When India speaks of becoming a global innovation powerhouse, it’s often the startups that carry that ambition on their shoulders. Yet, for all the noise around unicorns and funding rounds, one thing has remained painfully elusive, credible, accessible startup data.
Now, IIT Madras has decided to fix that gap for good.
At the Tamil Nadu Global Startup Summit, the institute’s Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing (CREST) unveiled a first-of-its-kind digital initiative called “Startups for All.” Built in partnership with YNOS, a deep-tech startup incubated at IIT Madras, the platform aims to make India’s vast startup landscape discoverable, searchable, and crucially, open to everyone.
IIT Madras: Turning Data into Public Infrastructure
“India’s startup ecosystem is among the top three in the world, but the information about it is fragmented,” says Professor Thillai Rajan A., founder of CREST. “Reliable data has either been behind paywalls or accessible only to a privileged few. Startups for All changes that equation.”
Unlike private databases that serve venture capitalists and corporates, this platform has been designed for inclusivity. Whether you’re a student, a first-time entrepreneur, or a policymaker trying to understand the next growth cluster, you can now navigate verified data without needing an expensive subscription.
Mapping India’s Innovation Universe
The scale of Startups for All is sweeping. According to data shared by CREST, the platform brings together information on over 2.75 lakh startups, 15,000 angel investors, 5,500 venture capital firms, 1,400 incubators, 800 banks, and more than 100 government schemes.
This aggregation didn’t happen overnight. CREST has spent years building one of India’s most comprehensive repositories of startup and funding data. That research backbone now powers the new platform, giving users a rare panoramic view of how innovation capital flows across the country.
A Tool for Founders, Investors, and Students
Startups for All functions as more than a database, it’s a decision-making tool. Founders can use it to identify the right investors for their stage and sector. Venture capitalists can analyse emerging geographies and market trends. And students or professionals curious about entrepreneurship can explore incubators and funding programmes tailored to their interests.
Crucially, the interface doesn’t demand technical know-how. Users can filter, compare, and even generate investor recommendations in a few clicks. The experience feels more like a modern analytics platform than an academic directory.
Lowering Barriers with Pay-as-You-Go Access
The team behind the project has also reimagined how users pay for access. Instead of locking data behind expensive annual plans, Startups for All allows free sign-ups with complimentary credits. Once those are used, users can continue exploring through micro-payments, paying only for specific datasets they need.
For India’s early-stage founders, many operating from non-metro cities, this design choice could be game-changing. “We wanted to democratize access, not replicate the exclusion of existing paid platforms,” explains a CREST team member involved in development.
One of the strongest motivations behind Startups for All is to level the information playing field between India’s metros and its emerging startup towns. While Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai dominate visibility, smaller cities such as Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar, and Jaipur are producing serious innovation.
From Research to Real-World Impact
The CREST-YNOS collaboration is a textbook case of academia translating research into public utility. YNOS, which began as a startup from the IIT Madras Incubation Cell, specializes in analytics tools for entrepreneurs and investors. By embedding that expertise into Startups for All, the institute is bridging the gap between theoretical research and ground-level application.
Over time, the platform could also become an essential reference point for policymakers designing startup or innovation frameworks. With a structured, constantly updated data backbone, ministries and state agencies could identify ecosystem gaps more accurately, be it sector concentration, regional imbalance, or funding inequity.
India’s push toward a $5-trillion economy and its “Viksit Bharat 2047” vision both depend heavily on how effectively innovation ecosystems are nurtured. Startups are expected to create millions of jobs, drive exports, and build homegrown technology IP. But those outcomes hinge on transparency and trust, two things fragmented data cannot deliver.
By treating startup data as a public good, IIT Madras is introducing a cultural shift. This isn’t just another database, it’s a signal that information infrastructure deserves the same public-minded thinking as roads or broadband.
For IIT Madras, which has already built global credibility through initiatives in deep tech, climate tech, and entrepreneurship education, Startups for All adds another dimension. It turns the institute into a platform enabler, not just a talent factory.
Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan, who unveiled the platform, summed it up aptly: “Tamil Nadu and India need not just innovation, but inclusion. Open access to knowledge is the true enabler of both.”
In that sense, IIT Madras is not merely opening a portal, it’s redrawing the boundaries of who gets to participate in India’s startup story.
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