☕️ Slim pickings last week in terms of investments with the festival season underway. But, the Zetwerk IPO served up partial exits for several of its early stage investors. Welcome to Edition #53.
New to The Runway? Every Sunday, I bring you a curated briefing on the deals, people and strategies shaping private equity and venture capital in India. Send me tips and feedback at snigdha@therunwaynews.com. Keep track of future editions via LinkedIn and WhatsApp.
In This Edition
→ Zetwerk IPO: VC returns
→ Funding: 17 deals, $506M
→ Swedfund backs India climate fund
→ Pantheon’s new secondaries fund
The Week in Deals
The Zetwerk IPO was a significant liquidity event for early investors in the Bangalore-based manufacturing sector-focused B2B marketplace. Kae Capital, Peak XV Partners, Accel and Lightspeed booked partial exits at between 10.8x and 38.3x.
The company made its public market debut at Rs 159.25 a share (NSE), a 5.5% premium to its offer price of Rs 151. By the close of the first trading day (October 23), the stock had slipped to Rs 138.25 a share, valuing the company at Rs 23,423 crore ($2.47 billion). The IPO raised Rs 5,013 crore in total, of which Rs 2,182 crore was an offer-for-sale. The issue was subscribed 3.06 times overall. Institutional investors came in at 4.73 times, while retail investors under-subscribed at 0.73 times.
Among sellers, Kae Capital (and affiliate Kalysta Capital), booked a 38.3x return on a blended weighted average cost of acquisition (WACA) of Rs 3.94 a share, collecting a total of Rs 253.08 crore at the offer price of Rs 151 a share. It retains a 3.39% stake. Zetwerk is the first company from the Mumbai-based venture capital firm’s portfolio to go public, it said in a statement.
Peak XV Partners sold shares from two funds. Its early stage fund booked a 23.9x return on a blended WACA of Rs 6.31 a share, collecting Rs 265.94 crore. The growth fund returned 3.26x on a WACA of Rs 46.30 a share, earning Rs 87.54 crore. The early stage fund retains a 7.22% stake while the growth fund continues to hold 2.38%.
Accel clocked a 19.3x return on a blended WACA of Rs 7.84 a share, collecting Rs 181.45 crore. It retains a 6.3% stake. Lightspeed sold from three funds, earning 10.8x, 3.57x and 2.76x (WACA was Rs 13.97 a share, Rs 42.28 a share and Rs 54.66 a share respectively). Collectively, Lightspeed garnered Rs 426.92 crore and retains a combined 7.28% stake.
We have a detailed analysis of the Zetwerk IPO coming up as part of a running series we’re launching next week. Stay tuned.
Moving on to investments during the week, two integrated healthcare platforms, serving urban and rural consumers respectively, picked up substantial rounds. Cross-border deals dominated enterprise tech bets again and Wipro founder Azim Premji’s family office Premji Invest was the busiest dealmaker. Overall, India-based investors participated in 17 deals with a combined round value of $506 million. Four cross-border deals accounted for 58% of that value.
→ Financial Services
Vegafin | $105 million
Premji Invest, Norwest Venture Partners and Lok Capital invested Rs 1,000 crore ($105 million) in “AI-first MSME lending platform,” Vegafin.
The Bangalore-based company will use part of the capital to acquire a controlling stake in Bizloan, which has over Rs 235 crore in assets under management.
The Gurugram-based non-banking finance company’s existing backers Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Mohan Enterprises will exit as part of the transaction. BLinC, another backer, will remain invested, said a statement.
Vegafin co-founder Bijith Bhaskar spent over two decades at ICICI Bank and most recently was a partner with Premji Invest.
→ Consumer
The Pant Project | $11.5 million
Mirae Asset Venture Investments led a $11.5 million Series B in The Pant Project. Sorin Investment was a returning investor in the round. Hyperscale Ventures, B&K Securities, and family offices MGA Ventures and B2V Ventures joined as new investors. The Mumbai-based company will use the capital to grow its product catalogue and to expand from 20 stores now to over 150, said a statement.
Chapter Home | $6.6 million
Bessemer Venture Partners led a $6.6 million round in Chapter Home, a Mumbai-based startup building home furnishing and kitchen brands. The round was a mix of equity and debt, raised from Strides Ventures.
Sub-$5 million deals: Zero W led a $3 million pre-Series A round in Harajuku Tokyo Cafe, a Delhi-based startup that operates a chain of Japanese cuisine restaurants. Indian Angel Network, Samved VC and Blume Ventures joined the round. Sauce VC led a $1 million seed round in Mumbai-based lab-grown diamond jewellery brand So/Facet. Stargazer Fund led a $1 million pre-seed round in travel platform Onto.
→ Healthcare
Even Healthcare | $50 million
Khosla Ventures led a $50 million Series B in Bangalore-based Even Healthcare. Alpha Wave Global, Founders Fund and 8VC participated.
The Bangalore-based company offers a membership-based managed healthcare platform that combines doctor consultations, primary care, diagnostics, and health insurance – the ‘payvider’ model that has lately become popular in India with PE-VC investors.
Khosla Ventures first backed Even’s $5 million seed round in 2021. The company raised a $20 million Series A extension in January this year from Silicon Valley-based angel investor Lachy Groom, Sharp Ventures and Alpha Wave Global.
The money raised in the Series B will pay for five new hospitals in Bangalore over the next six months.
