Celebrities back 49 startup rounds worth $458 mn, 55% at seed stage

Bengaluru: Celebrity participation in Indian startup funding is moving beyond one-off brand associations, with early-stage bets and follow-on investments emerging as a recurring pattern. Ten prominent film and sports personalities participated in 49 disclosed funding rounds across 34 India-headquartered startups between January 2021 and September 4, 2026, according to data from intelligence platform Tracxn.The rounds had a combined value of about $458 million. This is not the amount invested by celebrities, but the total value of the funding rounds in which they participated alongside other investors. The ranking is based on the number of disclosed rounds, not capital deployed.Actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra led with 10 rounds, including three in packaged-food startup WickedGud and two each in grocery platform KisanKonnect and peanut butter brand Alpino. Cricketers MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar followed with six rounds each. Shraddha Kapoor and Virat Kohli participated in five rounds each, while Alia Bhatt and Anushka Sharma took part in four each. Ranveer Singh, Rohit Sharma and Suniel Shetty had three rounds apiece.Dhoni’s investments spanned six companies, including solar energy firm SolarSquare, drone maker Garuda Aerospace and electric bicycle maker EMotorad. Tendulkar’s investments were more concentrated, with five separate rounds in used-car marketplace Spinny and one in menswear brand XYXX.Early-stage investing dominated the activity. Angel and seed rounds accounted for 27, or 55%, of the 49 rounds, while another 13 were Series A. More than four-fifths of the rounds were Series A or earlier.Repeat investments were also significant. Nine celebrity-company combinations accounted for 22 rounds, or nearly 45% of the total. These included Tendulkar-Spinny, Shetty Kundra-WickedGud, Shraddha Kapoor-Chargeup, Virat Kohli-Agilitas and Alia Bhatt-Phool.Consumer businesses in food, beauty, fashion and mobility dominated the portfolios, alongside startups in solar energy, drones, logistics and industrial safety. Maharashtra accounted for 15 of the 34 startups, followed by Haryana with six, Karnataka with five and Delhi with three.Several investments have since reached significant milestones. Ed-a-Mamma and Shunya were acquired by Reliance entities, while Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer and Klassroom are listed. Purple Style Labs launched its IPO in August. Spinny is the sole unicorn in the set, while Tracxn classifies Sugar Cosmetics and XYXX as soonicorns.The analysis covers only disclosed-amount rounds and excludes undisclosed deals, making it a snapshot of visible celebrity investment activity rather than a measure of overall wealth or investment performance.Get the latest Business News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.