Meet 9 Startups Shaping India’s Agritech

India’s agritech sector is stepping out of pilot projects and into large-scale infrastructure-led businesses, and a new editorial initiative aims to map that shift. Inc42, in collaboration with StarAgri, announced the launch of UpNext, a nine-part deep-dive series that will profile startups "actively rewiring India’s new agri economy." The move comes as India’s agritech market is projected to expand from $9 billion in 2025 to $28 billion by 2030, according to the Inc42 summary published on February 17, 2026 by INC42 Tech.

Direct quote

"The UpNext series will unpack the origins, business models, technology stacks and scaling playbooks of..."

Context and details

Inc42’s announcement frames UpNext as an attempt to go beyond surface-level coverage and document how startups are building across the agricultural value chain. The editorial note highlights that the sector is moving "beyond farm-level pilots into infra-led models spanning storage, financing and market access," signalling stronger emphasis on logistics, capital and marketplace solutions rather than isolated field-level technologies.

The Inc42 site also surfaced adjacent coverage that illustrates the breadth and appetite of investment and innovation around agriculture and adjacent deep tech: a headline cited on the platform reads, "From drought to disruption: Indian farmer bets ₹214 crore on AI-Powered Hydroponics," and the publisher’s popular stories feed included other funding news such as CraftifAI raising $3 million led by Ankur Capital. While those stories address different segments of the broader tech ecosystem, Inc42 is positioning UpNext to centre specifically on agritech founders and their scaling trajectories.

• Publisher: INC42 Tech (published February 17, 2026)
• Series partner: StarAgri
• Series format: nine-part deep-dive (UpNext)
• Market projection: $9 billion in 2025 to $28 billion by 2030
• Sector focus: storage, financing, market access and infra-led models

Outlook

The UpNext series arrives at a moment when Indian agritech is expected to scale rapidly and industrialise previously fragmented parts of the value chain. Inc42’s editorial promise — "to unpack the origins, business models, technology stacks and scaling playbooks" — indicates the series will prioritize operational and technical detail that can inform investors, policymakers and founders alike. Inc42’s site also includes a transparency disclaimer noting its editorial standards: "We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work."

Readers and ecosystem participants can expect UpNext to publish profiles and playbooks across nine instalments, documenting how startups and their backers plan to capture value as the market targets a threefold-plus expansion by 2030.