CureBay | $10.5 million
IvyCap Ventures led a Rs 100 crore ($10.5 million) pre-Series C in healthcare platform CureBay. The company’s existing investors Elevar Equity, Bertelsmann India Investments and British International Investment participated. The round included a debt component, raised from Trifecta Capital, Alteria Capital and VentureSoul Partners, said a statement. Bhubaneshwar-based CureBay offers an omnichannel platform that combines offline clinics, community workers, telemedicine and AI-led clinical tools to deliver comprehensive healthcare to semi-urban rural citizens.
Amaha | $10.5 million
Mental wellness startup Amaha is in the process of closing a Rs 100 crore ($10.5 million) round from existing investors Fireside Ventures and Lightbox, alongside Sandbox International Holdings, Rainmatter, Alteria Capital and a couple of family offices, multiple publications reported.
→ Enterprise Tech
Blume Ventures led a $4.2 million Series A in frontline workforce focused conversational AI startup Hunar. PeerCapital and Cedar Hill Capital led a $3 million seed round in customer operations-focused voice AI startup Karta.
→ Cross-Border Deals
Warp Sciences | $215 million
Premji Invest joined a $215 million round in Warp Sciences, a San Francisco-based chemistry contract research organisation that emerged from stealth this month. The round was led by Lightspeed.
The company’s pitch is partly geopolitical. In a 2024 survey by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, 74% of US biotech companies reported contracts with Chinese firms for pre-clinical and clinical services. The BIOSECURE Act in December 2025 established a framework for restricting federal procurement and funding involving designated Chinese biotech companies of concern. Warp is positioning itself as the domestic alternative.
Blacksmith | $66 million
In its second cross-border deal of the week,. Premji Invest joined the $66 million Series C of Blacksmith, a cloud infrastructure company for building and testing code. The round was led by Sequoia Capital at a $1 billion valuation, post-money. Peak XV Partners was a returning investor alongside GV and Y Combinator. The round takes San Francisco-based Blacksmith’s total funding to $125 million. Peak XV Partners led the company’s $45 million Series B in March this year at a valuation of $550 million.
BioStack | $9.5 million
Peak XV Partners led a $9.5 million seed round in San Francisco-based BioStack, a healthcare technology company that aggregates fragmented patient records onto multimodal training datasets for medical AI. Afore Capital, Emerson Collective, SV Angels, Y Combinator and others participated. India is both a data source and early use case for the company. It’s working with Indian hospitals to connect cancer patients with an investigational cancer vaccine programme.
Sub-$5 million deals: SenseAI Ventures and gaming firm Smilegate led a $3 million seed round in Vectorial. The San Francisco-based startup is building a human behaviour simulation platform, which enables product, design and marketing teams to test digital experiences against thousands of modelled users before launch.
Submit a deal for the weekly briefing by replying to this email or write to us at hello@therunwaynews.com
Funds
GEF’s India climate fund raises $35M from Swedfund
Swedfund, Sweden’s state-owned development finance institution, committed $35 million to South Asia Growth Fund IV (SAGF IV), a growth stage PE fund managed by GEF Capital Partners. The commitment is part of a first close. The fund has a target size of $600 million and focuses on Indian companies developing products and services that reduce emissions, improve resource efficiency and strengthen climate resilience, said a statement. Focus sectors include the renewable energy value chain, water management and sustainable agriculture.
Global Beat
Blackstone expands energy transition strategy
Blackstone closed its fifth energy-focused fund, Energy Transition Partners V (BETP V), at $8.7 billion. The new fund is roughly 55% larger than the predecessor fund, BEPT IV, raised just about 20 months ago. Under the broader energy transition strategy, the firm pursues control-oriented equity investments in “energy companies that deliver cleaner, more reliable and affordable energy to meet growing global needs.” Investments under the strategy generated a 34% net IRR as of June 30.
Accenture mulls selling Greater China assets
Accenture is exploring the sale of its Greater China operations in a deal that could value the unit at up to $1.5 billion, The Financial Times reported last Sunday. The IT consulting firm has signed up JP Morgan to undertake a strategic review of the business. Private equity firms and strategic buyers are expected to bid for the assets, the report said. Accenture, it added, may retain a significant minority stake. The potential divestment is likely in response to tighter data security regulations in China and the impact of AI-driven automation on traditional, people-heavy IT outsourced services delivery models. Accenture’s Greater China operations include Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Pantheon closes eighth secondaries fund at $6 billion
Pantheon closed its Global Secondaries Fund VIII and associated vehicles at $6 billion, exceeding the targeted $3.5 billion by 71%. The fund will pursue a blended strategy across LP-led and GP-led transactions, with a focus on the mid-market globally. The fundraise drew significant new commitments from investors in Asia and the Middle East, said a statement. The firm has $84 billion in assets under management, of which the PE platform accounts for $41 billion. In 2025, it deployed approximately $3.35 billion across 17 secondary transactions.
General Atlantic zeroes in on sports
General Atlantic and 32 Equity, the National Football League’s strategic investment vehicle, announced a partnership to pursue growth investment opportunities across the sports industry. No financial terms were disclosed. The two firms intend to back companies developing new technologies, platforms and experiences in sports.
Have a good week ahead.
Thank you for reading The Runway. We’d love to get your feedback. Drop us a line at hello@therunwaynews.com or just reply to this email.
The contrast between the early investors’ partial exits and 0.73x retail subscription is striking. In your follow-up, could you separate cash realised from the value of the stakes they still hold?