Oister to launch third secondaries fund after investing ₹1,000 cr in startups

₹1,000 crore over the last two years in acquiring stakes in startups such as BlackBuck, OfBusiness, Purplle, Shiprocket and BlueStone.The size of the first fund was about ₹300 crore, followed by a ₹400-crore second fund. The third fund is likely to have a corpus of ₹500 crore and will go live shortly, Oister’s co-founder and co-chief executive officer Sandeep Sinha told Mint in an interview.

The Gurugram-based investment firm, which purchases shares from early investors in private companies, also uses balance sheet capital for direct investments alongside co-investments from limited partners (LPs), he said.Oister’s funds are structured as alternative investment funds (AIFs), which are privately pooled vehicles regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. These funds invest in unlisted assets such as private equity and venture capital deals, rather than traditional stocks and bonds.

Secondary-focused firms typically operate under Category II AIFs, which allow them to buy stakes in private companies from existing investors.Broadly, the AIFs have undergone a defining structural shift with domestic investors now accounting for about 55.3% of Category I and II AIF capital in September 2025, up from nearly 50.3% in March 2024, according to a joint study released by Oister and Crisil last month. The trend indicates a more self-sustaining, locally-anchored capital base that reduces reliance on foreign capital.“We would ideally want to do about 1-2 funds a year and create a continuous throughput.

The momentum and demand in the market has been exceptional as funds are actively seeking options beyond IPOs to get liquidity,” Sinha said. "There is an increased need for exits in the ecosystem and secondaries are playing a