Startup founders raise personal stakes before going public

Indian startup founders have stepped up efforts to raise their stakes in their companies ahead of planned IPOs this year. This trconclude appears across several late-stage startups, as founders display more confidence and seek tighter control before heading to the public markets.

Perhaps most notable is Lenskart, where cofounder Peyush Bansal bought back a 2.5% stake for Rs 222 crore from existing investors including SoftBank and Chiratae. Significantly, Bansal bought these shares at a valuation of $1 billion, one-tenth of its last private market valuation ($10 billion). This relocate comes just before the company’s IPO filing and ranks among the largest founder-led purchasebacks in the current cycle.

Zetwerk’s Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan have invested Rs 600 crore into the company by raising personal debt. The capital infusion has increased their combined stake by around 2%.

At Amagi, the founding team has acquired shares worth Rs 9 crore. InMobi has raised Rs 32 crore from its cofounders Naveen Tewari, Abhay Singhal, Piyush Shah and Mohit Saxena, along with Singapore based investor Vatera Pte Ltd. Both companies are working toward public listings and are likely to file DRHP this year.

Meesho’s Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal have increased their holding through ESOP allotments. Aatrey received 20.65 lakh shares while Barnwal was allotted 6.59 lakh shares.

These developments come after regulatory alters from SEBI in June that created it clearer for founders to hold and exercise ESOPs before filing for a public offer.

This trconclude is not new. In 2021, Zomato granted 368 million stock options to founder Deepinder Goyal before its IPO. That same year, Delhivery allotted shares worth Rs 25 crore each to cofounders Sahil Barua and Kapil Bharati, while PB Fintech awarded 10.2 million shares to founders Yashish Dahiya and Alok Bansal. In 2023, Swiggy rolled out a $271 million ESOP plan, with $200 million worth granted to founder Sriharsha Majety. The foodtech and quick commerce company listed in November 2024.

While the trconclude is a welcome sign for many, the fact remains that for many of these founders, significant liquidity events well before the IPO have already ensured they are way ahead of late stage investors. Plus, the relocate to IPO is in some ways, the final, key uptrconclude for the firm’s valuation before it settles into a more predictable trajectory. For these founders, putting back some of those gains to sconclude a strong signal to the market is a compact price to pay for the signal it sconcludes to the market, especially for an IPO the size of declare LensKart, or any other firm today. Interestingly, founders who invest at higher than market price post IPO to shore up company finances remain relatively rarer, and the relocate created during a downtrconclude in stock price rarely creates a significant impact.

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Founders Personal Public raise stakes Startup