5 Indian Entrepreneurs Who Scaled Globally: Journey and Lessons

India continues to be a major exporter of technology to the United States and globally. Numerous Indian founders, from Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola Electric to Shridhar Vembo, who launched Zoho, have scaled from Bangalore and reached global markets beyond India’s borders.

How did these Indian entrepreneurs start small and scale globally? That’s what we’ll discuss below.

Read on to discover five Indian founders who have built global businesses, how they did it, and the challenges they faced. We’ll also outline the entrepreneurship lessons we can learn from their journeys.

5 Indian Entrepreneurs With Global Businesses

There are numerous Indians who’ve launched and scaled their businesses to global heights. In this section, we’ll look at five founders who grew their brands beyond the borders of India, reaching the U.S. and other regions.

1. Deepinder Goyal (Zomato)

Deepinder Goyal launched Zomato (formerly Foodiebay) in 2008 as a restaurant aggregator. Through continued innovation, Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah (co-founder) transitioned into food delivery services and changed from Foodiebay to Zomato.

Now, Zomato is among the top food delivery apps in India, with over 24 million active customers monthly in India alone. It also operates globally, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Goyal, a master’s graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, shows the power of innovation mixed with an entrepreneurial spirit. Besides food delivery, Goyal’s company has ventured into the food ecosystem and e-commerce industries.

2. Girish Mathrubootham (Freshworks)

Girish Mathrubootham’s story is nothing short of inspirational. He founded Freshworks (formerly Freshdesk) in Chennai in 2010. Since he couldn’t build the business to high ranks working part-time, he resigned from Zoho Corporation to build the company full-time.

Without any outside funding, Girish built Freshworks to provide AI and IT solutions for customers and employees. From Chennai, Freshworks has grown to become the first Indian SaaS (software as a service) company to be publicly listed on Nasdaq.

The company has its headquarters in San Mateo, California, and offices in various countries, including India and the United Kingdom.

3. Sridhar Vembu (Zoho)

Third on our list is Sridhar Vembu, who founded Zoho Corporation, which offers cloud-based software for businesses. Born in India, Vembu studied at the Indian Institute of Technology before pursuing his master’s and PhD in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University.

He joined two of his brothers to launch AdventNet in 1996, which in 2009 was rebranded as Zoho Corporation. The company provides a cloud software suite, including CRM and HR solutions, to over 120 million businesses globally!

From Tamil Nadu, Sridhar rose to become among the most influential entrepreneurs in the world. Vembu and his siblings are #47 on Forbes’ 2025 list of India’s richest people.

4. Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm)

Starting his entrepreneurship journey while still at college, Vijay Shekhar Sharma is among the top Indian tech founders. While studying, he started indiasite.net in 1997 and then sold it after two years. Sharma then launched One97 Communications, offering news and content.

In 2011, he founded Paytm, which offered a perfect solution when India pushed for demonetization in 2016. Offering digital payments, Paytm has grown to over 400 million users in India!

He hit the headlines when he got Warren Buffet’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, to invest a whopping $300 million in Paytm. Besides digital payments, Paytm also offers:

• Financial services like insurance, banking, and investments
• Payment devices like QR codes for receiving payments
• Bill payment and mobile recharge services
• Online shopping

5. Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola Electric)

You can’t discuss India’s success stories without mentioning Bhavish Aggarwal, who expanded mobility innovation beyond the Indian borders. Aggarwal co-founded Ola Cabs in 2010, growing it to become among the world’s largest ride-hailing companies. The app operates in India and globally, including New Zealand, India, and the UK.

Aggarwal also launched Ola Electric, which makes electric scooters and motorcycles, but he didn’t stop there. The computer engineer then ventured into AI, founding Krutrim in 2023. Krutrim provides AI cloud services, including customer care and mapping solutions.

Why Indian Founders Manage to Expand Globally

Indian founders’ success hasn’t been brought by luck. The success has been possible due to various factors, as we’ll discuss below.

