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Welcome to Edition #46.
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Three private equity-backed companies are among the six IPOs set to open for subscription on a single day next week, as India’s public market pipeline accelerates into what’s shaping up to be one of the busiest listing months this year. Rentomojo, Karamtara Engineering and Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions all have private capital on their cap tables.
The one to watch is Karamtara Engineering, a picks-and-shovels play on India’s renewable energy and power transmission build-out. The Mumbai-based company makes steel structures and components for solar power projects and electricity transmission networks. It aims to raise Rs 675 crore in a fresh issue at a price band of Rs 241-Rs 254 a share, alongside a Rs 200 crore offer-for-sale. Private investors in the company aren’t selling. The IPO at Rs 875 crore is considerably smaller than originally planned. The company had filed its DRHP in January 2025 for a Rs 1,750 crore offering.
In terms of PE-VC backing, Karamtara raised nearly $8 million from Amara Partners in July this year in a pre-IPO round. Earlier investors include Singularity AMC, the Famy Care Group’s Taparia family-backed Ananta Capital, Trust Group founder Utpal Sheth and CaratLane founder Mithun Sacheti.
Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions is seeking to raise Rs 805 crore, of which Rs 320 crore is a fresh issue. The price band has been fixed at Rs 322-Rs 339 a share. Promoter Manipal Technologies is selling 1.43 crore shares in the offer-for-sale. Existing financial investors, including Amicus Capital Partners, are not selling. The Manipal, Karnataka-based company makes payment and identity cards and related security products for the banking and financial services sector. This too is a sized down offering from what was originally planned.
Rentomojo is set to raise Rs 1,255.6 crore at a price band of Rs 384-Rs 404 a share. The offering comprises a fresh issue of Rs 150 crore and offer-for-sale of Rs 2.74 crore shares worth Rs 1,105.6 crore at the upper end of the price band.
The listing is primarily an exit for existing shareholders who have been on the cap table for years. Accel, Edelweiss Discovery Fund, Chiratae Ventures, Madison India Capital are among the selling shareholders.
The Bangalore-based company operates a technology-enabled rental and subscription platform for furniture and appliances.
Overall, a total of 11 listings are planned next week and nearly $4 billion is expected to be raised via public market offerings this month, Reuters reported, including Hero Motors and the National Stock Exchange.
JM Financial Asset Management moved quickly to capitalise on the pipeline, raising commitments worth Rs 700 crore (about $74 million) in the first close of its maiden pre-IPO fund, against a target corpus of Rs 1,500 crore and a further Rs 1,000 crore greenshoe option. Announced in February this year as JM Financial India Pre-IPO Fund I, the fund will back companies that are in line to list within 18 months and will be sector agnostic, the firm said in a statement.
PE-VC investors, meanwhile, deployed approximately $183 million across 14 deals in a relatively quiet week for funding activity. Wearables maker Ultrahuman’s $70 million Series C accounted for nearly two-fifths of the total capital deployed. Notably, the week’s largest two rounds – Ultrahuman and battery swapping company Yuma Energy – were both led by returning investors. And in consumer, Sugar Cosmetics closed a bridge round at a valuation less than a quarter of its 2022 peak.
On to the deals from the week.
→ Connected devices
Two hardware companies raised capital this week – one making a comeback in its largest market, the other bringing sensor-driven baby products to new parents.
Ultrahuman raised $70 million in a Series C led by Qualcomm Ventures, with diagnostics company Labcorp joining as new investors alongside returning backers Alpha Wave, Blume Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners. Venture lender Alteria Capital participated. The Bangalore-based company makes smart rings and offers a continuous glucose monitor and blood diagnostic service. The round is its first since a US court imposed an import ban last October after Finnish rival Oura won a patent infringement ruling. Ultrahuman re-entered the US market in May this year with a redesigned product. Provisional financials cited by the Times of India based on regulatory filings show the company posted a net loss of Rs 176 crore in FY2026, reversing a Rs 73 crore profit the prior year.
Cradlewise raised $12 million in a Series A co-led by 3one4 Capital and Prudent Investment Management. The company, based in San Francisco with manufacturing in Pune, makes a smart bassinet that converts to a crib and uses sensors to detect early signs of stirring and respond with motion before the baby is fully awake.
→ Spacetech and deep tech
Six companies across satellites, aerospace navigation, autonomous flight systems, EV charging, industrial efficiency and semiconductor metrology scooped up investor cheques. Early stage dominated with five rounds at seed or pre-Series A.
Kepler Aerospace raised $8 million in seed funding led by Blue Ashva Capital, with Finvolve and India Accelerator participating. The Bangalore-based company is developing a six-satellite autonomous constellation for surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance, as a precursor to a 64-satellite cluster. Blue Ashva is also a backer of Dhruva Space.
Aeron Systems raised Rs 45 crore ($4.7 million) in a pre-Series B round co-led by Riverwalk Holdings, a venture capital fund anchored by the Thakral Group, and MGF-Kavachh. The Pune-based company develops navigation, avionics, weather-sensing and monitoring technologies.
