The Indian startup ecosystem has officially logged its first unicorn of 2026. Juspay, the Bengaluru-based payments infrastructure company, has secured USD 50 million in a Series D follow-on funding round led by WestBridge Capital. This fresh injection of capital has pushed the company’s valuation to USD 1.2 billion and marks a significant start to the year for the country’s fintech sector.
The round included both primary and secondary transactions which allowed early investors and employees to liquidate some of their holdings. This liquidity event is notably the second of its kind that Juspay has enabled within the last twelve months. The valuation jump is a steady climb from April 2025, when the company raised USD 60 million from Kedaara Capital at a USD 900 million valuation.
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What makes Juspay’s ascent to unicorn status particularly strategic is its financial health. Unlike many high-growth startups that burn cash to achieve scale, Juspay has managed to balance aggressive expansion with profitability. The company reported its first full year of profitability in FY25 with a profit after tax of Rs. 62 crore on the back of Rs. 514 crore in revenue. This 61 percent year-on-year revenue growth validates their thesis that deep engineering solves can yield sustainable margins even in a low-take-rate environment.
Deepak Ramineedi, Partner at WestBridge Capital, highlighted this engineering-first DNA as a key driver for their investment. He stated that Juspay has consistently demonstrated an ability to stay ahead of the curve by building robust, future-ready technology that powers the world’s most demanding payment ecosystems. He further noted that their focus on solving deep-tech problems in payments while maintaining a sustainable, profitable growth trajectory differentiates them in the fintech space.
Juspay currently processes over 300 million daily transactions and has surpassed an annualized total payment volume of USD 1 trillion. Their infrastructure serves as the invisible backbone for some of the largest digital economies in India, including Amazon, Google, Flipkart, Swiggy, and Cred. The fresh funds are earmarked for expanding this infrastructure globally, with specific targets in the US, UK, and Latin American markets. Additionally, the company plans to invest heavily in AI-driven payment orchestration to further reduce friction and fraud for merchants.
Sheetal Lalwani, Co-founder and COO of Juspay, emphasized that the company’s mission remains rooted in first-principles thinking. He remarked that their focus over the last decade has been on solving the core complexities of global payments through first-principles engineering and design. He added that this round reflects their growth and provides liquidity opportunities for their early investors and team members who have been part of this journey.
As 2026 kicks off, Juspay’s milestone offers a blueprint for the market. It suggests that the next wave of Indian unicorns will likely be defined not just by their valuations, but by their ability to couple scale with audited profitability.
