India's Web3 Ecosystem Enters a New Phase of Maturity as Growth-Stage Capital Returns: India Web3 Landscape Report by Hashed Emergent

PNN
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 24: Hashed Emergent, the venture capital firm focused on accelerating Web3 adoption in India and emerging markets, has released its fourth edition of the India Web3 Landscape Report, one of the most comprehensive annual analyses of India's Web3 ecosystem capturing its growth, trends, and global impact. The report offers a detailed view of the country's evolving landscape across capital flows, developer participation, adoption, and infrastructure, indicating a clear shift toward a more mature and structured market, marked by the return of growth-stage capital and strengthening fundamentals. Data referenced in the report is current as of March 2026.
* $396M raised across Series B and B+ rounds, reversing a three-year drought in growth-stage funding
* Infrastructure led investment with the largest share at $362M, with AI and DePIN as key themes
* Finance sector funding nearly tripled to $234M across payments, derivatives, staking, and RWAs
* On-chain value received doubled to $338B as India retained its position as the world's leading blockchain adoption market
* India's share of global Web3 developers rose to 15.2%, the fastest-growing developer ecosystem globally and the only major market trending upward as US activity declines
The Return of Growth Capital
Following a slowdown in late-stage investments over the past few years, Indian Web3 startups raised $396 million across Series B and B+ rounds, marking a definitive break from funding patterns seen since 2022. Total funding for the year reached $626 million, signalling that investor confidence is returning with greater clarity and intent. This shift is also visible in how capital is being deployed, with finance-focused startups attracting $234 million, nearly three times the previous year, across payments, derivatives, staking, and RWAs. Infrastructure continued to command the largest share at $362 million, with AI and DePIN emerging as key areas of focus. Funding is increasingly concentrating in segments that are building long-term foundations for the market.
While deal activity was lower in volume, with total deals down by 31%, capital shifted from a high volume of early-stage rounds toward fewer, larger, later-stage investments, reflecting an ecosystem that is consolidating around depth and long-term viability.
Adoption Moves Beyond Metro Hubs
India continues to hold its position as the number one country globally for blockchain adoption for the third consecutive year. On-chain value received more than doubled to $338 billion, while trading volumes rose 114% with new traders up 27%. The growth is broad-based: the 18 to 25 age group accounts for nearly 50% of trading volumes and represented 61% of new crypto derivatives participants, growing 2.5x year on year. Women's participation rose 20%, growing at double the rate of men across every city tier. Eastern India recorded a sixfold surge in derivatives traders, outpacing all other regions. This is particularly significant given the absence of major metro cities in the region, marking a genuine democratisation of access.
India's developer ecosystem now represents 15.2% of global Web3 developers, up from 12% in 2024, and remains the only major hub on a consistent upward trajectory as US activity declines. Builder interest is clustering around DeFi (36.6%) and AI x Web3 (33.2%), pointing to where India's next wave of Web3 startups is likely to emerge. The broader startup landscape spans over 1,250 ventures, collectively raising more than $3.5 billion since 2020, across finance, infrastructure, and consumer applications.
"India's Web3 ecosystem is entering a phase where capital, developer talent, and real-world adoption are aligning at scale, extending the country's role beyond adoption leader toward infrastructure builder," said Tak Lee, CEO & Managing Partner at Hashed Emergent. "What we are witnessing now is the emergence of globally relevant protocols and products built out of India, at a depth and pace that few anticipated. At Hashed Emergent, we back early-stage founders, providing capital, strategic mentorship, and access to a global network to accelerate growth. We remain deeply invested in empowering this next generation of Indian Web3 pioneers."
From Adoption to Global Infrastructure
India has emerged as one of the few countries building global-scale Web3 infrastructure simultaneously. Teams behind EigenLayer, Avail, and Sentient are defining new global protocol categories. Enterprise adoption is accelerating, with Reliance Jio's partnership with Aptos integrating blockchain into 500 million consumer lives, while companies such as Flipkart and Nazara deploy across digital and consumer ecosystems. The government's National Blockchain Framework has processed 396M+ verifications across 105 million records. That this is unfolding under sustained regulatory ambiguity, makes India's output all the more significant and points to the scale of the opportunity ahead.
Notably, the regulatory environment is moving toward a more structured footing. The Ministry of Finance is working on a consultation paper on crypto asset regulation, and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is examining the case for a coordinated legal framework. FIU-IND has increasingly become the operational centre of this shift, requiring platforms operating in India to meet registration and AML compliance standards, including transaction reporting and the travel rule. Budget 2025 has introduced transaction-level reporting obligations for crypto assets from April 2026, placing India on an early compliance path ahead of the OECD's global reporting standards taking effect in 2027.
Looking ahead, Finternet, the next evolution of India's Digital Public Infrastructure, is expected to go live in 2026, with over 30 confirmed ecosystem partners spanning cross-border payments, decentralised identity, asset tokenisation, and programmable finance.
The report also surfaces an important question. While India's developer base is maturing and going global, the supporting infrastructure around jobs, compensation, and career pathways is still catching up. How quickly that gap closes will determine whether India's current advantage compounds into sustained global leadership or begins to diffuse across geographies.
Hashed Emergent prepared the report in collaboration with its knowledge partners CoinSwitch, The Growth Protocol, Pi42, Jetking, Devfolio, and Trilegal.
You can read the full report here: https://docsend.com/view/9ipqzkkjssv3sbrp
About Hashed Emergent
Hashed Emergent is the venture capital arm of Hashed, backing builders from India and emerging markets shaping the on-chain frontier. It invests at the earliest stages of a web3 startup's journey, using its expertise, experience, and network to amplify their growth and success. The team is rooted in the cultural hubspots of web3 in emerging markets, spanning across Bangalore, Seoul, Singapore, Lagos and Dubai. Hashed Emergent drives web3 focused ecosystem and community expansion in these markets through its purpose-built initiatives, including hosting the India Blockchain Week Conference.
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