ESDS Listing Pushes New-Age Tech Stocks’ Market Cap Past $170 Bn

The first week of September was marked by stake sales by institutional investors, fresh ESOP allotments, and continued momentum in the new-age tech IPO market. 

Of the 62 previously listed new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 26 gained between 0.03% and 13% during the week, while the remaining 36 declined by up to 15%. Honasa ended the week flat. 

After leading the gainers last week, BSE SME-listed edtech startup Klassroom emerged as the biggest loser this week. Its shares fell 15.37% to end at ₹184.50.

FirstCry also touched a fresh all-time low of ₹170 on Wednesday before recovering to close the week at ₹180.10. The stock fell 3.07% during the week and ended about 61% below its IPO price of ₹465. 

Shares of Ola Electric, Delhivery, Eternal, Swiggy, and Nykaa also ended the week marginally lower.

Despite most stocks declining, the combined market capitalisation of the 62 previously listed new-age tech companies rose to $169.39 Bn from $166.91 Bn last week.

Meanwhile, Lenskart, Ather Energy, and LEAP India touched fresh all-time highs during the week. NSE SME-listed Yudiz Solutions topped the gainers, rising ₹3.10, or 13%, during the week. Shiprocket, Urban Company, BlueStone, and Shadowfax also recorded sizable gains.

ESDS Software Solution, which listed yesterday, became the 63rd listed new-age tech company. After its IPO was oversubscribed 135.9X, the enterprise cloud, data centre, GPU, and AI infrastructure company listed at a 74% premium on the BSE and 76.5% on the NSE over its issue price of ₹429.

The stock subsequently hit the 20% upper circuit and ended its first trading session at ₹895.50 on the BSE and ₹908.40 on the NSE, more than doubling from its issue price.

Including ESDS’ market capitalisation of about $1.11 Bn, the combined market cap of the 63 new-age tech companies crossed $170 Bn to reach approximately $170.50 Bn.

Despite the sharp expansion in recent years, new-age tech companies account for just over 3% of the Indian stock market’s total capitalisation.

With that, here’s a look at some of the other major developments of the week.

Info Edge-Backed Meritto Files IPO Papers: After receiving SEBI’s clearance for its confidential DRHP, Meritto parent NoPaperForms filed its updated IPO papers. The proposed public issue comprises a fresh issue of shares worth ₹350 Cr and an OFS of up to 3.8 Cr equity shares. Info Edge will be the sole selling shareholder in the OFS.

RentoMojo IPO Next Week: Furniture and appliance rental startup RentoMojo filed its RHP for its public issue, which will open for bidding on Wednesday and close on Friday. The company has set a price band of ₹384 to ₹404 per share. At the upper end, the ₹1,255.6 Cr IPO will comprise a ₹150 Cr fresh issue and an OFS of up to 2.7 Cr shares worth ₹1,105.6 Cr.

Investors Pare Stakes: Institutional investors continued to pare their holdings in listed new-age tech companies through block deals. SoftBank offloaded shares worth ₹1,650 Cr in Meesho, while Alpha Wave sold Pine Labs shares worth ₹550 Cr. Lenskart and Eternal also saw shares worth ₹2,670.2 Cr and ₹3,265 Cr, respectively, change hands during the week.

Nykaa Raises Earth Rhythm Stake: Nykaa completed the acquisition of an additional 24.2% stake in skincare and personal care brand Earth Rhythm, increasing its ownership in the subsidiary to 18.6%.

Purple Style Labs IPO Subscribed 1.29X: Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop parent Purple Style Labs’ ₹680 Cr IPO was subscribed 1.29X. Investors placed bids for 88.54 Lakh shares against the 68.49 Lakh shares on offer. The company’s shares are scheduled to debut on the stock exchanges on Monday.

BlackRock Buys Ather Shares: Asset management giant BlackRock bought 25.9 Lakh shares of Ather Energy for ₹445.3 Cr through an open-market transaction. BlackRock Global Funds purchased the shares at ₹1,713.02 apiece as the electric two-wheeler maker’s stock continued to trade near its all-time high.

Nazara Raises Funky Monkeys Stake: Nazara Technologies acquired an additional 4.1% stake in Funky Monkeys Play Centre for ₹1.90 Cr through a secondary transaction with founder Binita Putcha. The acquisition of 75,972 shares increased Nazara’s holding in the indoor play-centre chain to 68.1% from 64%.

Fractal Liquidates Sweden Arm: Fractal Analytics initiated the voluntary liquidation of its step-down subsidiary Fractal Analytics Sweden AB. The AI company said the move was aimed at simplifying its corporate structure and reducing administrative and legal compliance costs.

