Groww, recognized as India’s largest retail broker, is gearing up to make its debut on the nation’s stock exchange through a multi-billion-dollar IPO. This move comes a little over a year after the company shifted its corporate headquarters from Delaware back to India — positioning it to potentially become the first Indian startup to list domestically after moving operations home from the U.S.
Supported by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and prominent investors such as Peak XV Partners, Y Combinator, Ribbit Capital, and Tiger Global, Groww’s public offering — anticipated later this year — will serve as a significant exit event for international venture capital firms. According to the preliminary IPO filings submitted on Tuesday, these four firms are set to divest around 394 million shares, constituting about 9.4% of Groww’s total shares. This group represents the largest cohort of sellers, making up roughly 69% of the shares being made available to the public.
Pine Labs, Razorpay, Meesho, and Zepto are among the Indian tech companies that have also recently moved their headquarters back to India. In 2022, PhonePe, with backing from Walmart, relocated its headquarters from Singapore to India, while Flipkart — previously its parent company and also supported by Walmart — announced similar plans to move its headquarters from Singapore to India earlier this year.
Groww was among the pioneers last year in returning its headquarters to India from the U.S., paying approximately $159 million in taxes as part of the transition.
Bringing their headquarters back to India allows startups to better comply with new local laws and fulfill criteria for domestic stock listings. With the increase in retail investors and greater interest in IPOs, listing locally has become more appealing. This shift signals India’s capital markets are becoming more sophisticated and desirable compared to other global options.
Although American backers intend to sell a significant portion of their shares in Groww, the founders — Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal — are only parting with about 4 million shares, which is just 0.7% of the proposed sale, the draft prospectus shows.
This modest divestment suggests that Groww’s founding team is retaining almost their entire stake, a stark difference from the major investors who are using the IPO as an exit opportunity.
Groww is targeting ₹10.6 billion (around $121 million) in fresh capital from the offering, in addition to a secondary sale of 574 million shares by current stakeholders, expected to be priced at ₹5–6 billion ($568–$682 million approximately). The IPO is projected to give the Bengaluru-based startup a $9 billion valuation.
For the fiscal year ending March 31, Groww posted total revenue of ₹40.6 billion (about $462 million), a 45% increase from the prior year, alongside a net profit of ₹18.2 billion (roughly $208 million). In the previous fiscal year, the company reported a net loss of around ₹8 billion (around $92 million), largely due to costs incurred from moving its headquarters out of Delaware.
As of June, Groww managed roughly 37.4 million individual demat accounts (electronic securities accounts), accounting for nearly 19% of India’s total, and had 12.6 million active clients on the National Stock Exchange, representing a 26% share. The platform also boasted about 17 million active systematic investment plans (SIPs, which are periodic monthly investments) and 9 million distinct mutual fund investors, making it the only investment app in India to exceed 100 million total downloads.
The IPO is being managed by JPMorgan Chase, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Citigroup, Axis Bank, and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors.
