Is India's IPO Market Warming Up Again?

☕🗞️ Good morning! Welcome to The Brief

Every week, the team at Lightbox cuts through the noise and serves up sharp insights on key developments in India’s vibrant consumer economy. In this week’s edition we dive into quick commerce, the IPO market, evolving venture capital playbooks and more.

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🏛️ The IPOs Are Back (Sort Of)

⚡Ather’s IPO gets a lukewarm nod; 🧼 Urban Company files papers

EV maker Ather Energy closed its ₹2,981 crore IPO with a 1.4x subscription. The company had set a price band of ₹304-321 per share. While the IPO ends a two-month dry spell for the Indian public markets, the outing is muted compared to Ola Electric’s 4.4x showing last year.

• Offer: ₹2,626 crore fresh + ₹355 crore OFS

• Sellers: Founders, Tiger Global, GIC affiliate Caladium, Binny Bansal’s 3 States Ventures, IIT-M Incubation Cell

Home services provider Urban Company filed its DRHP with SEBI last week for a ₹1,900 crore IPO. International expansion, improving the user and partner experience with AI tools and brand building form big chunks of its growth plans up ahead.

• Fresh issue: ₹429 crore

• OFS: ₹1,471 crore (Accel, Elevation, Tiger Global are leading exits)

• 9M FY25 revenues: ₹846 crore

• Restated PBT: ₹27 crore

• Founders have already sold shares worth ₹780 crore pre-IPO

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reported on Friday evening that budget hospitality player OYO had deferred its IPO plans again, this time to March 2026. The company had drawn up plans to list in October this year but SoftBank, its largest shareholder, is pushing for stronger earnings and a later listing.

Our View: What does the Ather listing mean for the EV story and will Urban Company revive the IPO market for PE/VC backed companies? 📽️ Watch👇

🛵 Zomato Quits Quick Food Delivery

Just months after launch, Zomato (now officially called Eternal) is shuttering both Quick (15-min food delivery) and Everyday (homely meals).

In its Q4 FY25 letter to shareholders, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal explained:

📊 The numbers:

• PAT (Q4 FY25): ₹39 crore, down 78% YoY

• Revenues (Q4 FY25): ₹5,833 crore, up 64% YoY

• Blinkit losses: ₹178 crore in Q4, up 5x YoY

• Blinkit revenues: ₹1,709 cr, up 122% YoY

Lightbox portfolio company Rebel Foods also recently joined the quick food delivery wave with the launch of QuickiES.

Our View: Watch Sandeep Murthy break down why the Zomato pullback is a smart reset.

🌎 Peak XV Deepens US Presence

Peak XV Partners, which separated from Sequoia Capital in 2023,  is quietly building its footprint in the US with LP-level investments in early-stage venture funds (ticket sizes: $1–10M), while doubling down on AI bets like Supabase and RapidCanvas.

The firm, it was reported earlier, is also currently in the process of raising a new $1.4 billion India-SEA fund.

🔭 The big play: Creating market access for 150+ India/SEA startups in its portfolio looking to scale westward.

Our View: Venture capital has evolved from a cottage industry into a global, multi-billion dollar asset class. But is bigger always better? 📽️ Watch👇

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