India tech startups worth $100 bn seen seeking IPOs by 2027

By Sankalp Phartiyal

More than three dozen tech startups with a combined valuation of $100 billion are set to go public by 2027 in what would mark a rebound in stock sales in India, according to one of the country’s top deal advisers to internet companies.

Walmart Inc.-controlled online retailer Flipkart, payments firm PhonePe and lodging provider Oyo Hotels are among the companies seeking to list in the country, which was the world’s second-largest market for share sales last year but has lost steam since. Most companies preparing for an initial public offering have been able to strike a balance between speedy growth and profitability, according to a report by the homegrown investment bank The Rainmaker Group.

Young companies are now in better shape than in 2021 and 2022, when several startups that sought to capture India’s booming capital markets cratered after listing at high valuations, said Kashyap Chanchani, managing partner at Rainmaker. Payment provider Paytm has dropped about 63 per cent since its IPO while beauty retailer Nykaa is down 4 per cent.

“The financial health of the startups due to list in the next two years is materially better than the companies that listed previously,” Chanchani, who helped Indian startups raise $1 billion in equity last year, said in an interview. “Two-thirds of these firms are already profitable, and they are also doing a better job with transparency.”

Rainmaker’s clients have included Oyo and e-commerce startup Swiggy, and the firm typically receives a cut of the fundraising deals it helps to arrange. It doesn’t advise companies on IPOs.

The number of share sales in India dropped by 34 per cent in the first quarter as the stock market sputtered. The benchmark NSE Nifty 50 Index had risen for nine consecutive years, but it started declining in late September amid an unexpected slowdown in economic growth and a slew of analysts downgraded their expectations for corporate earnings.

First-quarter proceeds from IPOs, block sales and share placements in India nearly halved to $7.1 billion, slipping below those of Hong Kong and Japan.

Still, Chanchani is among bankers predicting that deals in India will pick up in the coming months, when several sales are expected to hit the market. Those include LG Electronics Inc.’s Indian unit, which may raise as much as $1.7 billion, and electric-scooter maker Ather Energy Pvt., which could raise about $400 million.

A new surge in startup IPOs would provide a much-needed exit to large investors such as SoftBank Group Corp. and Prosus NV. Billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund is a shareholder in companies such as Oyo, optician Lenskart Solutions Pvt., and used-car seller CARS24 Solutions Pvt., while Prosus is an investor in e-commerce firm Meesho and home services startup Urban Company.

Firms like SoftBank and Prosus “have a dozen companies or so where they are sitting on massive gains, and several of these firms have begun seeking the public markets route,” Chanchani said, cautioning though that IPOs will have to be priced carefully as retail investors will reject lofty valuations.

Companies going public will have to assuage investor concerns about a slowing economy and earnings growth. Some of India’s newly listed stocks have also declined after sales restrictions expired, adding pressure to a stock market already down hundreds of billions of dollars since late last year.

India’s startup economy remains among the biggest in the world after the US and China. Still, it’s also one that’s seen major corporate governance lapses, sinking valuations and profits turning to dust. Many young firms have been forced to cut jobs and growth plans, while others have imploded. Teacher-turned-entrepreneur Byju Raveendran’s eponymous online tutoring business illustrates how a once high-flying company can run aground as investors lose faith in founders once-labeled charismatic.

“One of the key questions that investors ask us often is — can we trust the founders?” Chanchani said.