Synopsis
Top global investors like SoftBank and KKR have cashed out nearly Rs 18,000 crore from new-age Indian companies post-listing. This marks a shift, with IPOs now seen as the start of a longer monetisation cycle, allowing for staggered exits and continued upside for early backers.Listen to this article in summarized format
To be sure, even after the exits, these investors continue to collectively hold stock worth more than Rs 1.18 lakh crore in these companies.
SoftBank, Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, Tiger Global, Alpha Wave, KKR, Fidelity, Elevation Capital, Accel, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Madison India are among the investors that realised Rs 17,759 crore through follow-on sales across Groww, Lenskart, Ather Energy, Meesho, Urban Company, Pine Labs and Bluestone.
This is in addition to the Rs 11,700 crore worth of shares startup investors sold through offer-for-sale (OFS) components during these companies’ IPOs.
The returns have been substantial for several early backers.
Peak XV’s Groww holding, including IPO proceeds, follow-on sales and residual stake value, is worth about 97 times its disclosed acquisition cost. At the same time, Ribbit Capital and Y Combinator have generated value of about 80 times and 53 times, respectively, on the same basis. In Meesho, Elevation Capital and Peak XV are sitting on about 54 times and 38 times their disclosed costs, including IPO proceeds and the value of current holdings.
The numbers underscore how India's latest startup IPO cycle is creating a staggered exit route for venture capital and growth equity funds. For many investors, listing no longer marks the end of the liquidity event.
Skin in the game
Instead, it has become the first stage of a longer monetisation cycle, where funds sell a portion through the IPO, wait for lock-in restrictions to expire, offload additional shares via block deals and still retain significant upside through their remaining holdings.
“The IPO is increasingly becoming the start of the liquidity journey rather than the end of it,” said Aakash Agrawal, associate director at Anand Rathi Investment Banking. “What we’re seeing now is a more structured monetisation process where investors gradually reduce exposure through block deals after lock-ins expire, rather than seeking a complete exit at IPO.”
Lenskart has generated the largest follow-on exit pool among the companies analysed. Investors, including SoftBank, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Alpha Wave and KKR, have sold shares worth more than Rs 10,000 crore after listing.
Even after these sales, these investors continue to hold shares worth more than Rs 32,000 crore in the eyewear retailer, according to the company's latest shareholding data.
Groww has seen follow-on exits exceeding Rs 5,500 crore by Peak XV, Ribbit Capital and Y Combinator. Along with Tiger Global, these investors still hold shares worth close to Rs 50,000 crore, making Groww one of the clearest examples of how a newly listed startup can simultaneously generate cash returns while preserving substantial mark-to-market upside for early backers.
At Ather Energy, Tiger Global and NIIF have sold shares worth about Rs 2,300 crore after listing, while Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC continues to hold stock valued at around Rs 3,600 crore. Tiger Global has realised about 16 times its disclosed cost in Ather, while NIIF’s realised multiple is about 3.3 times.
The trend comes as venture-backed companies account for a growing share of the Indian public market. The Rainmaker Group's RainGauge Q4 FY26 report tracks 54 VC-backed listed companies across seven sectors with a combined market capitalisation of $146 billion. While the broader RainGauge Index has outperformed the Nifty since its launch in January 2023, it has lagged major US indices in recent months.
That backdrop is significant because these exits are not taking place in a uniformly strong market. According to RainGauge, valuation compression has been broad-based, with profitability and business quality increasingly determining performance. Fintech and BFSI emerged as the most resilient sectors in Q4 FY26, while platform and software companies experienced sharper de-rating.
Kashyap Chanchani, managing partner at The Rainmaker Group, said the ability of venture investors to get liquidity from Indian public markets is a sign of market depth.
Maturity curve
“India is now a market where you can deploy venture capital, get companies listed and take money out. That itself is a win,” Chanchani said. “The fact that investors are able to take money out shows the maturity of the market.”
But public markets will not absorb every startup listing in the same way, he said. Liquidity will be easier for larger companies, especially those with market capitalisation above $3-5 billion, while smaller companies may see more mixed outcomes.
“When you list in the public market, you are not competing with the next furniture company or the next NBFC in the private market. You are competing with more than 1,000 companies for investors’ time and attention,” Chanchani said. “For liquidity to sustain, there has to be something truly great or different about what you are bringing to the table.”
Nishit Garg, partner at RTP Global, said the public-market framework for startup investors has changed meaningfully over the past few years.
"Until five years ago, there was always the question of the ability to exit from Indian companies. With a much more liquid IPO market, that question is getting answered now,” Garg said. "Public markets value two things: market leadership and profitability. Profitability does not mean companies need to be profitable at Series B or Series C. It means profitability is a choice rather than a hope. Even at the growth stage, the funding market can stay dry for months, so you should have built a business model where you can still be profitable through it."
Agrawal of Anand Rathi said public markets can absorb large secondary supply when companies show strong execution and a credible path to earnings growth. “Recent investor interest in high-quality technology and consumer internet names suggests institutional demand is deeper than many anticipated,” he said.
