Venture capital investors are becoming more pragmatic about exits, with secondary transactions, founder buybacks and strategic sales increasingly seen as valid liquidity routes alongside initial public offerings. According to reports from Mint, this shift reflects a tougher listing market where small IPOs are facing delays as mutual funds turn selective, while technology IPOs are being pushed back by market volatility tied to the West Asia war. Companies such as Curefoods, Turtlemint, Indo-MIM, Inframarket, Symbiotech Pharmalabs, Duroflex and KKR-backed Leap India are recalibrating timelines rather than rushing to market.
Secondary activity has become more institutionalised, with India seeing 51 secondary VC transactions worth $1.1 billion in 2025, up from 45 deals worth $1.5 billion in 2024, according to Venture Intelligence data. Startup M&A remained steady, with 214 deals worth $6.7 billion in 2025, versus 162 deals worth $8.2 billion in 2024. As reported by Mint, Nao Murakami from Incubate Fund Asia expects about $50 million to $60 million in secondary transactions for this financial year, with the firm increasingly looking to manage exits more systematically rather than waiting only for public listings.
The consolidation trend is evident in both fintech and edtech sectors. According to Mint reports, Freo's acquisition of IndiaLends in early May demonstrates continued consolidation in financial services, where platform depth and license access matter as much as growth. In edtech, upGrad's proposed all-stock acquisition of Unacademy points to the same trend, with the deal expected to value Unacademy at around ₹2,055 crore, representing a more than 90% markdown from its 2021 valuation of $3.4 billion.
Despite the shift away from IPOs, some notable exits have generated significant returns. As reported by Mint, Artha's private-market exits show strong performance, with Exotel returning about 113x on roughly ₹7 lakh invested in 2012 and ₹7.7 crore realised at exit, while Stellar generated about 20x MOIC on roughly $20,000 invested in 2017 and $400,000 returned through a 2024 founder buyback. By comparison, Groww's ₹6,632-crore IPO has delivered blockbuster gains for marquee investors, with Peak XV making about 52x, Y Combinator about 29x and Tiger Global about 4.5x.
