BENGALURU, March 16 -- India's agentic artificial intelligence (AI) startups are running into a funding wall. Investors are moving away from "fund the narrative" and focusing on "fund the proof", backing startups that show revenue traction or unique technology rather than just building applications on existing AI models.

Agentic AI-software designed to carry out specific workflows or tasks autonomously-is drawing investor interest worldwide. These "agents" can plan, make decisions and execute actions with limited human supervision.

Of the 172 agentic AI companies in India, only four have reached Series B and 10 have raised Series A, according to data from Tracxn. Forty-nine are at seed stage, 14 have undisclosed funding, and 95 haven't ...