From Roti to Robots, Ice Creams to Innovation & Delivery to Deep Tech: Understanding India’s startup journey through Maslow’s lens
At the 2025 Startup Mahakumbh, Union Minister Shri Piyush Goyal raised an important and timely question: “Why are Indian startups not building the next OpenAI or DeepSeek? Why are we still talking about food delivery and healthy ice creams?”
His observation reflects the ambition and urgency that India rightly aspires to—becoming not just a hub of digital consumption but a powerhouse of deep-tech innovation, particularly in AI, semiconductor design, and battery technology. But this rhetorical question also begs a deeper answer. While the intent behind this remark is commendable and aligns with India’s aspiration to lead global innovation, it’s essential to analyze why we are where we are, and why it makes sense.
To understand why Indian startups currently focus more on consumption-driven solutions than breakthrough innovations, we must zoom out. The Indian startup landscape is not stagnant, it is evolving, systematically and strategically. The answer lies in understanding a fundamental framework often used in psychology: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Just as humans can only seek self-actualization once their basic needs are fulfilled, startup ecosystems follow a natural, staged maturity curve. India, as a relatively young but rapidly growing ecosystem, is exactly where it should be, solving what matters most right now.
Table of Contents
Maslow’s hierarchy reimagined for Startups
Maslow’s theory outlines that human needs evolve in a structured manner from basic physiological needs to the pursuit of self-actualization. Similarly, a nation’s startup ecosystem evolves through stages, beginning with solving fundamental needs and slowly maturing toward high-risk, innovation-led ventures.
Let’s look at how this plays out in India:
1. Physiological Needs – Food, Shelter, Clothing
This is the foundation layer of any economy and, consequently, of any emerging startup ecosystem. At the base of the pyramid are the essential services, startups that address the basic survival needs of the population.
Examples:
- Zomato, Swiggy – Food delivery at scale.
- bigbasket , Blinkit, Zepto – Essential groceries at doorstep.
- Meesho – Affordable apparel for Bharat.
- OYO , Nestaway – Accessible accommodation.
Over 65% of India’s population still lives outside metros and lacks organized access to basic goods and services. These startups formalize fragmented markets, often digitizing unorganized supply chains. These businesses thrive because they solve real, large-scale problems for a country of 1.4 billion people. In many ways, they are India’s first generation of organized solutions for highly fragmented and informal sectors. They may look “basic”, but they’re laying the rails of scale, reliability, and digital access—without which no deep innovation can sustainably reach the masses.
2. Safety Needs – Health, Financial Security, Infrastructure
After survival, the next priority is security: financial, physical, and emotional. This layer includes both healthcare and fintech, as well as preventive wellness. Once basic needs are fulfilled, startups shift toward this.
Examples:
- Policybazaar.com , Acko – Insurance penetration.
- Razorpay , PhonePe , BharatPe – Digital payments and financial inclusion.
- PharmEasy , Tata 1mg , Practo – Healthcare accessibility.
- Curefit , Ultrahuman , OZiva – Health and wellness.
Only ~3% of India is insured beyond basic health schemes. 85% of India’s healthcare spending is out-of-pocket. Most MSMEs are still credit underserved, lacking access to formal banking. This layer of the pyramid has seen explosive growth in the last 5–7 years, indicating India’s transition toward organized wellness and financial systems. Yet, these are still relatively new sectors compared to the West. These startups reduce systemic risks in India’s economy. They also build digital trust, a precondition for adopting high-tech solutions in the future.
3. Social Needs – Network, Love, Relations, Belongingness
Once survival and security are in place, people begin to seek connection, belonging, and expression, especially within India’s vast, multilingual, multicultural landscape.
Examples:
- ShareChat , Moj India , Chingari – Vernacular content and social platforms.
- TrulyMadly , Aisle – Culturally contextual dating platforms.
- Trell , Roposo , Koo – Community-led expression platforms.
India has 22 official languages and over 2,000 dialects, making hyperlocal social experiences crucial. Content consumption patterns are evolving; digital natives now seek representation and relevance. These startups may not look innovative from a tech standpoint, but they are solving for India’s unique diversity. Social validation is also a gateway to digital engagement, brand loyalty, and adoption of broader digital services.
4. Esteem Needs – Aspirations, identity, lifestyle, recognition, and self-worth
As affluence rises, so do aspirations. This is where consumer brands, lifestyle apps, and status-driven startups begin to emerge. Once social connection is achieved, the focus shifts to status, aesthetics, luxury, and self-expression, areas where modern D2C brands and digital lifestyle services thrive.
