The strategy update follows the stellar market debut of portfolio company Moneyview, which listed at a 60% premium. The stock opened at ₹55 against an issue price of ₹34 and sustained a 70% gain on its first day. The initial public offering (IPO) raised over ₹1,000 crore through a mix of a fresh issue and an offer for sale (OFS). Despite participating in the OFS, Accel India remains the dominant shareholder with a near 70% stake.
Explaining the rationale behind the recent wave of venture capital exits, Mitra highlighted the benefits of transitioning long-held private assets into traded equities. “We prefer being in a liquid environment as opposed to continue to be a private holder,” he explained, noting that the firm had backed Moneyview at the idea stage 12 years ago, even before a product was ready.
The decision to go public is not driven by a specific return on investment target. Instead, the firm evaluates year-on-year expansion, bottom-line growth outpacing top-line revenue, technology efficiency and overall scale. Once a company performs well against market comparables and the broader market window opens, the listing process begins—a preparation phase that typically spans several quarters.
Alongside Moneyview, Accel has seen strong post-listing performance from BlueStone Jewellery and Lifestyle and Rentomojo this year. The pipeline for upcoming public offerings includes Cult.fit, which could list before the end of the calendar year, as well as FabHotels. Internationally, the firm is anticipating a liquidity event for US-based AI startup Anthropic, having participated in its last four funding rounds.
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On the deployment front, artificial intelligence remains a highly lucrative area globally. The firm is actively advising its founders to integrate AI into their operations and go-to-market strategies to accelerate growth. “I almost believe that any business today will at least become more efficient by the use of AI,” Mitra noted.
Within the Indian context, the investment focus is expanding beyond the mainstay of financial services. The venture capital firm has recently started evaluating and backing startups in the emerging deep tech and defence tech sectors.Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here