India’s IPO window blows open as investors make billions from Groww, Pine Labs and Lenskart
Peak XV made more than $2.5B as long-term bets paid handsomely in the same week
Welcome back. We just published an original story looking at why Western AI firms are now targeting India and other emerging markets—but first up this issue we’re looking at India’s growing appetite for startup listings.
There’s been a lot written about India’s tech IPO window opening with more than 40 startup listings this year, and last week there were four major additions:
Groww, the online brokerage platform, raised nearly $750M in the year’s largest Indian fintech listing
Fintech Pine Labs raised $440M from its listing
Eyewear specialist Lenskart raised $821M
Physics Wallah is poised to become the first public edtech startup in India after it provisionally raised $392M—it will list on 18 November
There were plenty of significant winners from the investment side including:
Peak XV Partners, former Sequoia India, holds $1.5B in Groww and over $1B in Pine Labs, the latter it invested in 17 years ago
PayPal and MasterCard made 7X and 2X respectively on Pine Labs
Groww gave Y Combinator its first public listing in India
Peak XV has come in for plenty of criticism for its at-times aggressive approach to landing deals and cut-throat management of portfolio companies. There have been numerous instances of startups it invested in being caught in headlines for the wrong reasons. Indeed, it published an open letter in April 2022 pledging to step up compliance efforts across its portfolio.
The firm has long championed Pine Labs, it helped matchmake a merger with Southeast Asia-based portfolio company Fave in 2021. So last week will have felt like vindication, particularly after Pine Labs cut its valuation by nearly half ahead of the listing.
As for Groww, that investment goes down as one of the most profitable in India, as this Economic Times graphic shows.
Also on the list above is Lenskart, which was valued at $7.9 billion—or 230 times its earnings.
Context on that incredible ratio comes from Manish at India Dispatch:
At 230 times earnings, investors are paying the equivalent of more than two centuries of today’s profits before accounting for any discount rate.
Under a 20-year scenario, and that’s saying something, Lenskart would need to grow earnings by 26% annually for the first decade and 18% for the second decade, producing roughly a 50-fold increase in profits. Most investors price in growth over 5-10 years at most. Even during periods of peak market enthusiasm, multiples above 100x are rare and typically signal speculative excess.
Investors buying Lenskart at this valuation are paying today for what the company might become two decades from now.
But with Indian stocks increasingly becoming a part of the mix global investors seek, Manish explains and the market shows this outrageous premium could work.
Lenskart’s price recovered after an initial drop of more than 10% to close the week at ₹410, above its ₹395 opening price.
Last week was a big week for a lot of investors who have shown years of patience with Indian startups. The signals are promising for the ecosystem. Hong Kong overtook the US as the world’s most active capital markets destination earlier this month, and India has plenty of room to grow into.
Have a great week,
Jon
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Grab’s acquisition of GoTo drives forward as shareholders revolt
Grab is making its largest investment after it put $60 million into Vay, a German startup that specializes in autonomous vehicle technology.
But here’s where it gets interesting: the deal could rise to $410 million within the next year if milestones agreed between the two companies are hit. Furthermore, Grab could take a majority stake in the business after three years.
Grab has invested in self-driving car companies before, but I think this one is particularly interesting given that Vay is focused on delivering cars to customers for them to drive, not just building them.
We’ll have more on that this week as it has been a busy Grab week. Most of the chatter concerned its on/off merger with GoTo, which appears to be gaining speed after Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, Danantara, said it is in favour of the merger AND a plot to oust GoTo CEO Patrick Walujo came to light.
Walujo took the hotseat in 2023, during which GoTo’s share price has dropped by over 40% and he’s said to have opposed the Grab deal.
SoftBank, Provident Capital, and Peak XV are said to be among the GoTo backers seeking to remove him. It is reported that several shareholders, including even some of the company’s co-founders, signed a memo calling for an extraordinary general meeting to vote on Walujo’s removal.
