Mumbai, June 9 -- Even though India's startup ecosystem has been celebrated for minting unicorns, it has yet to evolve into one that consistently delivers liquidity events and meaningful returns for investors.

And that is precisely what is now being put to the test. As venture capital and private equity firms that backed Indian startups during the 2018-22 funding boom come under pressure to return capital to their limited partners, the focus is shifting from billion-dollar valuations to actual exits and cash returns.

A Mint analysis of data on 139 VC- and PE-backed companies sourced from market intelligence platform Tracxn showed that only 77, including Swiggy and Zomato, have generated a liquidity event, while the rest are either still...