Startup Scaling Strategies: MIF Soonicorns Show the Way

In India’s startup ecosystem today, long-term success is being redefined. It’s no longer just about product innovation, fundraising milestones, or the fastest startup scaling strategies. It’s about scaling with intention—integrating sustainability, decentralising operations, and building resilient cultures from the ground up.

Earlier this month, two trailblazing Soonicorns—Atomberg Technologies and S4S Technologies—shared their journeys at Marico Innovation Foundation’s recently held InnoWin Day, the Foundation’s event to build bridges between innovators, funders, and investors and create prolonged impact through beyond-capital metrics. 

A panel discussion titled ‘Scaling Strategies’, moderated by Varun Hangloo, Head of Scale-Up and New Initiatives at MIF, offered budding innovators a playbook for building companies that endure. Scale-Up is MIF’s no-equity accelerator program to provide bespoke and deep-rooted support to innovative startups tackling some of India’s most pressing challenges. 

Startup Scaling Strategies: Start Small, Think Big

Atomberg Technologies and S4S Technologies are built on a simple but often overlooked principle: breakthrough innovation demands depth, not shortcuts. Both companies stayed obsessively focused in their early stages—refining core offerings, testing rigorously, and resisting the urge to scale prematurely. It’s this discipline, paired with a global outlook, that helped them break past the INR 100-crore mark and earn the ‘Soonicorn’ tag.

Speaking about Atomberg Technologies, which designs smart consumer appliances for the Indian household, Founding Member and Chief Business Officer Arindam Paul stressed the criticality of the ‘zero-to-one’ phase. “I have a strong belief that the zero-to-one has to be done by the founding team. You cannot outsource those,” he said. “It is a common practice to hire a Head of Sales and expect them to do the hard job. It doesn’t cut it.”

That same discipline guided their expansion strategy. “Even when we launched our offline distribution, we went city by city. We explored one city totally and then moved on to the next one,” Arindam explained. “Building focus and venturing beyond the surface is what became our ritual for scaling up our business.”

S4S Technologies followed a similar approach. Initially an equipment provider in the food tech space, the company chose to go deeper by owning its entire value chain and developing a comprehensive platform for agri-food processing. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Vaibhav Tidke recalled the moment that sparked this pivot: “One US-based firm proposed if we wanted to become aggregators,” he shared. “That was the point we started thinking about if there was a scope for aggregation and taking full responsibility. From an equipment player to owning the complete value chain required us to buy materials, manufacture, and install machines all on our own.”

Consistency is Key

Both Atomberg Technologies and S4S Technologies demonstrated that growth comes from deliberate, sustained effort, backed by a team that understands the mission.

“When we met Arindam, [and Atomberg Technologies’ founders] Manoj and Sibabrata in 2016, the startup was doing 4 crores in annual revenue,” said Varun. “We supported them till 2020 when they were doing 60 crores. And now their revenues have surpassed 1000 crores.”

Varun credited their willingness to engage deeply with the program. “I want to call both of these innovators extractors. They constantly asked for help. That’s the magic that helped their companies to scale.”

For S4S Technologies, consistency meant evolving without losing direction. Transitioning from a B2B model to B2C helped them expand reach while staying mission-aligned. But it wasn’t just about market strategy—it was about people. “We’ve really invested in team-building and their capabilities,” said Vaibhav. “Building a work culture that gets the team aligned to focus on what’s best for the company and not just personal goals has been a key step in future-proofing our business.”

Challenging the Status Quo

Neither Atomberg Technologies nor S4S Technologies settled for incremental growth. They challenged the very categories they were part of, using innovation not just as a differentiator, but as a driver for systemic change.

Atomberg Technologies is pushing beyond smart fans and mixers, aiming to become a full-fledged hardware company focused on energy-efficient, climate-resilient technologies. Their goal is to scale this impact into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India.

S4S Technologies, meanwhile, has built a cost-effective model for dehydrated food processing and packaging. By partnering with over 2,000 women entrepreneurs and thousands of small farmers, they’re turning rural ecosystems into engines of nutrition and sustainability.

No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

Startup scaling strategies are never linear. Every founder faces a different path, shaped by the sector they’re in and the bets they’re willing to make. That’s why MIF’s Scale-Up accelerator doesn’t offer a formula—it offers context-driven mentorship for startups on their INR 1-100 crore annual revenue growth journeys across the sectors of plastic waste management, clean technology, and agri-technology.

This bespoke support delivers what founders need most: targeted guidance, sector expertise, and a support network that propels sustainable growth. In this way, MIF nurtures and catalyses tomorrow’s success stories: businesses built on depth, consistency, innovation, and adaptability that reshape industries while solving India’s most pressing challenges.