Global Education and Exposure

Indian startup founders usually hold degrees from the Indian Institutes of Technology and US-based facilities like Stanford and MIT. With “dual” education from India and the U.S., these founders gain global exposure and skills.

As a result, they are better equipped to use the skills gained to solve issues that affect India and other countries. For example, Neha Narkhede, who co-founded Apache Kafka, studied at Pune Institute of Computer Technology and Georgia Institute of Technology.

With such intensive engineering training and global exposure working at LinkedIn, Narkhede co-created a data streaming platform that Netflix and other global companies use.

Access to Funding

Indians looking to grow their startups can access funding from various government programmes, such as the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. What’s more, there are various government initiatives that encourage and promote entrepreneurship. These include Make in India and Startup India.

But besides the government, startup founders can access funding from angel investors and venture capitalists. A good example is Delhivery, a supply chain platform that has received funding of over $900 million.

Resilient and Skilled Workforce

In India, you can find a massive pool of skilled and well-educated professionals, such as developers and engineers. This talented workforce is willing to work and contribute to the growth of startups in the country.

Another huge advantage is that India’s average salary is lower than in the United States. Therefore, startup founders can save costs by employing Indian professionals.

How Indians Are Venturing Into Online Gaming and Fintech

India’s fintech sector has rapidly evolved, reshaping how people access and use online services. The rise of digital payments has made everything from e-commerce to online entertainment more accessible than ever before.

Companies like Paytm and Razorpay now sit at the centre of this transformation, powering transactions across industries—including online gaming platforms that rely on fast, secure, and fully compliant payment systems.

What’s particularly interesting is how this financial infrastructure has begun to merge with entertainment culture. Developers are creating systems that deliver instant gratification, digital rewards, and interactive engagement, blurring the lines between financial tech and gaming design. The same technologies that make contactless payments seamless are now driving new forms of digital participation—from gamified rewards and virtual engagement to platforms that host India’s biggest online jackpots.

Government-backed initiatives such as Digital India and Startup India have also helped create a regulatory environment where fintech and gaming startups can thrive together. As internet penetration deepens across rural and urban areas alike, India’s next generation of entrepreneurs is shaping a future where financial tools, social experiences, and online games all coexist within one vibrant, tech-forward culture.

Major Challenges That Indian Startups Face

Though India’s startup scene has witnessed rapid growth, founders still face various challenges while scaling their businesses. These include:

• Limited funding: Securing enough funding during the early stages can be difficult. However, improvements in venture capital access are helping solve this challenge. With the right network and support, startups can move their operations to Silicon Valley for better funding and visibility.

• Complex regulations: Startups usually lack the expertise or resources to navigate the complex tax regulations, labour laws, and compliance requirements. Mentorship networks and government initiatives can provide support and resources to help startups understand the requirements.

• Stiff market competition: Indian startups compete with global and emerging companies, making it challenging to scale. Market research, digital marketing, and niching down can help startups increase their competitiveness.

What You Can Learn From Indian Success Stories

Like Tony Robbins said, “Success leaves clues.” From these Indian startup success stories, we can unpack valuable lessons, including:

Focus on solving a problem: Successful Indian startups sought to solve a specific problem, like cashless payments. By providing a solution, the business grew popular in India and beyond.

Be resilient: Most startups scaled globally amidst challenges like limited funding and competition. As an entrepreneur, you must be resilient, innovative, and agile to handle challenges until you succeed.

Keep innovating and diversifying: Companies like Paytm continue to thrive through innovation and diversification. Even after becoming successful, keep innovating and solving more problems.

Start small while thinking big: India’s unicorn startups started small and kept expanding through leadership and innovation. For example, Flipkart began as a bookstore but grew into a giant Indian e-commerce company.

Inspiring the Future Entrepreneurs

We can all draw inspiration from the success stories of Indian founders who started small but expanded into globally recognized entrepreneurs. So, take in these lessons and keep building your business until it becomes a success.

Whether developing a smart payment solution for gaming or an AI solution, you can be the next unicorn in India.