Alteon raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed round from angel investor Lachy Groom and Together Fund. The Bangalore-based company is developing autonomous fixed-wing aircraft that use dynamic soaring to extract energy from wind gradients, drawing on the flight mechanics of albatrosses.
Zenergize Technologies raised $4 million in a pre-Series A from returning backer Giraffe Studios. The Gurugram-based company develops AC and DC chargers for electric vehicles and solar inverters for homes and small businesses.
Minimac Systems raised Rs 30 crore ($3.2 million) in a pre-Series A from Rainmatter. The Pune-based company makes equipment that analyses oil conditions, removes impurities and returns treated lubricant to machinery.
Makr Microsystems raised $1.07 million in seed funding led by Bluehill VC, with Artha Venture Fund participating. The Bangalore-based startup develops 3D metrology solutions for semiconductor manufacturing.
→ Sneakers and namkeens
Three consumer deals this week. A homegrown sneaker brand, a beauty brand recapitalising at a fraction of its peak valuation, and decades-old regional snack brand.
Comet raised Rs 100 crore ($10.5 million) in a Series B led by Verlinvest, and returning investors Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners. The Bangalore-based sneaker brand had raised a $5 million Series A led by Elevation in 2024. The deal marks Belgian family investment firm Verlinvest’s second consumer transaction in ten days, following a $20 million secondary in dairy products maker Epigamia.
Sugar Cosmetics raised Rs 144.5 crore ($15.3 million) from existing investor A91 Partners. Regulatory filings cited by Entrackr put the post-money valuation at approximately Rs 755 crore – a steep markdown from its Rs 3,000 crore peak in 2022, when it raised a Series D led by L Catterton. A91 will hold about 20% in the Mumbai-based beauty products company after the transaction.
Jagdish Farshan, a Vadodara-based maker of namkeens (salted snacks) and sweet founded in 1938, raised Rs 43.5 crore ($4.6 million) from Sharrp Ventures, the family office of Marico founder Harsh Mariwala. The company is targeting distribution expansion beyond Gujarat. The investment follows Bharat Value Fund’s Rs 300 crore investment in Karnataka-based regional brand Dharwad Big Mishra Pedha in August.
→ Electric mobility
Yuma Energy raised $35 million in a Series A round from returning backer Magna International. The battery swapping company, a joint venture between Canadian automotive components maker Magna and Bangalore-based electric two-wheeler company Yulu, was set up in 2022 with an initial investment of $77 million. The company says it has delivered over 60 million battery swaps across more than 2,500 stations. The capital will go towards network expansion with Yuma targeting EBITDA-positive operations by FY2027.
→ Other funding deals
Business NexGen Finance, a Mumbai-based NBFC focused on secured credit for SMEs, closed a Rs 215 crore ($22.7 million) round led by Beams Fintech Fund. Baring Private Equity Partners India, Saison Capital and Unleash Capital Partners participated. DocPharma, a Bangalore-based healthcare supply chain startup, raised $2 million in a pre-Series A led by Equentis. Yoga Clean Air closed a $2.1 million Series A led by Info Edge Ventures.
→ M&A
Two of the most notable deals of the week didn’t have a direct PE context but marked important developments in areas of interest for private capital.
ITC Infotech announced the acquisition of Happiest Minds Technologies through a two-part transaction.
In the first leg, founder Ashok Soota, who holds a 22.1% stake, agreed to sell in entirety to ITC Infotech for Rs 1,329.72 crore, structured across two tranches.
Simultaneously, the Happiest Minds board approved a scheme of amalgamation under which the Bangalore-based company will be absorbed into ITC Infotech and cease to exist as a listed entity.
Public shareholders will receive 25 ITC Infotech shares for every 81 Happiest Minds shares held. ITC Infotech, currently unlisted, will list on BSE and NSE once the scheme becomes effective. For institutional shareholders in Happiest Minds, there is no cash exit. Liquidity depends on when the ITC Infotech listing happens.
GRT Jewellers announced a share purchase agreement to acquire 74.12% of Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) from the Zaveri family promoter group for up to Rs 1,033.71 crore at Rs 209 a share. A mandatory open offer for the remaining public shareholding follows at Rs 249.61 a share. TBZ is one of Mumbai’s oldest gold jewellery houses and the deal transfers a business built over five generations and 162 years. For Chennai-based GRT, also a family-owned chain with 68 stores, the deal buys a pan-India retail footprint that would have taken years to build organically. TBZ’s 37 stores gives it a presence outside South India.
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Briefly
NIIF Infrastructure Fund II, the second fund from India’s sovereign-anchored alternative assets manager National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, raised commitments worth Rs 19,000 crore ($2 billion) for its first close, more than 60% of its targeted Rs 30,000 crore ($3.2 billion) corpus. Overseas investors in the fund so far include the AustralianSuper, CPP Investments, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Temasek. Indian institutions including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Life Insurance are also committed to the fund alongside the Government of India. It also aims to mobilise up to Rs 9,000 crore ($950 million) in co-investment capital for bets in energy, transports, urban infrastructure and electric mobility.
Until next week.
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