Examples:
- Nykaa , SUGAR Cosmetics – Affordable luxury and beauty democratization.
- boAt Lifestyle , Noise , Fireboltt – Lifestyle electronics that signify aspiration.
- The Whole Truth Foods , NOTO – Healthy Ice Cream , Wholsum Foods (Slurrp Farm and Millé) , Go Zero – Clean, conscious, “premium” food products.
- Unacademy , upGrad , BYJU’S – Personal and professional growth through education.
India’s middle class is expected to double by 2030. A younger, more confident generation is seeking status-driven consumption, identity-affirming brands, and professional growth. This is also the layer where many startups celebrated at Mahakumbh fall, solving urban India’s demand for quality, aesthetics, and aspiration. But these are symptoms of progress, not signals of stagnation. Startups here aren’t solving life-threatening problems, but they are solving for confidence, quality, and status—critical for behavioral change and digital sophistication.
4. Self-Actualization – Innovation-First Startups, Deep Tech, AI, SpaceTech
At the peak of the hierarchy lies true innovation, startups building for what could be, not just what is, that are not created to meet existing demand, but to create new futures.
Examples:
- AgniKul Cosmos , Skyroot Aerospace – Launch vehicles and private space exploration.
- Qure.ai , Niramai Health Analytix – AI-first diagnostic platforms.
- Sarvam , GANIT Labs , Mad Street Den – AI models and retail/enterprise intelligence.
- Log9 Materials , Altigreen Propulsion Labs – Advanced battery chemistry and mobility.
- Myelin Foundry , NextBillion.ai – Specialized AI/ML for edge, mapping, and localization.
These are few and far between in India, not because of lack of talent, but due to systemic maturity gaps:
- Investor appetite for long-gestation R&D is limited.
- India lacks a robust bridge between academia and industry, compared to US (Stanford-SV) or China (Tsinghua-Zhongguancun).
- Talent often migrates to ecosystems like Silicon Valley with better support for deep-tech.
- Exit pathways for deep tech are ill-defined and also most buyers are global, not Indian.
India is only now beginning to develop the ecosystem necessary to support frontier tech. It will take a shift in capital structure, policy, IP norms, and cultural mindset to scale these initiatives.
Why the Ice Creams before the Algorithms?
While Shri Piyush Goyal’s comment reflects a vision for innovation, it’s important to recognize that we cannot jump to self-actualization without organizing our physiological and safety needs. India’s startup evolution isn’t a failure, it’s a reflection of systemic maturity, market evolution, and economic reality.
Startups like NOTO (low-calorie ice cream) or The Whole Truth (clean label foods) might seem trivial in the shadow of AI giants like OpenAI. But they represent an important phase of ecosystem evolution: solving real, immediate problems for a growing consumer class. These startups are not failures of innovation, they are stepping stones to it.
India is still organizing and formalizing critical sectors. We are creating our digital rails like UPI, Aadhaar, GSTN and only once these foundational blocks are laid can we sustainably leap into futuristic innovation.
What will unlock India’s move toward Deep Innovation?
- Policy & Procurement Support Government-backed procurement for deep-tech (like the US DoD or NASA model) is essential to incubate frontier technologies.
- Risk-Tolerant Capital VC funds, especially at Series A and beyond, need to bet on founders solving long-term, global problems, not just Indian market gaps.
- Academic-Startup Partnerships Institutions like IISc, IITs, and ISRO must become more startup-friendly. We need the Stanford-Silicon Valley model in India.
- Corporate Collaboration Large Indian enterprises can act as innovation partners, giving startups real-world problem statements and test beds.
- Cultural Mindset Shift We must move from a mindset of “safe execution” to “bold experimentation” celebrating not just IPOs but also failed moonshots.
In a nutshell: Evolution over expectation
Shri Piyush Goyal’s call for deeper innovation is not misplaced, it is visionary. But to get there, we must first respect where we are on the evolutionary arc.
Yes, we may not have built the next OpenAI yet. But we’ve built the pipes, the platforms, and the problems worth solving for 1.4 billion people. And that’s not trivial.
India’s startup journey is not a sprint to futuristic tech, but a climb up the innovation pyramid. From food delivery to deep tech, from safety to self-actualization we are on our way.
