Private equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) exits worth $24 billion across 288 deals were recorded in 2024 (up to December 20). While this is just about 2.8 per cent growth in the value of exits from 2023, it is the highest since 2021 when a slew of global exits in the software industry led to a exits value of $37 billion, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a research firm.

In a year when private investors continued to remain cautious on new investments, the rise in exits was largely driven by public market sale. This includes exits via IPOs and sale of stake by private investors post listing. Investors recorded over $15 billion in exits in this route in 2024, a 15 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth. Secondary sales (where stake in a company changes hands between private investors) rose 11 per cent and exits through strategic sales and buybacks declined.

PE firm Advent International’s stake sale in Bharat Serums & Vaccines to Mankind Pharma and the windfall gains of PE investors from Vishal Mega Mart’s IPO were among the top exits. Elevation Capital, Goldman Sachs, Norwest, Accel India and others exiting Swiggy through its IPO was another top exit deal.

“IPOs made a clear difference this year in bringing lucrative exits to investors. VCs typically sell to strategic investors or exit through secondaries as start-ups take a long time to go public but this year, we saw a number of VC exit through IPOs as start-ups explore public listing earlier in their journey,” Arun Natarajan, founder and MD, Venture Intelligence, said.

As per data, exits by VCs via public market sale was around $1.5 billion in 2024 compared to just $0.3 billion in 2023. The number of VC-backed IPOs also grew to 11 in 2024 compared to six in 2023. A few marquee start-up listings include Swiggy, Awfis, Firstcry and Digit Insurance.

Though IT industry makes up one-third of the total exits in 2024, the y-o-y growth in exits was larger in the non-technology industries. Exits in IT declined by nearly 20 per cent, while that of healthcare and life sciences grew 33 per cent and manufacturing companies gave 35 per cent higher exits to investors in 2024.

Despite markets taking a breather in recent months, investors expect a good pipeline of exits via IPOs in the Indian start-up ecosystem in the year ahead. “2025 might not see a deluge of start-up IPOs, but the focus will be on quality over quantity. Investors and founders are increasingly deliberate about choosing IPOs as a methodical exit strategy, ensuring that start-ups entering public markets are well-prepared and meet investor expectations,” Ninad Karpe, founder and partner of VC firm 100X.VC, said.