More tech-enabled startups tap equity market as concerns ease

Indian startup ecosystem is maturing at a rapid pace. This is reflected as increasing number of startups are tapping the public market for raising funds through IPOs (Initial Public Offering). Last year was an exceptionally good year in the startup listing space. A total 18 startups raised a total of Rs 41,248 crore in 2025 from public markets.

Notable listings last year included Groww, PhysicsWallah, Meesho, Lenskart, Ather Energy, Urban Company, and Pine Labs among others. After such successful listings last year, it can be safely assumed that Indian investors’ reluctance to invest in startups has been subsided to a great extent. After a strong listing momentum by Indian startups last year, 2026 so far has seen tepid listing.

So far, seven new-age tech companies have already made their market debut. But, barring a few, most of these listings remained lacklustre. Only SEDEMAC and Kissht have been listed with market gains. While listing momentum remained tepid but the pipeline remains strong. Notably, 28 startups have already filed their draft red herring prospectus (DRHPs) with the market regulator, SEBI. Out of these 28, more than 24 are in various stages of finalising their IPO plans.

Established startups in the unicorn league such as Zepto, OYO, InMobi, PhonePe and Zetwerk have already filed their prospectus with SEBI. If they go ahead with their listing plans and market response remains sound, this has the potential of becoming one of the biggest years of fund raising for Indian startup ecosystem. It has to be seen how many of these startups hit the market given the volatile environment.

Whether they go for an IPO this year or not; one thing is becoming clear that Indian startups are increasingly feeling confident to opt for public listing as they reach profitability threshold or are in the vicinity of it. Moreover, many of these startups are now in operations for more than a decade and have successfully scaled their operations with proven revenue model. Therefore, investors see them as companies that will grow rapidly in coming years after their public listing.

Secondly, the nervousness among investors, especially retail investors, is slowly going away as they have already seen several listed startups growing rapidly in recent years. This gives the confidence that startup promoters are not dumping their companies on public through listing. Rather, they see public funding as a way of accelerating growth. Another notable feature of these startup listing is that most of these new age companies can be categorised as tech startups.

This is a resounding change in the listing landscape. One decade back, majority of companies coming for public listing were operating in traditional domains. Now, a significant chunk of new listing is happening in the tech startup space. Definitely, this is good news for the India Inc. Because as global economy becomes more technology-enabled with AI ruling the roost, it is important that Indian market should have public listing of companies that are tech startups.

This way, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) will be keen to invest in Indian market because any company that leverages technology, has the potential of scaling up very fast and in many cases, has the ability to reach a global audience. In this respect, increasing number of startups coming up for listing is a sign of Indian economy that is leveraging technology pretty fast.

While startup listing is definitely a good news, startup founders and investment bankers have to take care of the fact that their price band is reasonable and they are able to deliver of their promises in a time-bound manner.