PE-VC backed Indian companies see their median IPO timelines shrink to a decade-low in 2025

Mumbai: India is increasingly seeing private equity and venture capital backed companies tap public markets at an earlier stage in their lifecycle, driven by factors such as greater predictability in business performance, liquidity needs, and conducive regulatory policies, making IPOs an attractive option.“Over the past few years, public markets have also become more willing to underwrite newer business models. That increases confidence for sponsors to view IPOs (initial public offerings) as a viable, attractive exit option earlier in the company lifecycle,” Gaurav Sood, managing director and head of equity capital markets of Avendus Capital.

With institutional sponsors on the cap table, he explained that companies typically adopt public-market discipline earlier, including tighter audits, stronger governance standards and sharper key performance indicator (KPI) frameworks.In the latest report, venture capital firm Blume Ventures highlighted that the median age for private equity and venture capital players going public touched a decade-low of 12 years in 2025 from 17 years, a year earlier and 8 years in 2015. In comparison, promoter-backed entities last year had a median age of 18 years to go public from 22 years in 2024, the data showed.

Some of the PE-VC backed companies that went public last year within this timeframe include Groww, Physicswallah, Smartworks Meesho, The Leela Palaces, Ather Energy, We Work India, and Indiqube.“We have a dozen full of companies in our portfolio which will go IPO in the next 36 months. We have been big proponents of companies with predictable and profitable P&L going public without waiting for a billion-dollar valuation milestone,” Blume’s Vikram Gawande said.