Danantara, meanwhile, is looking to use its leverage to gain ‘special rights’ over the Indonesian side of any merged Grab-GoTo business. That could reportedly allow it influence on areas such as driver pay, and you’d imagine other topics that impact Indonesian society. Such is a sovereign fund.
The plot is thickening.
Latest Southeast Asia report from Google, Temasek and Bain report drops
The go-to region for Southeast Asia has a new update after Google, Temasek and Bain introduced their latest version.
There are no huge surprises, much of the content is quantifying the trends that are apparent, including the growth of the region’s digital economy and Southeast Asia’s lagging investment scene.
China
Alibaba is preparing a major revamp of its ‘Tongy’ mobile AI app to make it closer to ChatGPT and eventually turn it into a money-making consumer product—it’ll also be renamed Qwen link
The company has also cut prices for its flagship Qwen3-Max AI model by roughly half, fueling talk of a renewed price war in China’s crowded AI market link
Baidu unveiled two new AI chips at its annual event, highlighting its push to support China’s tech self-sufficiency link
Chinese firms are rolling out open-source AI models for coding assistants as cheaper alternatives to those from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google link
Beijing is stepping in to help its tech giants cope with US chip restrictions, directing how output from leading contract chipmaker SMIC is allocated to prioritize Huawei’s AI chip needs, according to sources link
With access to advanced chips tightening, Chinese AI developers are betting that smarter code can offset weaker hardware—Moonshot AI, DeepSeek and others are experimenting with hybrid “attention” mechanisms, which enables LLMs to recall information and make models more efficient link
NAND flash memory maker Yangtze Memory Technologies has begun building its third plant in Wuhan, aiming to start operations in 2027 while expanding capacity at its second site link
Alibaba is accused of supporting Chinese military operations targeting the US, according to a White House memo citing declassified intelligence link
The UK is investigating whether Chinese-made Yutong electric buses can be remotely disabled, amid growing concerns over Beijing’s access to national infrastructure link
Anthropic said Chinese state-backed hackers used its AI tools in September to run a mostly automated cyberattack on tech firms and government agencies, but the results of AI-assisted hacking aren’t as impressive as many might have us believe link
JD said orders on Singles’ Day surged nearly 60% with a 40% increase in shoppers link
The European Commission is weighing a plan to mandate EU countries to remove Huawei and ZTE from their telecom networks link
Tencent has reached a deal for Apple to process payments for WeChat mini games and apps, giving Apple a 15% cut and ending a long-running dispute link
European carmakers and other industrial companies continue to face “devastating” chip shortages that could halt global production lines within weeks despite China agreeing to lift export restrictions, officials have warned. link
India
A glut of global VC funds are chasing Indian AI startups link
Right after we wrote about OpenAI seeking distribution in India, it announced a deal with PhonePe link
Digital lending startup Finnable raised about $28.19M in August 2025, bringing its total raised to about $60.9M link
Figma is deepening its India focus by opening a local office and expanding hiring link
Arattai, the India-based WhatsApp rival from Zoho, will introduce mandatory end-to-end encryption link
Mirova, the French climate-focused investor backed by Kering and others, invested $30.5M in climate-tech startup Varaha to scale its regenerative farming program for smallholder farmers in northern India link
India is making a significant step forward in regulating the processing, protection, and governance of personal data in the country link
Blackstone and SoftBank are in early talks to invest in Indian cloud infrastructure startup Neysa Networks, which provides on-demand AI cloud infrastructure and has raised about $50M to date link
AirTrunk, the Australian data-center operator bought by Blackstone for $16B last year, will build its next facility in India to help meet overwhelming demand in the sector, according to its CEO link
Uber has quietly begun piloting in-app video recording for its drivers in India to deter misconduct in a market where most drivers do not use dashcams link
Google is expected to boost its investment in Andhra Pradesh beyond $15 billion after five years, according to government officials link
Southeast Asia
