 "Groww taps five banks for $1 billion IPO, plans draft filing by April")
Billionbrains Garage Ventures, the parent company of India’s leading retail stockbroker and trading platform Groww, has enlisted five investment banks for its upcoming $1 billion-plus IPO, according to a report by Moneycontrol.
The news report quoted a source saying that Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, Axis Capital, Citi, and Motilal Oswal have been selected for the deal. The IPO process is expected to start next week, with draft documents to be filed by April or May, and the listing anticipated by the end of the calendar year or in FY26, the source added.
During the initial kick-off meeting, the issuer and advisors discussed the roadmap for the IPO, outlining plans and defining roles and responsibilities for the participating advisors.
The report quoted another source as saying that the IPO is likely to be structured primarily as an offer for sale (OFS), along with a smaller primary component. Two additional sources corroborated this information but noted that specifics such as the issue size and timeline could change based on circumstances.
It was reported last week that Groww was in talks with various investment banks for its IPO, aiming for a valuation between $7-8 billion. A separate source mentioned that the banks had also proposed a higher valuation of up to $10 billion, which could materialize depending on market conditions and regulatory factors.
Market regulator Sebi had, in 2024, introduced measures to limit futures and options trading — one of the key revenue drivers for stockbroking firms — due to concerns over speculative activity among small retail traders.
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Funding and investor backing
Groww, which counts Peak XV, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella among its backers, last raised $251 million in Series E funding on October 24, 2021, securing a valuation of $3 billion.
In 2024, Groww surpassed its competitor Zerodha to become India’s largest stockbroker by active investors. As of November 2024, Groww had added over five million users, more than doubling its user base from the previous year, while expanding its lead over competitors like Zerodha and Angel One.
As of December 2024, Groww had approximately 13 million active investors, compared to Zerodha’s 8.1 million and Angel One’s 7.8 million, based on exchange data. Groww reported a 17 per cent rise in consolidated operating profit for FY24, reaching Rs 535 crore, compared to Rs 458 crore in FY23. Its consolidated revenue for FY23 stood at Rs 1,435 crore.
Expanding beyond mutual funds
Founded in 2017 by former Flipkart employees Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh, Groww began as a platform for direct mutual fund distribution. Responding to user demand, the platform expanded into stock trading in early 2020, followed by offerings such as digital gold, ETFs, intraday trading, and IPOs later that year. In preparation for its domestic listing, Groww relocated its registered office from Delaware, USA, to Bengaluru during the last financial year.