Edition #13. Public listings have lately stolen the spotlight in India’s private equity (PE) and venture capital exits arena. But running alongside that narrative, and in many cases doing the heavier lifting on liquidity, are secondaries.
As the market heads into 2026, the role of secondaries, especially in the context of portfolios past their prime, will expand, whether across direct secondaries, LP-led transactions and most notably, GP-led continuation vehicles (CV).
One of the earliest markers came in 2024, when ChrysCapital raised $700 million for India’s largest single-asset CV. Backed by HarbourVest Partners, LGT Capital Partners and Pantheon Ventures, it scooped up National Stock Exchange (NSE) stakes from Fund VI (2012 vintage). “We could have exited (NSE) at any point, delivering a 6x return to LPs… We felt there was more value to capture and rolling into a continuation fund made sense,” ChrysCapital managing director Saurabh Chatterjee told DealStreetAsia recently.
Fast-forward to Multiples Alternate Asset Management’s $430 million CV in May last year, with HarbourVest, Hamilton Lane, LGT Capital Partners and TPG NewQuest at the helm. Multiples transferred stakes in Vastu Housing Finance, Quantiphi and APAC Financial Services from Fund II to the CV. In September, Kedaara Capital joined the party, raising a $300 million CV to transfer stakes in Lenskart and Care Health Insurance.
Alongside these scaled GP-led transactions, direct secondaries have delivered targeted liquidity across portfolios.
In October last year, US pension fund CalPERS led a $450 million funding round in quick commerce company Zepto, creating exits for early investors.
Earlier, Asia Pacific secondaries specialist TR Capital acquired stakes in MoEngage, Whatfix and Shadowfax from Eight Roads Ventures for $50 million.
In May, Investcorp Capital sold its stake in value retailer Citykart to TPG NewQuest and A91 Partners as part of a $63 million deal.
Partners Group acquired a majority stake in NBFC Infinity Fincorp Solutions last July, leading a $230 million investment which created an exit for True North affiliated Indium IV (Mauritius) Holdings. Earlier, it also teamed up with KKR to lead a $140 million investment in SaaS company Darwinbox, delivering liquidity to early investors.
Last week, Peak XV sold its stake in contract lifecycle management software company Sirion to US-based Haveli Investments, and Premji Invest and TPG NewQuest booked partial exits from ready-to-cook food retailer iD Fresh Food, selling stakes to Apax Partners.
Globally, the repository of capital backing secondaries continues to expand. A record $119.8 billion was raised in 2025, concentrated across 54 funds, according to PitchBook.
UK-based secondaries specialist Coller Capital closed its latest and largest secondaries fund at $12.5 billion, taking its overall assets under management to $50 billion. “Secondaries are no longer seen as a tactical portfolio rebalancing tool but a core component of diversified portfolios. We are entering secondaries’ finest hour,” the firm’s CIO and managing partner Jeremy Coller said in a statement this week.
If you happened to be listening in at the IVCA Conclave’s secondaries panel in Mumbai early last year, you may recall HarbourVest managing director Dominic Goh’s articulation of the evolving secondaries market in India, tracing the arc from zombie funds and broken GPs to scaled CVs born of battle-tested GPs and a growing need to demonstrate DPI ahead of future fundraising. “We’ve seen that evolution in the US, in Europe and now in Asia, we’re seeing it first and foremost in India,” he said.
The Week in Deals
PeeSafe, the wellness and hygiene products retailer, raised $32 million in a Series C round led by OrbiMed Asia Partners. The deal has a secondary component. VCCircle reported citing sources that Alkemi Growth Capital, which entered the company in 2019 in the Series A round, booked an exit, selling most of its stake.
Sukino, which providers out-of-hospital healthcare services, raised a $31 million Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Zerodha-backed Rainmatter participated in the round.
