Urban Company IPO Day 2: Shares subscribed 9X as NIIs, retail investors rush in
Urban Company’s IPO was fully subscribed within hours of opening on Wednesday, underscoring continued interest from small investors in consumer-facing internet companies.
Urban Company’s initial public offering drew heavy investor demand on the second day of bidding, with overall subscriptions reaching 9X the shares on offer, making it one of the strongest debuts by an Indian consumer tech startup in recent months.
The Gurugram-based home services marketplace saw robust appetite across categories. Non-institutional investors, including high-net-worth individuals, led the surge with bids exceeding their allocation by more than 18 times. Within that, the segment for applications between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh was subscribed 19.07 times.
Retail investors also rushed in, subscribing to their allotment 17.68 times over. The retail tranche was fully booked within the first hour of opening on Wednesday, underscoring continued interest from small investors in consumer-facing internet companies despite recent volatility in startup listings.
Qualified institutional buyers were comparatively restrained, bidding for 1.48 times the shares earmarked for them. Employees applied for 13.45 times their reserved portion.
In total, Urban Company received bids for about 961 million shares against the 107.7 million shares available.
Founded in 2014, Urban Company connects customers with professionals for services ranging from grooming and cleaning to appliance repair. The IPO is seen as a key test for investor appetite in India’s consumer tech sector after a mixed run for recent market entrants.
The Rs 1,900-crore ($229 million) offering, which closes on September 12, is scheduled to list on September 17. The Gurugram-based home-services marketplace had raised Rs 853.9 crore ($97 million) from anchor investors before the IPO, selling shares at the top of the price band of Rs 98 to Rs 103.
Global funds, including Goldman Sachs, Dragoneer Investments, Norges Bank, GIC, and Nomura, participated in the anchor round, along with 13 domestic mutual funds, including SBI, HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Nippon, and UTI. At the upper end of the price band, the company would be valued around Rs 14,000 crore ($1.5 billion).
The offering includes a fresh issue of Rs 429 crore and an offer-for-sale of Rs 1,471 crore by early investors Accel, Elevation Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners, which stand to notch multi-bagger returns—up to 28 times on their initial bets.
Edited by Kanishk Singh