India has bucked the worldwide development in preliminary public choices this 12 months, establishing itself as a uncommon brilliant spot for tech listings whereas different main markets face continued headwinds. The world’s most populous nation is now making ready for an much more substantial wave of startup IPOs in 2025.
Greater than 20 startups are making ready to checklist subsequent 12 months, in response to a number of sources accustomed to the plans. These embody business-to-business marketplaces Inframarket and Zetwerk, farm-to-produce enterprise CaptainFresh, skilled companies 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 12 months. Further firms 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 lengthen 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 corporations, have gone public in 2024 in India, making it the one main market to indicate constant development in listings over the previous decade, in response to Pitchbook knowledge.
This efficiency stands in stark distinction to different main markets. The U.S. has recorded 22 venture-backed tech IPOs this 12 months, virtually flat from the 21 tech IPOs of 2023 and falling considerably in need of 53 listings the U.S. market noticed in 2020. China’s tech IPO momentum has equally waned, with 56 listings this 12 months 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 notice. “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 12 months, in response to JPMorgan’s evaluation.
Speaking with TechCrunch, Anand Daniel, a companion at Accel whose agency noticed two portfolio firms checklist 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 firms going public.
JPMorgan’s India head of fairness capital markets, Abhinav Bharti, attributed India’s distinctive place to a number of components: macroeconomic development, growing home capital, and political stability.
“No different nation globally supplies you with this a lot political certainty and continuity of coverage,” he advised TechCrunch in an interview. “You’ll be able to argue towards a coverage resolution, however you can’t argue towards the truth that they haven’t been constant.”
The expansion in India’s capital markets has been notably noteworthy. “What else has grown is definitely the liquidity, which is a a number of of the market development,” Bharti stated. “If you happen to have a look at 2019 to 2024, full-year averages, the market cap has doubled. We have 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 day by day liquidity has tripled, from $5 billion to $15 billion.”
The surge in IPO preparations comes amid a slowdown in non-public market dealmaking. “The muted setting and extra scrutiny from VCs compelled startups to let go of their peak 2021 valuations,” stated a companion at one of many largest enterprise capital corporations in India who requested to not be named. “However extra curiously, it additionally compelled them to enhance their funds. The result’s that many startups in 2021 that wished to change into ‘IPO prepared’ in 5 years are already there.”
Along with Zepto, TableSpace, and others, Prosus-owned PayU just lately introduced plans for a 2025 itemizing, whereas pharmaceutical e-commerce platform Pharmeasy is making ready for an IPO following important restructuring this 12 months. Monetary companies agency MobiKwik can be planning to checklist subsequent 12 months.
Tech firms and healthcare corporations symbolize greater than 50% of S&P 500 Index. The identical corporations account for lower than 20% on India’s benchmark Nifty 50. There’s loads of room for development for tech firms in India, stated Bharti.
