Published: October 07, 2026
StartupFeed Quick Take
- VC and PE funds sold about Rs 25,000 crore of shares in 18 listed new-age firms in July to September.
- SoftBank led with Rs 4,538 crore, Peak XV Partners Rs 3,354 crore and Elevation Capital Rs 3,013 crore.
- Foreign investors pulled Rs 3.05 lakh crore out of Indian stocks this year, yet domestic funds bought the shares.
VC investors and PE funds sold stakes worth about Rs 25,000 crore in 18 listed Indian new-age firms in the July to September quarter. Exchange data shows the sales.
The deals went through secondary block and bulk windows on the NSE and BSE. Buyers were other investors, so the cash moved from early backers to newer ones.
The sellers included SoftBank, Peak XV Partners, Elevation Capital, Alpha Wave, Y Combinator and Accel. The shares were in listed firms such as Lenskart, Meesho, Paytm, Groww, Go Digit, Mamaearth and Urban Company.
Which VC investors sold the most
SoftBank’s Vision Fund II led the sellers. It took home about Rs 4,538 crore by selling parts of its Lenskart and Meesho holdings.
Peak XV Partners came next at Rs 3,354 crore, selling in Groww, Meesho, Mamaearth and Go Digit. Elevation Capital sold Rs 3,013 crore worth in Paytm and Meesho.
Alpha Wave sold Rs 2,729 crore, with Lenskart and Pine Labs among its sales. Y Combinator sold Rs 2,405 crore across Groww and Meesho. Accel sold Rs 965 crore, including stakes in BlackBuck, Urban Company and Bluestone.
| Seller | Amount sold (Rs crore) | Main stocks sold |
|---|---|---|
| SoftBank (Vision Fund II) | 4,538 | Lenskart, Meesho |
| Peak XV Partners | 3,354 | Groww, Meesho, Mamaearth, Go Digit |
| Elevation Capital | 3,013 | Paytm, Meesho |
| Alpha Wave | 2,729 | Lenskart, Pine Labs |
| Y Combinator | 2,405 | Groww, Meesho |
| Accel | 965 | BlackBuck, Urban Company, Bluestone |
Many of these firms are based in Bengaluru, among them Meesho, Groww and Urban Company. That makes the city the quiet centre of this exit wave.
Why the funds are selling now
The companies listed over the past year. That gave their old backers a public market to sell into for the first time.
Many of these funds began between 2014 and 2018. A venture fund usually runs for eight to ten years, then must return cash to the people who backed it.
So the clock, not cold feet, is driving most of these sales. The sellers say they are keeping most of their stakes.
Who bought the shares
The money flowed out while foreigners were pulling back. Foreign portfolio investors took more than Rs 3.05 lakh crore out of Indian stocks between January and September 2026.
Indian mutual funds and family offices bought the shares the venture funds sold. Domestic money, in short, caught the supply that foreign money let go.
By selling a small slice, a fund can return its first cheque to its backers and still hold the rest for later. That is the exit route working as it should.
What this means for you: If you hold ESOPs or shares in a recently listed startup, watch the date your company’s lock-in ends. A wave of investor selling can push the price down for a few weeks, so time any sale of your own around it.
StartupFeed Insight
The number that matters here is not Rs 25,000 crore. It is who stood on the buy side. For years the worry was that India made paper unicorns but returned little real cash to fund backers. One quarter of block deals, soaked up by Indian mutual funds rather than foreign buyers, answers both doubts at once. Expect more of this in the December quarter, as six-month lock-ins from late-2025 and early-2026 IPOs start to expire. The funds that sell smart will trim, not dump.
By Saraswati Chaubey, Writer
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Disclaimer: This article is for information only and is not investment advice. StartupFeed and its authors are not SEBI-registered investment advisors. Please speak to a SEBI-registered advisor before investing.
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