Nearly Half of India's Startup Ecosystem Reports Low Wellbeing; Employees Fare Worst, Finds 'State of Mind' Study

Nearly half of India's startup ecosystem is struggling with its mental health. A new 'State of Mind' study, initiated by Sheetal Bahl, founder and partner at Merak Ventures, finds that 47.5% of 823 founders, employees, investors and ecosystem supporters scored below the wellbeing threshold on an adapted WHO-5 index.

Employees are the worst hit: 54.3% fell below the threshold, compared with 42.9% of founders, 45.2% of investors and 44.2% of ecosystem supporters. Psychological safety emerged as the strongest predictor — 34.8% of respondents felt unsafe speaking up at work, and 88.3% of those unsafe employees had low wellbeing, versus just 26.7% of those who felt safe.

The study — authored by Priyanka Kartari, Dr. Sukhmani Pal and Dr. Dilip Panniker across 1,040 surveyed and 823 in final analysis — also flags a brutal hours correlation: 51% of those working more than 50 hours a week fell below the threshold, against 37% of those under 40 hours. Strikingly, 35.3% of low scorers still described themselves as "thriving or okay", and only 15.1% had sought professional help.

The findings land at a moment when India's startup conversation is dominated by funding and AI — a reminder that the people building the companies need attention too.