Delhi NCR Maintains Lead In The New-Age Tech IPO Race

Gone are the days when listed new-age tech companies were few and far between. Startup IPOs are almost commonplace in today’s era, and Delhi NCR is leading the charge. As per Inc42’s “Annual Indian Startup Trends Report 2025”, Delhi NCR accounts for the highest number of publicly-listed startups in India as well as the overall market capitalisation commanded by startups in the equities market. 

Emerging from a slowdown in private capital influx during the funding winter (2022-23), Indian startups are now more willing than ever to tap the domestic public markets for further fundraise, as evident by the startup IPO boom over the past couple of years. 

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Post a record breaking year of startup public listings in 2025, India is now home to 56 publicly-listed new-age tech companies. 

As of now, 23 of the 56 new-age tech companies are based in Delhi NCR, across three key cities — Delhi, Gurugram and Noida. Overall, the hub accounted for $88 Bn in the cumulative $147 Bn market cap of new-age tech companies, as of January 16.

The region maintains a strong lead over its peer startup hubs — Mumbai and Bengaluru. Bengaluru, home to marquee names like Ola Electric and Swiggy, houses 13 listed startups, ranking second. With the two upcoming startup listings of Amagi and Shadowfax, the number is expected to touch 15 by the end of this month.  

Meanwhile, Mumbai sits at the third position with 8 listed new-age companies including Nykaa and Nazara. The most recent startup IPO to come of this startup hub was ArisInfra in June 2025. 

Worthy to note that a sub-region of Delhi NCR, Gurugram, has an equivalent number of publicly listed companies, housing companies like Eternal, Delhivery and ixigo. These 13 startups, with a cumulative market cap of $60 Bn, contribute more than two-thirds of the market cap of the entire Delhi NCR region. 

In second place is Noida with 6 listed startups such as Paytm, Physicswallah, and Pine Labs, having a combined market cap of around $28 Bn. New Delhi, which is home to four listed new-age companies including MapmyIndia and Awfis, adds another $2 Bn in market cap. 

In 2025, names like Lenskart, Urban Company, Smartworks and Pine Labs went public after closing their public offerings with exceptional investor interest. Besides, meat delivery startup ZappFresh also went for an IPO, listing on the BSE SME exchange at a premium in October 2025. 

While Delhi NCR leads in terms of publicly listed startups, it trails other prominent startup hubs in terms of private capital deployed by institutional investors. Bengaluru, which is often dubbed India’s Silicon Valley, leads with more than 2,000 funded startups having raised $76 Bn in total since 2014. Meanwhile, Delhi has over 1,700 funded startups that have raised $47 Bn in total over the same period. 

In 2025, Bengaluru startups landed over 300 funding deals totalling $4.5 Bn, while Delhi NCR trailed with a capital infusion of about $2.2 Bn across over 224 deals during the year.

So, why is the startup IPO boom more significant in the region? 

Why Delhi NCR Is Home To Most Publicly Listed Startups?

Delhi NCR’s dominance in India’s startup IPO landscape stems from a combination of the region’s consumer-first business mix, a stronger focus on profitability, and a culture shaped by traditional, P&L-driven enterprises.

“The precedent has been set by companies like Zomato, Info Edge, etc which were the first to understand the advantage of going for public listings,” Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, cofounder of Venture Catalysts and 100Unicorns opined. 

According to industry stakeholders, the type of companies that emerged from Delhi NCR over the years has played a critical role in shaping IPO readiness.

A large chunk of the 23 listed new-age tech companies based in the city are consumer-facing, where business success is largely dependent on being able to crack the Indian B2C landscape. This is in contrast with Bengaluru, where the image is of SaaS and B2B businesses. 

“Hence their focus is more on the overseas market and maybe their presence in the Indian retail investor’s mind is also limited,” BlueGreen Ventures’ founding partner Anup Jain notes.

This sectoral skew has also influenced how quickly companies can move towards profitability — a key consideration for public market investors.

Sharma concurred, adding, “Most consumer product companies have a chance of becoming profitable faster within 3-5 years, whereas a deeptech company can take 10-12 years to reach profitability.”

Beyond sector dynamics, investors point to the underlying entrepreneurial culture of the region as another decisive factor.

To an extent, the ability to build businesses in a way that is rewarded by retail investors could be a reflection of the culture of Delhi NCR. “A lot of founders here come from a background of exposure to traditional P&L-driven businesses. In our portfolio we have founders who are very particular about capital efficiency, who want to build for scale and sustainability. Whether by design or coincidence, they have done phenomenally well,” Sauce.vc’s partner Yash Dholakia said.

“For bottom-line creation, the environment has to be there. If you ask me what is the fueling factor for companies to turn profitable, there are large legacy companies in Delhi NCR and Mumbai which are influencing the minds of young entrepreneurs and support is available to guide them towards that,” Sharma added.

Beyond business models and founder mindset, Delhi NCR region’s structural advantages have also played a critical role in making the region fertile ground for publicly listed startups.

Its proximity to policymakers and regulators gives startups easier access to policy engagement, pilot programmes and large public-sector contracts. Besides, talent availability has also further strengthened the ecosystem. The region draws talent from premier institutions such as IIT Delhi, FMS and IIM Lucknow’s Noida campus, alongside a steady inflow of professionals from PSUs, multinational corporations, consulting firms and media houses. 

On the capital side, Gurugram and Noida host a dense cluster of venture capital firms, private equity funds, family offices and corporate venture arms. This concentration reduces fundraising friction, enables faster follow-on rounds and helps companies build the financial track records needed to transition from private to public markets.

Further, strong physical infrastructure and connectivity — spanning road, metro and railway networks, along with proximity to industrial clusters in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan — have supported startups operating in manufacturing-linked, logistics-heavy and supply-chain-driven sectors.

Looking ahead, 48 Indian startups are planning to go public within the next 18 months, including several major players from the Delhi NCR region such as AVPL International, AceVector, OfBusiness, Meritto, Aye Finance, Shiprocket, OYO, and Travelstack. Outside the capital region, companies such as Flipkart, Zepto, Rebel Foods and Kuku FM are also lining up for listings.

Over time, however, investors expect regional differences in IPO outcomes to narrow.

“Maybe the playing field will be more level over the years as startups get more dispersed across the country,” BlueGreen’s Jain noted.

[Edited by: Akshit Pushkarna]

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