Synopsis
Regulatory filings seen by ET show the four cofounders of Billionbrains Garage Ventures, Groww’s parent entity, increased their combined stake to 29.01% on a paid-up basis as on June 30, having raised it to 27.93% in 2024-25 from 23.89% in the previous financial year.
The founders of stockbroking and wealthtech platform Groww have steadily increased their personal shareholding in the company over the past 18 months as it prepares for a public listing in November.
Regulatory filings seen by ET show the four cofounders of Billionbrains Garage Ventures, Groww’s parent entity, increased their combined stake to 29.01% on a paid-up basis as on June 30, having raised it to 27.93% in 2024-25 from 23.89% in the previous financial year.
Among the cofounders, CEO Lalit Keshre’s stake increased to 10.03% by June from 9.66% in 2024-25 and 8.61% in 2023-24. Harsh Jain’s holdings went up to 7.32% from 6.05% during this period, Neeraj Singh’s to 6.80% from 5.52% and Ishan Bansal’s to 4.86% by June from 3.70%.
According to the draft red herring prospectus, the founders intend to divest only 0.072% of their combined holdings in the IPO. This contrasts with several other new-age firms where promoters pared down larger stakes ahead of market debut.
The company has also earmarked 5.35% of its post-issue equity for employee stock options (Esops), a move aimed at retaining key talent following the listing.
ET’s queries to Groww remained unanswered as of press time Tuesday.
It comes amid a growing trend among consumer tech and internet companies, such as Lenskart, Zomato (now Eternal), Swiggy, Delhivery, PB Fintech and Freshworks, of founders increasing their stakes ahead of IPOs. Founder holdings often get diluted during public listings, and pre-IPO stock grants serve as a mechanism to retain and reward them.
Such adjustments are facilitated through expanding the Esop pool, buying out existing investors or preferential allotments. In larger companies, where promoters hold a larger stake, they benefit further from post-IPO share gains.
Earlier this month, Groww filed its updated DRHP with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for a Rs 6,000–7,000 crore initial public offering. The issue will consist of a fresh issue of Rs 1,060 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 574 million shares worth about Rs 5,000–6,000 crore.
Shareholders participating in the OFS include Peak XV Partners, Y Combinator, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and Kauffman Fellows Fund. Each of the four cofounders will also sell one million shares, the draft papers showed.
Founded in 2016 by former Flipkart executives Keshre, Jain, Singh and Bansal, Groww began as a mutual fund investment app and has since become India’s largest stockbroker by active clients, according to NSE data. In recent months, Groww has been expanding to new revenue channels, including wealth management, margin trading facility, commodities and loan against shares, which it expects to drive future growth.
Groww reported a net profit of Rs 1,824 crore for 2024-25 and Rs 378 crore for the first quarter of 2025-26, up 11% from a year earlier. Its revenue for 2024-25 increased 31% year-on-year to Rs 4,056 crore.
The company counts 12.58 million NSE active clients, as of June 30, compared to 10.92 million a year ago.
According to Tracxn, Groww has raised about $596 million in equity funding to date. It recently closed a $200 million round led by GIC and Iconiq Capital at a $7 billion valuation, as first reported by ET on March 26.
Source: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com