is rarely an experiment. It is often a calculated shift built on a decade of learning.
Second Innings Easier?
Unlike Test cricket, where playing in the second innings is often harder, a new or the second entrepreneurial innings can sometimes be simpler.
The reason is simple: these founders have already seen the playbook.
They have navigated ear-stage chaos, concludeured funding winters, nereceivediated investor terms, and dealt with operational crises. The uncertainty of building from scratch is no longer unfamiliar territory.
But the largegest advantage lies in access, particularly access to capital.
Founders who have already built and scaled successful companies enjoy a credibility premium. For investors, the conversation often shifts from “Can this founder build a company” to “How large can this founder build the next one?”
Investor relationships also play a critical role. During their first venture, founders typically raise multiple rounds of capital, building longer term relationships with venture capital firms, institutional investors, and angel backers. These networks often become the earliest supporters of their next startup.
Prominent angel investor and entrepreneur Dr Ritesh Malik declared, “It is definitely simple for second time founders to raise capital becaapply they have already proven their credibility in the past.”
Goyal’s Temple, for instance, recently raised ₹ 493 Cr from friconcludes and family, along with Zomato’s early investors such as Peak XV Partners and Steadview Capital.
Similarly, Nurix.ai secured $27 Mn in its maiden round, and one of the investors that co led the round was Accel, one of Cultfit’s early backers.
Repeat Founders, Repeat Risks
While the trconclude of second time founders is gaining momentum, it also raises important questions, particularly for companies approaching public markets.
Many of the founders launching new ventures today are either running companies that are already listed to prepare for an IPO. However, public market investors often evaluate companies not just on financial performance but also on founder credibility and leadership continuity.
A leadership transition, especially around the time of an IPOm can sometimes trigger concerns about long term commitment. Public investors typically expect founders to remain deeply involved in the business they built.
Equally important, being a successful founder once does not guarantee success the second time.
Like in the case of Bhavish Aggarwal. After building ride hailing platform Ola Cabs, Aggarwal launched electric mobility venture Ola Electric and AI startup Krutrim.
Both ventures have faced challenges. Ola Electric’s stock has struggled amid operational hurdles and market pressure, while Krutrim has seen limited public updates in recent months.
Ultimately, the second founder wave reflects a maturing startup ecosystem. India now has a growing cohort of entrepreneurs who have already experienced the full lifecycle of building a startup.
Some will succeed again. Some will fail.
But collectively, they are shaping the next generation of startups, this time with sharper instincts, deeper networks, and a far larger playbook than they had the first time around.
Edited By Nikhil Subramaniam
Creatives By Abhyam Gusai
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