Edition #14. At Davos this week, talking up India’s private equity (PE) market was a common refrain. Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman pitched it as the firm’s strongest market globally by returns, reaffirming a long-term commitment across real estate, healthcare and data centres. Which is great news for India. But Kedaara Capital’s Manish Kejriwal struck a more deliberate note. While reiterating India’s secular appeal and relative insulation from tariffs, he pointed to pressures that temper the optimism: currency depreciation, intensifying competition for large deals, and the risk of mistaking a temporary reallocation of capital away from China for a permanent shift.
Closer home, the consumer narrative got another boost with General Atlantic’s bet on ethnic snack maker Balaji Wafers. Another deal that stood out was payments technology company Juspay’s Series D raise from WestBridge Capital, catapulting it into the unicorn club. The deal also created liquidity for early investors – a recurring theme across deals where secondary components are being explicitly built in, both at the growth and later stages (scroll down more in The Week in Deals section).
Globally, secondaries moved centre stage this week. EQT’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Coller Capital creates a secondary giant aimed at capitalising on a market opportunity that’s projected at nearly $500 billion by 2030. Separately, San Francisco based Pinegrove Opportunity Partners, which positions itself as a venture secondary, raised a $2.2 billion debut fund.
“As the size of the market continues to grow, driven by the constant acceleration of game-changing technology companies, we believe secondary markets will play an ever-increasing strategic role in creating shareholder and employee liquidity for companies, driving distributions for LPs, and enabling GPs to flexibly manage their portfolios. Pinegrove was built to be at the forefront of this evolution,” general partner Gaurav Mathur said in a LinkedIn post.
Even as the secondary market builds up, the primary markets continue to serve up exit pathways for PE/VC investors in India. The Amagi IPO though was a bit of a dampener this week – it listed at a 41% discount to its last private market valuation, underscoring the gap between late-stage private market pricing and public market appetite.
That said, India-based fund managers are making the most of the improved environment for fundraising. Exfinity Venture Partners is raising a Rs 1,000 crore Fund IV with higher follow-on capacity for deeptech. 360 One Asset launched a Rs 1,000 crore early stage fund specifically for investments in defence and space. And, a new mid-market private equity firm, 2380 Capital, entered the market with focus on manufacturing and healthcare.
The Week in Deals
GA Backs Balaji Wafers; Everstone Exits Burger King India; Juspay is a Unicorn
It’s been one of those big weeks for deals. Large transactions in consumer and services businesses delivered liquidity for long-standing investors. Early and mid-stage financings brought in the volume across AI, climate, industrial technology and enterprise technology. Several companies raised follow-on capital within months of prior rounds, often including secondary components, underscoring sustained investor demand balanced with a more structured approach to liquidity.
Balaji Wafers: General Atlantic is acquiring a minority stake in packaged snack maker Balaji Wafers. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We have sold 7% stake in the company at a valuation of around ₹35,000 crore (approximately $3.8 billion) to General Atlantic,” the company’s founder and chairman Chandubhai Virani told Mint, adding that the goal was to take the company public in 3-4 years.
The deal comes less than a year after Temasek picked up a reported 10% stake in Haldiram’s for $1 billion.
Restaurant Brands Asia: Everstone Capital is exiting its 12-year investment in Restaurant Brands India (RBA), which operates Burger King in India. Inspira Global is acquiring a controlling stake in RBA in a transaction that involves buying Everstone-owned QSR Asia’s remaining 11.26% stake in RBA for Rs 460 crore (a little over $50 million). Inspira proposes to invest an additional Rs 1,500 crore (preferential allotment of equity shares worth Rs 900 crore and warrants worth Rs 600 crore) in RBA, according to stock exchange filings.
Wonder Home Finance: Growtheum Capital Partners, a Singapore-based private equity firm founder by former GIC executives, invested Rs 500 crore (around $55 million) in the housing finance company.
Wingify: The India-born SaaS company is merging with Paris-based AB Tasty to create a B2B SaaS platform focused on digital experience optimisation that spans personalisation, behavioural analytics and AI-led decisioning. The combined entity will have over $100 million in annual revenues. The deal is being led by Everstone Capital, which is a majority shareholder in Wingify (VWO). The private equity firm will invest additional capital in the merged entity and remain the largest institutional stakeholder in the entity, said a statement.
Surya Hospitals: Novo Holdings, which invests in the life sciences sector on behalf of Novo Nordisk Foundation, picked up a minority stake in Surya Hospitals via a primary and secondary transaction. The company operates specialty hospitals for women and children in Western India. As part of the deal, Novo Holdings acquired Sealink Capital Partners’ stake in Surya Hospitals. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Emergent: Khosla Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $70 million Series B round in the vibe coding startup. Prosus, Lightspeed, Together and Y Combinator joined the round. With the latest round, Emergent has raised $100 million within seven months of launch.
