Groww in talks to rack up pre-IPO funding at $6.5 billion valuation

Stockbroking firm Groww is evaluating a $200 million fundraise and has held discussions with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC as well as existing investor Tiger Global, according to two people aware of the discussions.

The deal could value the Bengaluru-based startup at around $6.5 billion, these people said. Groww’s last fundraise in 2021 had valued the platform at around $3 billion.

“The round is expected to close soon as the company prepares to file its IPO papers in the next few months,” said another person in the know.


ET reported on January 13 that Groww is likely to raise around $700 million through its listing, joining a swathe of new-age startups that have tapped the local public markets in recent years.

GIC and Tiger Global declined to comment. Emailed queries sent to Groww remained unanswered till press time.

The pre-IPO financing at Groww comes in the backdrop of its Mumbai-based rival Dhan’s active discussions with a bunch of investors for a $200 million funding round at $1.2 billion valuation, as reported by ET earlier.

Groww, which started as a direct mutual funds distributor, is currently the largest stockbroker in the country in terms of active clients. According to NSE data, Groww’s active trader base in February stands at around 13 million compared with Zerodha’s 8 million and around 7.7 million for Angel One.

In November last year, Groww — cofounded by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal and Neeraj Singh — moved its domicile to India from the US to facilitate its listing on the Indian stock exchanges.

The nine-year-old company closed FY24 with revenues of Rs 3,145 crore and a net loss of Rs 805 crore due to a one-time tax payout made to the US authorities for its reverse flip to India.

Diversification push

ET reported on March 13, that Groww has held talks to acquire the PayU-backed Fisdom, a wealth management firm, in a bid to diversify its offerings. While it has already launched consumer durables loans, the stockbroking company will also set up a new business unit ‘W’ to sharply focus on wealth management.

These developments come amid the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) recent clampdown on futures and options (F&O) trading. For new-age brokerages, which draw more than 70% of their revenue from F&O trades, the regulator’s move has dented their revenues.

In February, active traders on Groww dropped by more than 200,000 from 13.2 million in the preceding month — a first in two years. Its competitors such as Zerodha and Angel One, each saw their base shrink by around 150,000 in the same period.

Last year, Zerodha’s cofounder and CEO Nithin Kamath had told ET that he expected a hit of 30% on company’s overall order volumes and the industry at large. On February 28, Kamath said in a post on X, “Across brokers, there’s a more than 30% drop in activity. Combined with the true-to-market circular, we are seeing degrowth in the business for the first time since we started 15 years ago.”