Secondary market explosion: startups and investors reap rewards

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₹230 crore in FY23, Purplle in a statement in July announced that it is operationally profitable. The company also said that it is currently spending on growing its online platform faster than the industry, while scaling offline stores and improving profitability. Earlier, in June, eyewear brand Lenskart, which has seen a series of fundings over the past year, also closed its latest round of $200 million from Temasek and Fidelity through a secondary share sale.

The company, which reduced its losses from ₹102 crore in FY22 to ₹64 crore in FY23, had earlier raised $500 million from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority last March, where Kedaara Capital, Chiratae Ventures and TR Capital, among others, offloaded shares. According to data sourced from VCC Edge, other secondary transactions in the tech ecosystem include Nexus India Capital, TR Capital and Montane Ventures selling shares in a $100 million round in Sedemac Mechatronics Pvt. Ltd.

in May, Bessemer Venture Partners and 360 One Asset made a partial exit from Nephrocare Health Services Pvt. Ltd in the same month during $102 million funding from Quadria Capital. Saas firm Dezerv and financial services company Kogta are among other companies that gave exits to early investors in recent funding rounds in June and May, respectively.

For The RainMaker Group’s Chanchani, however, the recent IPO successes and the shift in market dynamics, with public markets becoming overvalued, is a larger motivation rather than a tax parity. "The tax cuts are an added feel-good factor…," he said. While investors with huge shareholding might still take an IPO route, more secondaries open up channels for quicker exits with lesser risks, Charkha added.