Sea missed profit estimates after ramping up spending to defend its e-commerce arm Shopee against rivals TikTok Shop and Lazada link
Transcelestial, a Singapore-based startup that develops wireless laser networks for high-speed data transmission, raised $9.7M from investors including MPower Partners and NTT Finance—it plans to set up a Japanese unit by year-end to deploy its technology for disaster recovery and space applications link
Meanwhile: NTT DOCOMO Ventures and NTT Finance are creating a new Singapore-based investment vehicle, Synexia Ventures, to deepen ties with Southeast Asian startups—it will be jointly run byKK Fund’s Kuan Hsu, NDV, and NTT Finance link
Temasek opened new stakes in Chinese autonomous driving firms: buying nearly $14M in WeRide and Pony.ai shares link
Indonesia is mulling curbs on “violent” video games like PUBG after a school blast injured nearly 100 link
Disney plans to expand ESPN across Asia, aiming to add more live sports to Disney+ and eventually make the service a top regional sports hub—Disney+ is tipped to hit 19M subscribers and $1.4B in annual revenue in Asia excluding China and India by the end of this year link
The US is forming a multi-agency strike force to go after cyber scam compounds in Southeast Asia that have stolen billions from Americans over the past five years: The Scam Center Strike Force will draw agents and lawyers from Treasury, Justice, the Secret Service, State and the FBI, and will focus on major scam hubs in Burma, Cambodia and Laos link
Singapore police have seized hundreds of millions in assets, including a yacht and luxury cars, tied to Cambodia’s online scam networks, spotlighting the city-state’s role as a conduit for illicit funds. The assets were linked to Cambodia’s Prince Group, labeled a “transnational criminal empire” by U.S. and U.K. authorities, reigniting scrutiny of Singapore’s financial sector. Despite its reputation for strict enforcement, recent money-laundering cases show authorities are still battling relentless fraud networks, with Singapore’s proximity to regional scam hubs making it a favored laundering base. link
She Zhijiang, the Chinese-born businessman accused by both the US and China of running one of Southeast Asia’s biggest scam operations, has been extradited from Thailand to China to face money-laundering and other charges link
OneLot, a Philippines-based financing platform for used car dealers, raised $3.3M link
A Wall Street Journal investigation shows how a Shanghai-based AI company obtained roughly 2,300 Nvidia chips restricted by US export controls, routing them through a series of overseas deals that ultimately placed the hardware inside a Jakarta data center link
Singapore will trial tokenized bills settled with a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) link
South Korea
A $35 billion project in South Korea aims to build the world’s first large-scale data center fully designed, built, and operated by AI link
Samsung is reportedly hiking its memory chip prices by up to 60% as shortage worsens link
Japan
Android creator and former Google executive Andy Rubin quietly launched a new Tokyo-based startup called Genki Robotics, which is developing prototypes of humanoid robots link
NTT Data Group plans to strengthen its lead in India’s data center market and expand in Singapore and Malaysia as part of a broader push to grow its digital infrastructure business in Asia link
SoftBank sold its entire stake in Nvidia for $5.8B as it seeks ways to fund its growing investments in AI link
Hong Kong
Klook, a SoftBank-backed online travel booking platform headquartered in Hong Kong, filed for a US IPO after reporting more than 24% revenue growth in 2024 link
Anker, the $8B valued Chinese power bank giant, is planning a Hong Kong listing to accompany its existing listing in Shenzhen link
Taiwan
Taiwan is assessing the possibility of using chip export controls in its diplomatic efforts, according to Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung link
Foxconn third-quarter profit beats expectations with a 17% revenue jump thanks to increasing AI demand—the company has expanded partnerships with Nvidia, Stellantis, Uber and Mitsubishi Electric link
Rest of Asia
OpenAI is testing a group chat feature for ChatGPT in markets including Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan link
Dubai-based telecoms company Veon plans to expand into ride-hailing and deliveries in Kazakhstan, having previously agreed to acquire the Kazakh unit of OLX Group’s online classifieds business link
The Justice Department said five people have pleaded guilty in a North Korean IT-worker scam that hit 136 US companies, netting Pyongyang about $2.2M link