Emversity, a training startup founded by former Unacademy COO Vivek Sinha, raised $30 million in a Series A round led by Premji Invest. Lightspeed and Z47 were return backers in the round, which values the startup at $120 million, according to TechCrunch. Emversity, founded in 2023, raised a $11 million seed round led by Z47 and Lightspeed in 2024.
Wint Wealth, a marketplace for retail debt investments, raised about $28 million in a Series B round led by Vertex Venture Southeast Asia and India. Existing investors 3one4 Capital, 8 Roads Ventures, Arkam Ventures and Rainmatter joined the round.
Liquidnitro Games, a games production company, raised $19 million in a Series A round led by Northpoint Capital. Nexus Venture Partners was a return backer in the round. Northpoint, founded by former Nexus executive Sameer Brij Verma, is investing from its maiden $150 million fund raised last year.
CloudSEK completed its ongoing Series B round, raising $10 million in the Series B2 tranche. Connecticut Innovations, the strategic venture capital arm of the State of Connecticut, participated in the Series B2 tranche, which was a mix of primary and secondary capital. The cybersecurity startup had raised $19 million in the Series B1 tranche back in May 2025 from multiple investors including Commvault, MassMutual Ventures, Inflexor Ventures, Prana Ventures, Tenacity Ventures and the Meeran Family.
Truva, a home buying and selling platform, raised $9 million in a Series A round led by Stellaris Venture Partners and Orios Venture Partners. HNI investors Mukesh Bansal, Aakrit Vaish and Miten Sampat joined the round.
Bluecopa, which offers a finance operations management platform, raised a $7.5 million Series A led by Analog Partners, a Singapore based investment firm. Existing investors Blume Ventures and Dallas Venture Capital joined the round.
Sub-$5 million deals: Spacetech startup Aule Space raised $2 million in a seed round led by Pi Ventures. Cleantech startup GreenTech raised a little over $3 million from Transition VC. Secret Alchemist, a clean fragrance startup co-founded by actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu, raised $3 million in a seed round led by Unilever Ventures. DSG Consumer Partners joined the round, which included a secondary component. On-demand beauty and wellness services startup Dazzl raised $3.2 million in a seed round led by Stellaris Venture Partners. Mobility startup PumPumPum raised about $2 million in a pre-Series A round led by LC Nueva.
Carrum, a fleet management services startup, raised an undisclosed sum in a Series A round from Uber. Earlier, in 2024, Carrum had raised an undisclosed sum from automobile marketplace CarDekho.
USK Capital, Uday Kotak’s family office, acquired a majority stake in US-based healthy snacking brand Go Raw. It acquired the stake from mid-market private equity firm Juggernaut Capital Partners which invested in Go Raw in 2017. USK Capital, according to media reports, is also a limited partner (LP) in Centre Court Capital, a venture capital firm focused on sports-tech and gaming which raised a Rs 410 crore maiden fund in December. JSW Group scion Parth Jindal is the anchor LP in the fund.
Source: Deals reported in media publications, company releases and filings
Quickly before we go
In a surprise development, L Catterton partner and co-head for India investments Anjana Sasidharan has quit and will be starting an early stage venture capital firm focused on consumer businesses, Moneycontrol reported.
L Catterton confirmed Sasidharan’s departure from the firm to the publication.
“L Catterton Partner Anjana Sasidharan will be transitioning from the firm over the course of the first quarter of 2026 to start her own venture at a later time focusing on investing in early-stage consumer companies in India, in line with her interests and skill sets. Our team in India will continue to be led by L Catterton India Executive Chairman Sanjiv Mehta and Partner Vikram Kumaraswamy,” a spokesperson said.
Sasidharan joined L Catterton in 2021 from Sequoia Capital India (now known as Peak XV) to lead its India investments.
L Catterton, which recently joined the Haldiram’s cap table, is in the middle of raising a $600 million India-specific fund, its first, to back growth stage companies in the consumer sector. The fund will be managed by former Hindustan Unilever chairman and CEO Sanjiv Mehta as a joint venture between L Catterton and Mehta.
Have a good week ahead.
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