MUMBAI: The promoters and the early investors of Billionbrains Garage Ventures, the parent of the largest brokerage Groww, are going to make a killing from the Rs 6,632-crore IPO that’s opening Monday, because their acquisition value is only a fraction of the post-issue valuation of the company that’s prints in at Rs 61,735 crore at the upper end of price band. Some of them will be making a windfall of up to Rs 5,100% while the lowest return is 1,700%.
The Bengaluru-based discount brokerage with an active client base of over 12.7 million has fixed its price band at Rs 95–100 per share. The offer comprise a fresh issue of Rs 1,060 crore worth of shares and an OFS worth Rs 5,574 crore which will done by the external investors pairing their stakes.
It can be noted that similar gains were booked by the founders and early investors of another newage company Lenskart last week with founder Peyush Bansal and investors like Softbank, Temasek, Kedaara among others making 145% to 5,200% gains in its Rs 7,278-crore IPO that closed last week.
Topping the gainers list in Lenskart is the cofounder and chairman Peyush Bansal who holds 17.32 crore shares, acquired at an average cost of Rs 18.6/share, representing a 10.28% stake. At the upper price band, Bansal’s holding is worth Rs 6,964 crore, a 20-fold gain on his pre–price-band holding, which was valued at Rs 323 crore when he acquired this stake. From the issue he will be laughing his way to the bank with a Rs 823.66-crore cheque for selling 2.05 crore shares, translates into a return of 2,061% on his capital investment.
Groww’s four cofounders—Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh and Ishan Bansal—who together own 26.62% stake in the company and are not participating in the secondary sale part of the issue, but are set to earn stellar returns with the listing.
Cofounder and chief executive Lalit Keshre holds 55.91 crore shares amounting to a 9.12% stake which were acquired at an average cost of Rs 1.96/share. At the upper price band, his holding is valued at Rs 5,591 crore, compared to Rs 110 crore before the price announcement, translating into a gain of more than 5,000%.
Cofounder and chief operating officer Harsh Jain owns 41.16 crore shares or 6.72% stake, acquired at an average cost of Rs 2.37/share. His holding is now valued at Rs 4,116 crore, as against his investment of Rs 97.5 crore, a gain of over 4,120%.
Similarly, cofounder and chief financial officer Ishan Bansal owns 27.78 crore shares or 4.53% bought at an average cost of Rs 3.18/share, which is now worth Rs 2,778 crore, as against Rs 88.31 crore previously, marking a gain of over 3,000%.
Cofounder and chief technology officer Neeraj Singh owns 38.32 crore shares or 6.25% of the company acquired at an average cost of Rs 2.54/share. At the upper end of the price-band of Rs 100/share, his holding is worth Rs 3,832 crore as against Rs 97.33 crore earlier, a gain of nearly 3,800%.
According to the red herring prospectus, the weighted average cost of acquisition of all equity shares transacted in the past year stands at Rs 7.15/share. The four founders increased their holdings significantly in the past year, with Keshre buying 16.95 crore shares, Jain 13.49 crore, Neeraj Singh 13.2 crore, and Bansal 11.52 crore more shares.
Interestingly, some private equity investors managed to acquire shares at zero cost during the same period. For instance, YC Holdings purchased 1.57 crore shares without any cash consideration, while Peak XV Partners picked up 5.77 lakh shares in similar manner. Rabbit Capital and GW E Rabbit Opportunity Fund added 24.9 lakh and 13.55 lakh shares respectively in the similar manner.
Among institutional investors, Peak XV Partners holds the largest stake of 19.9%, amounting to 121.76 crore shares, acquired at a weighted average cost of Rs 1.91/share. This stake is now valued at Rs 12,176 crore, compared to the investment cost of Rs 233 crore before the price band announcement, representing a gain of over 5,100%.
YC Holdings II LLC owns 73.79 crore shares acquired at an average cost of Rs 3.45/share which are now valued at Rs 7,379 crore, up from Rs 255 crore, a gain of nearly 2,800%.
Rabbit Capital and Propel Venture Partners, which hold 49.89 crore and 10.84 crore shares respectively, are also in for huge gains. Their holdings, acquired at an average cost of Rs 2.3 and Rs 5.4/ share, are worth Rs 4,988 crore and Rs 1,085 crore respectively, or making returns of over 4,200% and 1,700%.
The mainline offer of Rs 6,632.3 crore comprises a fresh issue of 106 million shares aggregating to Rs 1,060 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 557.2 million shares adding up to Rs 5,572.3 crore.
The company is backed by marquee investors like Peak XV, Tiger Capital, and Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella among others.
Earlier the four promoters were planning to sell up to 1 million shares each through the OFS. But now they are not selling through the OFS at all. The investors who are taking part in the OFS are Peak VI Partners Investments, YC Holdings II, Ribbit Capital V, GW-E Ribbit Opportunity V, Internet Fund VI, Kauffman Fellows Fund, Alkeon Innovation Master Fund, Propel Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital Global Growth Fund III.
Founded in 2016, Groww offers retail investors a direct-to-customer platform for wealth creation across a range of financial products. Last it year it overtook the then market leader Zerodha to become the largest brokerage with around 12.6 million active demat accountholders who dabble in mutual funds, equities, F&O, ETFs, IPOs, digital gold, and US stocks through its easy-to-use platform. It commands a hefty 26% plus market share as of June 2025.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, Groww filed draft papers in May with the Sebi through the confidential pre-filing route and had received the Sebi approval in August. Groww opted for the confidential pre-filing route, which allows it to withhold public disclosure of IPO details under the DRHP until later stages. This route is gaining traction among Indian firms aiming for flexibility in their IPO plans.
In FY25, the stock broking firm reported a net profit of Rs 1,824 crore, while Q1 FY26 profit stood at Rs 378 crore. It maintains an industry-high contribution margin of 85% and a net profit margin of 44% reflecting a lean direct-to-consumer model. Over 80% of its new customers are acquired organically, and its three-year retention rate is 77%.
On the mutual funds side, Groww accounted for Rs 34,000 crore of SIP inflows in FY25, or 11.8% of industry totals, according to the Amfi data. It recently expanded into wealth management, commodities, an MTF, and loans against shares, moves it sees as part of its longer-term growth strategy.
