India’s startup hiring market is increasingly shifting toward AI, SaaS and execution-focused technology roles, while media and entertainment startups continue to lose share in the broader employment mix, according to the latest foundit Insights Tracker report.
Media startup hiring shrinks further
Media & Entertainment accounted for just 3% of startup jobs in April 2026, unchanged from 2025 but sharply lower than 7% in April 2023 and 6% in April 2024.
The decline came even as India’s startup ecosystem expanded overall, highlighting how hiring priorities are moving away from content and creative-led functions toward AI, product, engineering and business operations roles.
The broader hiring market, however, showed some resilience for the media sector. Media & Entertainment hiring recorded a 5% year-on-year increase in April 2026, although the sector saw a 2% month-on-month decline.
Creative hiring also remained stagnant. The report showed Creative roles recorded 0% year-on-year growth, while Marketing & Communications roles grew 8% annually, indicating stronger demand for growth marketing and performance-driven functions over traditional creative hiring.
AI and SaaS roles dominate startup hiring
India’s startup hiring grew 12% year-on-year in 2026, with startup jobs increasing from 116,080 in April 2025 to 130,010 in April 2026, adding nearly 14,000 jobs during the period.
Technology-led sectors continued dominating recruitment. IT services accounted for 34% of startup jobs in April 2026, making it the single-largest contributor to hiring.
Within startup IT hiring, AI and data roles accounted for 32% of openings, up from 24% a year ago. The report said nearly one-third of startup technology hiring is now AI-led, spanning machine learning engineering, data infrastructure, AI product management and applied AI development roles.
Healthcare and fintech also gained share in startup hiring. Healthcare’s share rose from 6% in April 2024 to 11% in April 2026, while BFSI and fintech accounted for 12% of startup jobs.
Meanwhile, edtech continued declining, with its share dropping from 8% in April 2023 to 3% in April 2026.
Mid-level talent demand rises
The report showed startups increasingly favouring experienced professionals over fresher hiring.
Entry-level hiring fell from 41% in 2025 to 36% in 2026, while professionals with 4-10 years of experience accounted for nearly 48% of startup recruitment.
The strongest demand was seen for professionals working across AI, engineering, consulting, product, sales and business operations.
Tarun Sinha, CEO of foundit, said startups were moving toward capability-driven hiring.
“Startups are no longer hiring purely for scale; they are hiring for capability, productivity, and business impact,” Sinha said. “The rise of AI-led roles, stronger demand for mid-level professionals, and growing participation from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities show that the ecosystem is becoming deeper, more distributed, and more skills-driven.”
Tier-2 cities gain startup share
The report also pointed to the growing spread of startup hiring beyond metro cities.
Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities accounted for 36% of startup jobs in April 2026, up from 9% in April 2024. Jaipur, Indore, Kochi and Coimbatore emerged among the cities gaining traction for startup hiring and new company creation.
Bengaluru remained the country’s largest startup hiring hub with a 20% share, while Hyderabad’s share doubled from 5% in April 2024 to 10% in April 2026