India has bucked the worldwide pattern in preliminary public choices this yr, establishing itself as a uncommon shiny spot for tech listings whereas different main markets face continued headwinds. The world’s most populous nation is now getting ready for an much more substantial wave of startup IPOs in 2025.
Greater than 20 startups are getting ready to record subsequent yr, based on a number of sources conversant in the plans. These embody business-to-business marketplaces Inframarket and Zetwerk, farm-to-produce enterprise CaptainFresh, skilled providers market UrbanCompany, jewellery retailer Bluestone, safety agency OneAssist, and offline-to-online retailer Magicpin.
Fast commerce startup Zepto, managed workspace supplier Desk Area, and industrial items platform Ofbusiness are additionally planning to file for IPOs subsequent yr. Extra corporations eyeing public listings embody Insurgent Meals, logistics agency Porter, e-commerce platform Meesho, funding app Groww, mattress vendor Wakefit, car platform CarDekho, SaaS firm Capillary, and funds agency Pine Labs, although some listings might prolong into 2026.
In the event that they undergo as deliberate, the businesses will be a part of a wave that’s been gaining momentum. Already 12 startups, together with seven know-how companies, have gone public in 2024 in India, making it the one main market to indicate constant progress in listings over the previous decade, based on Pitchbook knowledge.
This efficiency stands in stark distinction to different main markets. The U.S. has recorded 22 venture-backed tech IPOs this yr, nearly flat from the 21 tech IPOs of 2023 and falling considerably wanting 53 listings the U.S. market noticed in 2020. China’s tech IPO momentum has equally waned, with 56 listings this yr in comparison with 117 in 2022. Europe has managed only one extra tech IPO than India, whereas the UK market has remained dormant, with no tech listings in 2024.
“The IPO markets have been opening slower than we anticipated in March,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a latest word. “Even having ‘acquired match’ since 2022, many unicorns nonetheless stay unprofitable companies.”
Indian meals supply platform Swiggy’s $1.35 billion itemizing this month is the most important world tech IPO this yr, based on JPMorgan’s evaluation.
Speaking with TechCrunch, Anand Daniels, a associate at Accel whose agency noticed two portfolio corporations record this month, noticed that “India is quick changing into a promising hub for tech IPOs pushed by its sturdy capital markets and a thriving innovation ecosystem that continues to draw substantial investor curiosity.”
The shift is a big one for the Indian market, which has traditionally struggled with exit alternatives and confronted skepticism from home institutional and retail buyers relating to loss-making corporations going public.
JPMorgan’s India head of fairness capital markets, Abhinav Bharti, attributed India’s distinctive place to a number of components: macroeconomic progress, growing home capital, and political stability.
The expansion in India’s capital markets has been significantly noteworthy. “What else has grown is definitely the liquidity, which is a a number of of the market progress,” stated an funding banker. “Should you have a look at 2019 to 2024, full-year averages, the market cap has doubled. We had been at about $2.6 to $2.7 trillion {dollars}. We are actually at $5.2 trillion to $5.3 trillion. In the identical interval, the every day liquidity has tripled, from $5 billion to $15 billion.”
The surge in IPO preparations comes amid a slowdown in personal market dealmaking. “The muted atmosphere and extra scrutiny from VCs pressured startups to let go of their peak 2021 valuations,” stated a associate at one of many largest enterprise capital companies in India who requested to not be named. “However extra curiously, it additionally pressured them to enhance their funds. The result’s that many startups in 2021 that needed to turn out to be ‘IPO prepared’ in 5 years are already there.”
Along with Zepto, TableSpace, and others, Prosus-owned PayU not too long ago introduced plans for a 2025 itemizing, whereas pharmaceutical e-commerce platform Pharmeasy is getting ready for an IPO following vital restructuring this yr. Monetary providers agency MobiKwik can be planning to record subsequent yr.
Tech corporations and healthcare companies symbolize greater than 50% of S&P 500 Index. The identical companies account for lower than 20% on India’s benchmark Nifty 50. There’s numerous room for progress for tech corporations in India, stated Bharti.
Going public doesn’t imply an organization’s future is safe. The aforementioned funding banker stated that some tech startups that went public lately in India hadn’t matured or confirmed their enterprise fashions had been defensible.
“My fear is that when you’ve gotten a lot euphoria within the markets, the keenness for corporations and shareholders to priortize itemizing and attempting to record earlier than the businesses are mature sufficient to get listed results in accidents,” he stated.
