Articles by Varsha Santosh

Technology

1996, 2000, 2007, 2019, 2021, now 2025? Will this IPO boom also end in tears?

Two of India’s buzziest startups — Lenskart and Groww — hit the markets this week, but their debuts couldn’t have been more different. For Lenskart, the much-hyped listing turned out to be more of a blur. Despite strong institutional appetite ahead of the IPO, its shares opened below the issue price — a sobering moment for a brand that’s been synonymous with swagger. As soon as the IPO opened for subscription, social media lit up — investors on X and Instagram slammed the pricing and the promoter’s handsome exit.But not everyone saw red. Veteran investor Shankar Sharma argued that the valuation wasn’t outrageous — “on a price-to-sales basis, all these issues were coming at the same price tag of around 10x to sales, he said, comparing it with the high numbers of Paytm and Nykaa.