According to reports from Mint, True North has acquired a $50-60 million stake in IPO-bound InMobi through a largely secondary transaction. The investment firm acquired stakes from early investors who came in through InMobi's acquisitions, employee stock options and founder-owned entities. As reported by Mint, there was likely a small primary component, although the bulk of the round was a secondary share sale. The third person confirmed True North has picked up a 2-3% stake in the company, which is an unusual bet for the private equity firm that typically acquires significant minority stakes. Details of the valuation were not available as it was blended across different entities, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to filings sourced by Tofler from the ministry of corporate affairs, InMobi's operating income rose to ₹470.91 crore in fiscal year 2025 (FY25) from ₹462.07 crore a year earlier. The company's loss narrowed to ₹6.92 crore from ₹12.16 crore in FY24. Established in 2007 as mKhoj, InMobi transitioned in 2008 from an SMS-based search engine to mobile advertising and was founded by Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Abhay Singhal, Amit Gupta and Piyush Shah.
As reported by Mint, InMobi last raised $350 million from Varde Partners, Elham Credit Partners and SeaTown Holdings in December 2025 and is currently engaging with bankers for a $500 million initial public offering in India. The company is building a new generation of advertising products designed for an internet increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI) as it looks to position itself for the next phase of growth ahead of the planned public listing. InMobi makes money by helping advertisers buy digital ads and helping publishers monetize their websites and apps, operating across the advertising technology stack. The Bengaluru-based adtech firm is betting that its scale in the open internet—outside the biggest technology platforms—will help it capture a share of the next wave of advertising growth, as large platforms such as Google, Meta and OpenAI build their own AI advertising products.
According to Mint, this investment marks the first technology sector bet from the private equity firm's seventh fund. True North traces its origins to 1999 when it was named India Value Fund Advisors and was founded with the aim to back mid-sized, profitable and India-centric businesses. The investment firm has raised seven separate investment funds with a combined total exceeding $3 billion since inception, including co-investments. Its seventh fund, which it began raising in 2021, is looking to deploy about $500 million. The firm has clocked close to $2 billion in exits over the past three years by monetizing investments in Fedbank Financial Services, Niva Bupa, Biocon Biologics, Infinity Fincorp Solutions, Zydus Wellness and Home First Finance through IPOs and public market transactions. Mint reported that the investment firm sold its stake in Cloudnine Hospitals to Permira and Integrace to Warburg Pincus in private market deals over the past two months.