Iscon Balaji Foods: 360 One Asset invested $70 million in the frozen potato products processor and exporter.
Juspay: The enterprise payments technology company just became India’s first unicorn for 2026 following a $50 million investment from WestBridge Capital. The Series D ‘follow-on’ round values the company at $1.2 billion. The deal involves a secondary component, creating liquidity for early investors and employees.
Swedish investment firm VEF AB booked a partial exit in the latest round. “VEF AB has successfully secured USD 14.6 mln through a partial exit in portfolio company Juspay… delivering an IRR of 38% and CoC return of 6.6x,” the firm said in a statement on Friday.
It continues to own a 6.3% stake in Juspay. VEF entered Juspay in 2020, leading a Series B round, and invested a total of $21.1 million over multiple rounds. During a Kedaara Capital-led round in April last year, it sold a part of its stake for $14.8 million.
Unbox Robotics: ICICI Venture led a $28 million round in the supply chain robotics technology company. Indo Edge subsidiary RedStartLabs, F Prime, 3one4 Capital, Navam Capital and Force Ventures joined the round.
Escape Plan: The travel luggage and accessories retailer raised a $25 million Series A led by returning investor Jungle Ventures. Fireside Ventures (also an existing investor) and IndiGo Ventures joined the round. Jungle Ventures and Fireside had invested $5 million in the company about six months ago.
EtherealX: Spacetech startup Ethereal Exploration Guild raised a $20.5 Series A led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital. Accel, Prosus, YourNest, Bluehill VC and Campus Fund joined the round. The round values the startup at $80.5 million, according to TechCrunch.
AssetPlus: The wealth management platform for mutual fund distributors raised a little over $19 million in a Series B1 round led by Nexus Venture Partners. Eight Roads Ventures and Rainmatter were return investors in the round.
Aerem Solutions: The solar energy financing company raised a $15 million pre-Series B round led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund. British International Investment (BII), Blume Ventures, Avaana Capital, Riverwalk Holdings and SE Ventures joined the round.
Whizzo: The technical textiles manufacturer raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Fundamentum. Korea’s LB Investment, Lightspeed Venture Partners and BEENEXT participated in the round.
Optimist: Accel and Arkam Ventures led a $12 million round in the air conditioner maker.
Bolna: General Catalyst led a $6.3 million seed round in the voice AI startup. Y Combinator, Blume Ventures, Orange Collective, Aarthi Ramamurthy, Arpan Sheth, Sriwatsan Krishnan, Ravi Iyer, and Taro Fukuyama, were among the other investors who joined the round. Bolna was part of the fall 2025 batch at Y Combinator.
WanderOn: DSG Consumer Partners and Client Associates Alternate Fund (CAAF) led a nearly $6 million Series A round in the experiential travel startup.
Ringg AI: Arkam Ventures led a $5.5 million Series A round in the no-code voice AI startup. Groww Founder Fund, Cred founder Kunal Shah, Whitecap Ventures and Capital2B participated in the round.
Sub $5 mn deals: SRF and Havells holding company QRG Investments and Holdings joined a $4 million round in wellness (luxury spa) company Dhun. Saama Capital’s Ash Lilani and Tracxn’s Abhishek Goyal were among the other HNI investors in the round. Fabless semiconductor startup Sensesemi Technologies raised a $2.7 million seed round led by Piper Serica. Jungle Ventures and Kae Capital led a $5.1 million round in power utilities focused deeptech startup Enerzolve Smart Technologies. Sports analytics platform StepOut raised $1.5 million in a round led by Rainmatter. Fireside Ventures led a $5 million pre-Series A in kitchenware brand Cumin Co. Existing investor Huddle Ventures joined the round.
Sources: Media reports, company releases and filings
Quickly before we go
Elevation Capital partner Mayank Khanduja has stepped down from the firm after a 15-year stint. His next move hasn’t been disclosed.
'“After nearly 15 years at Elevation Capital, I’ve decided to step back from the firm… When I joined Elevation in 2011, the Indian startup ecosystem was just finding its rhythm, and I’ve been fortunate to witness it grow into one of the most vibrant and fastest-growing in the world,” Khanduja said in a post on LinkedIn.
At Elevation, he focused on investing in consumer tech, healthcare, and frontier technology.
Have a good week ahead.
Thank you for reading The Runway. We’d love to get your feedback. Drop us a line.
It's interesting how you framed the capital reallocation What if that capital shift from China ends up being mostly permanent