Dalal Street records all-time high of 18 startup IPOs in 2025

The year 2025 marked a strong comeback for tech startup IPOs in India, providing long-awaited liquidity and exit opportunities for early investors. Consumer internet, fintech, SaaS, and EV startups together raised around Rs 41,000 crore from the public markets during the year, with nearly 52% of the total coming from offer-for-sale (OFS) components. This strong tilt towards OFS highlights how 2025 effectively functioned as an exit window for early investors, venture capital and private equity investors.

Fresh issue vs OFS

18 startups, including Lenskart, Groww and Meesho, were listed in 2025 and collectively raised about Rs 41,248 crore, a significant climb from last year’s Rs 29,000 crore. Interestingly, the year tilted slightly towards exits, with OFS accounting for Rs 21,474 crore, compared to Rs 19,810 crore raised through fresh issues.

This also represents a sharp increase in the number of startup IPOs compared to previous years, with 13 listings in 2024 versus 6 in 2023, 6 in 2022, and 10 in 2021.

Companies such as  Lenskart, Groww, and Meesho led the fundraising charts, with offer-for-sale components accounting for a large share of their issues, a sign of liquidity events for existing investors. In contrast, PhysicsWallah, Ather Energy, and Pine Labs raised a larger portion through fresh capital, a signal of continued expansion and investment plans.

IPO subscription

Consumer-facing and well-known platforms saw extraordinary demand, with Urban Company leading the pack at nearly 109x subscription, followed by Aequs (102x) and Groww (79x). In contrast, Zappfresh and WeWork drew 1.36x and 1.15x subscriptions, respectively.

IPO listing gains

Listing-day moves followed subscription patterns: strong demand produced hefty debut gains for a few names, Urban Company (58%), Meesho (46%), and PhysicsWallah (33%) among standouts and smaller issues such as Zappfresh also surprised with a 20% gain. However, the several listings, including Indiqube (-9%), ArisInfra (-8%), Capillary Technologies (-3%), and Lenskart (-1.7%) were opened at negative on their debut.

Investors getting bumper returns

Amid a favourable IPO environment, early-stage investors in select startups booked outsized returns. Kauffman Fellows emerged as the biggest winner with a staggering 196x return in Groww, followed by Y Combinator’s 109x return in Meesho and Peak XV’s 39.5x in Pine Labs. Groww also delivered a 29x return to Y Combinator, while Premji Invest clocked nearly 17x in Lenskart. Venture capital bets made early in category-defining companies continue to generate blockbuster exits.

Peak XV stood out as one of the most consistent performers across the 2025 IPO cohort, having generated multiple high-return outcomes, including 39.46x in Pine Labs, 25.87x in Meesho, 10x in Wakefit, and around 20x in Groww. The storied venture capital firm is sitting on over Rs 30,000 crore worth of holdings across various listed companies.

Return since listing

Returns since listing serve as a key indicator of whether the hype around an IPO or the valuation expectations set by founders align with how public market investors actually price the business. Ather has been the biggest performer, delivering over 103% gains since listing, a rally that mirrors the company’s improving operating metrics. Ather has overtaken Ola Electric in both revenue and unit sales and now ranks third in India’s electric two-wheeler market.

In contrast, Urban Company continues to trade well below(-23%) its listing price, as the recently listed firm posted losses in the previous quarter ending September 2026. Other stocks such as Groww (29%) and Capillary Technologies (20.38%) have delivered steady gains, while names like Indiqube (-7.41%), WeWork (-9.18%), and PhysicsWallah (-8.97%) remain under pressure. These companies have listed recently and will likely need time to absorb public-market pressures, with the potential to recover over the longer term. Stock prices mentioned are as of around 11 am on December 15, 2025, and may have changed thereafter.

Upcoming IPOs

Looking ahead, the IPO calendar for next year appears far more crowded. More than 20 tech startups are already lined up to go public, including PhonePe, Zepto, Infra.Market, Zetwerk, Fractal Analytics, Amagi, Shiprocket, Shadowfax, Boat, Curefoods, InCred, Captain Fresh, and Moneyview, among others. With a broader sector mix and several late-stage, scaled companies in the queue, the coming year could mark a decisive phase for India’s startup IPO market.

As always, some of these names have already caused some controversy related to the quality of financials, the state of the financials or even the logic of an IPO. One hopes that retail investors in particular, who saw IPOs in 2024 deliver bumper returns before seeing a tempering in 2025, have developed a better sense of perspective on long term prospects, as first day price pops are becoming increasingly rare.