India’s 2025 IPO wave delivered big exits, yet it still cannot build a $100B giant
A record year of strong tech listings unlocked more than $32B in value for founders and VCs, but India’s startup ecosystem still lacks a homegrown company on a path to global scale.
• India’s 2025 IPO wave unlocked more than $32 billion in public-market value across Groww, Lenskart, PhysicsWallah, Urban Company, and Ather, marking the strongest cluster of listings in over a decade.
• Venture funds recorded rare multi-bagger outcomes, including 50x+ on Groww, 30x–33x on Urban Company, and 40x on Ather, restoring confidence in India’s late-stage tech pipeline.
• Despite this progress, India still lacks a $100B+ new-age, venture-backed technology company, a gap that sets it apart from ecosystems in the United States and China.
In the last decade, India’s startup economy has lived with a paradox. It could mint unicorns at an impressive pace, yet the pathway to the public markets remained fragile. IPOs arrived with volatility, valuations fluctuated in full public view, and companies that once symbolized India’s ambition struggled to maintain confidence after listing. The 2021 wave left a long shadow over the ecosystem and created a sense that India’s startup story had hit its ceiling.
That changed in 2025. A cluster of new-age companies walked into the public markets and found a reception that signaled a different phase of maturity. Groww, Lenskart, PhysicsWallah, Urban Company, and Ather together unlocked more than $32 billion in public-market value. Their listings created new billionaires, delivered long-awaited liquidity to venture funds, and showed that Indian tech could sustain its valuation narrative beyond private markets. For the first time in years, the system looked coordinated.
Yet this resurgence also highlighted a deeper issue. Even with stronger governance, clearer profitability paths, and more disciplined growth, India still hasn't built a venture-backed technology company with a trajectory toward $100 billion in enterprise value. That's not to say there's an absence of large corporations, as Reliance Industries sits well above $200 billion.
What we're seeing is a lack of a new-age tech company capable of compounding at the scale seen in the United States and China. That unresolved gap shapes the meaning of this entire IPO wave.
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A year when India’s IPO engine finally worked
The transformation becomes clearer when you look at the numbers. Groww arrived at the bourses with an $8.6 billion valuation and surged past $12 billion within the first week. Peak XV’s stake in the company briefly crossed $1.5 billion, delivering a return north of 50x.
Also, Lenskart, privately valued at around $5 billion, listed with a target of $7.5 billion and saw its offer subscribed to more than 28 times. It now trades above $8 billion despite debates around pricing. PhysicsWallah, an edtech startup founded in 2020, debuted at a 33% premium and touched $5 billion on its opening day. Urban Company, meanwhile, delivered the most subscribed new-age IPO of the year, listing nearly 60% above its issue price and holding above $2.7 billion.
Ather Energy demonstrated that capital-intensive startups could win public-market trust, listing at about $1.4 billion and handing IIT Madras incubator units returns near 40x. No previous IPO cycle in India delivered this consistency across so many companies.
These were not defensive listings rushed into the markets. They held their ground after listing, and in some cases, strengthened it. Public-market investors, once hesitant to touch late-stage tech, now reward companies with operational clarity and growth they could model.
Emmanuel Oyedeji
Why 2025 succeeded where 2021 faltered
The contrast with 2021 tells the story. That cycle was driven by sentiment. Several high-profile listings arrived with stretched valuations and uncertain paths to profitability. When Paytm’s decline shook confidence, the market retreated. Dozens of founders postponed IPO plans, and the window narrowed sharply.
The 2025 cohort entered under different conditions. Groww had turned profitable. Lenskart defended margins with predictable revenue performance. PhysicsWallah came in with unusually concentrated founder ownership and a clean cost structure. Urban Company operated with category dominance and fewer competitive pressures. Ather improved financial discipline in a sector where burn-heavy models had previously discouraged investors.
These companies didn't rely on narrative alone. Public-market buyers didn't need to suspend disbelief. They could see the numbers, the contracts, and the consistency. The result was an IPO wave built on fundamentals rather than hope. Public markets responded accordingly.
Kelechi Edeh
The unresolved structural gap India must confront
For all its progress, India still lacks something that defines advanced startup ecosystems: a company capable of compounding toward $100 billion. The gap becomes clearer when compared with global peers. In the United States alone, OpenAI crossed $500 billion in valuation. SpaceX is near $400 billion. Anthropic passed $180 billion. Databricks reached $100 billion. Even in earlier cycles, China's ByteDance touched $400 billion, and Ant Group approached $150 billion before regulatory pressure.
India’s strongest private companies sit far below this tier. Flipkart is around $35 billion. PhonePe and Swiggy cluster near $12 billion to $15 billion. Razorpay is around $7 billion. These are impactful companies, but they aren't built on deep scientific IP, advanced robotics, frontier AI, semiconductors, or energy systems. They are regional leaders in sectors shaped by demand, distribution, and operational excellence rather than technological breakthroughs.
This isn't a question of ability. It's a function of what the ecosystem has chosen to build and fund. India’s venture landscape is tilted toward consumer platforms, payments, logistics, and services. The companies that have crossed $100 billion elsewhere come from fields that require research capital, long-term patient funding, and scientific ambition. They take longer, cost more, and demand deeper institutional scaffolding.
India can produce valuable companies. It just hasn't yet produced a global technology giant.
What this IPO wave really means for the next decade
It's tempting to read the success of the 2025 listings as the conclusion of a comeback. In truth, the wave marks the beginning of a structural reset. India has built a reliable exit engine. Founders have learned to scale sustainably. Public markets now understand and price tech businesses more rationally. Regulators have modernised the pre-filing process in ways that reduce uncertainty. Retail participation has matured.
But the next step requires a different approach. India must strengthen its research institutions, expand domestic capital pools, nurture deeper scientific ventures, and embrace categories that demand patience rather than speed. The next generation of global giants will emerge from AI infrastructure, advanced computing, robotics, next-generation energy, and biotechnology. These are categories where India has the talent but not yet the capital depth or institutional support.
The IPO class of 2025 proved that India knows how to exit. What it hasn't yet proven is that it knows how to scale companies into global powerhouses. Until that happens, the story will remain a mix of real breakthroughs and one unresolved question.
Kelechi Edeh