Now, let’s take a look at the performance of the broader market this week.

Global Rate Risks Weigh On Markets

Indian equity markets extended their decline for the fourth consecutive week. The Nifty 50 fell 1.15% during the week to close at 23,897.70, while the Sensex declined nearly 1% to 76,515.43.

Rising crude oil prices, geopolitical tensions, and uncertainty around global interest rates weighed on investor sentiment. A marginal recovery yesterday snapped a four-session losing streak, but the rebound remained limited amid concerns over foreign investor flows and elevated global bond yields.

Brent crude emerged as a key pressure point, rising about 7% during the week to hover around $96 per barrel as escalating US-Iran tensions raised concerns over energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Higher crude prices could add to India’s inflation and current-account pressures and weigh on the margins of companies sensitive to energy and other input costs.

Global interest-rate expectations also remained a major driver. US non-farm payrolls rose by a stronger-than-expected 1.62 Lakh in August, increasing expectations of a potential rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. Dovish comments from Fed governor Christopher Waller, however, offered some relief earlier in the week.

Domestic indicators offered some support, with India’s GDP growing 7.8% YoY in Q1 FY27 and gross GST collections rising 14.8% YoY to ₹1.99 Lakh Cr in August.

Ajit Mishra, SVP of research at Religare Broking, expects markets to remain sensitive to crude prices, geopolitical developments, and global monetary policy. He sees 23,600-23,700 as the Nifty’s immediate support zone, with resistance at 24,150-24,200.

Geojit Investments chief investment strategist VK Vijayakumar said FPI flows had turned positive, with foreign investors pumping ₹2,374 Cr into Indian equities during the first four days of September. However, he cautioned that rising global bond yields could limit sustained inflows.

Against this backdrop, let’s take a closer look at the performance of LEAP India and Ola Electric.

LEAP India Slips Despite Profit Growth

LEAP India’s shares came under pressure despite the recently listed logistics company reporting healthy YoY growth in its first quarterly results since going public.

The stock fell 10.65% during the week to close at ₹150.55, taking its market capitalisation to about ₹6,632.3 Cr, (about $700 Mn).

LEAP India’s consolidated net profit rose 30.3% YoY to ₹24.7 Cr in Q1 FY27, while operating revenue increased 19.1% to ₹203.4 Cr. EBITDA grew 21% to ₹114.1 Cr, with the margin expanding 108 basis points to 53.5%.

However, sequential growth remained muted. Revenue was largely unchanged from ₹203.5 Cr in Q4 FY26, while net profit declined 5.6% QoQ.

LEAP India listed on August 14 at a premium of 4.4% to its ₹159 issue price. However, the stock has since fallen below the issue price, with investors likely to focus on whether the company can sustain its targeted revenue growth of more than 20%, improve asset utilisation, and translate its expansion into higher earnings.

The company has identified higher asset movement, cross-selling, expansion into new industries, and growth in its GCC operations as its key growth drivers. Meanwhile, broad analyst coverage of the stock is yet to emerge.

Ola Electric Ends Lower

Ola Electric’s shares fell 1.92% during the week to ₹38.23 as investors weighed the EV maker’s funding requirements against its product launches and turnaround efforts.

The decline came despite a series of operational developments, including the rollout of Ola Electric’s first dealer-operated stores and the launch of its mass-market S1Z range.

Priced from ₹79,999, the S1Z is the company’s first scooter range powered by its indigenously developed 46-series Bharat Cell LFP technology. The cells are manufactured at Ola Electric’s Gigafactory.

The company has said that producing cells in-house could lower battery costs and enable it to offer LFP technology at more affordable prices.

The battery push comes alongside a broader restructuring of Ola Electric’s retail operations. The EV maker has begun rolling out dealer-operated stores and is targeting more than 500 such outlets as it looks to expand its distribution network and improve its sales and service reach.

Ola Electric also secured an incentive of ₹95.81 Cr under the PLI-Auto scheme for FY27, marking the third consecutive year in which it qualified for the incentive. Its battery manufacturing subsidiary is separately eligible for incentives of up to ₹7,240 Cr under the ACC PLI scheme.

However, investors continue to focus on Ola Electric’s financial turnaround. Its net loss narrowed 22% YoY to ₹336 Cr in Q1 FY27, but operating revenue plunged 45% to ₹455 Cr.

Amid its continuing losses, the company is considering another fundraise, with its board scheduled to meet today to evaluate the proposal.

Edited by Vinaykumar Rai
Creatives by Varshita Srivastava

The post ESDS Listing Pushes New-Age Tech Stocks’ Market Cap Past $170 Bn appeared first on Inc42 Media.