2025 has not just been a year of IPOs and value unlock. This value unlock in 2025 has literally brought about a windfall for a host of founders. They moved beyond unicorn valuations and venture capital headlines, into a rare club, the new age billionaire club. IPOs, late-stage liquidity events and global tech tailwinds turned long-held paper stakes into tangible fortunes. Here are some of the best-known new-age billionaires representing how consumer tech, fintech, AI and clean energy are reassigning the money,
Alakh Pandey, Physicswallah
Alakh Pandey’s rise is one of Indian tech’s most unlikely success stories. What started as free physics lessons on YouTube in 2016 became a publicly listed education company by 2025, in an industry where many peers failed.
Physicswallah stood out by staying affordable, focusing on student outcomes and prioritising profits. As rivals cut jobs and saw valuations fall, Pandey doubled down on hybrid learning and expanded into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
When the company was listed in November 2025, it had over 300 offline centres, rising revenues and shrinking losses. The IPO lifted Pandey’s net worth to Rs 14,500–16,000 crore, marking his journey from teacher to tycoon.
As of 19 December, Pandey’s stake in the company was valued at Rs 13,832 crore, with the market cap being Rs 38,263 crore as per Screener data.
Prateek Maheshwari, Physicswallah
Although everyone aligns Physicswallah with Alakh Pandey, the silent co-founder, Prateek Maheshwar,i was its builder-in-chief. Maheshwari, an IIT-BHU graduate, joined the company in 2020 and is claimed to be the backbone of the company itself.
He built the technology stack, professionalised operations and led the expansion of offline infrastructure. As Physics Wallah marched toward profitability and an IPO in 2025, Maheshwari’s wealth rose alongside it. Post-listing, his net worth matched Pandey’s, making them one of the rare co-founder pairs to generate near-identical wealth.
As of 19 December, Maheshwari’s stake in the company was valued at Rs 13,832 crore, with the market cap being Rs 38,263 crore as per Screener data.
Peyush Bansal, Lenskart
Peyush Bansal isn’t a secret face. This Shark Tank judge’s company hit a blockbuster IPO in November of this year. Lenskart started operations in 2010, post which the company spent over a decade in reshaping India’s eyewear market. It built its own factories, invested in automation, and combined online sales with offline.
The IPO valued Lenskart at around Rs 70,000 crore, translating into founder equity worth roughly Rs 14,400 crore for Bansal. But the numbers only tell part of the story. Lenskart now runs thousands of stores, conducts millions of eye tests annually and is scaling manufacturing capacity toward 50 million eyewear units a year.
As of 19 December, Bansal’s stake in the company was valued at Rs 6,614.3 crore, with the market cap being Rs 75,163 crore as per Screener data.
Lalit Keshre, Groww
Lalit Keshre’s rise is fintech’s most disciplined wealth story of the year. Raised in a small village in Madhya Pradesh and educated at IIT Bombay, Keshre co-founded Groww in 2016 with a single idea: make investing simple for first-time users.
Groww expanded steadily, from mutual funds to stocks, ETFs and commodities, without chasing reckless growth. That restraint paid off. In November 2025, Groww listed publicly, its market capitalisation crossing Rs 1 lakh crore as the company turned decisively profitable. Keshre’s stake was valued between Rs 9,400 and Rs 10,000 crore.
As of 19 December, Keshre’s stake in the company was valued at Rs 8,879.3 crore, with the market cap being Rs 98,006 crore as per Screener data.
Neha Bansal, Lenskart
Neha Bansal’s wealth creation story is rooted in execution, not visibility. As Lenskart’s co-founder and executive director, she built the company’s manufacturing and supply-chain backbone, automation, logistics and precision production at scale.
By 2025, Lenskart’s vertically integrated model had become a formidable moat. Post IPO, Neha Bansal’s net worth rose to an estimated Rs 5,600 crore, placing her among India’s wealthiest self-made women entrepreneurs.
As of 19 December, Bansal’s stake in the company was valued at Rs 5,404.2 crore, with the market cap being Rs 75,163 crore as per Screener data.
Aadit Palicha, Zepto
Aadit Palicha, Zepto’s CEO, brought strategic rigour to an industry often criticised for excess. Educated at Stanford and raised in Dubai, Palicha emphasised unit economics even as Zepto scaled aggressively.
That balance, speed with discipline, paid off. By 2025, Zepto’s logistics network had become category-defining, pushing Palicha’s net worth to about Rs 5,380 crore while still in his early twenties, as per the Hurun rich list.
Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto
Kaivalya Vohra became the youngest billionaire at just 22. A Stanford dropout, Vohra got with Palicha to start Zepto. As per news reports, their earlier grocery venture failed.
Zepto, launched in 2021, is one of the most well-known faces in the quick commerce segment in India. With a dense network of dark stores and AI-driven inventory planning, the company is competing with the likes of Eternal’s BlinkIt and Swiggy’s Instamart. The valuation surge pushed Vohra’s personal wealth to around Rs 4,480 crore, as per the Hurun rich list.
Hardik Kothiya, Rayzon Solar
Hardik Kothiya’s story stands out in a software-dominated billionaire list. Co-founding Rayzon Solar in 2017, Kothiya bet on manufacturing when renewable hardware was still unfashionable.
Rayzon, which operates out of Surat, is a Rs 7,000 crore solar module manufacturer. The company used strategic branding, such as IPL partnerships, to help elevate the company’s profile.
By 2025, Kothiya’s personal wealth approached Rs 3,970 crore, earning him recognition as the youngest entrepreneur on the Hurun U35 list.
