Ola Electric & Meesho: The “Exit Supercycle” That Defined 2025
By Santosh Sinha | Markets & Unicorn Desk Date: November 28, 2025
Mumbai: As we enter the final month of 2025, the Indian startup ecosystem is witnessing a historic “bookending” event. What began with the high-voltage public debut of Ola Electric has now culminated in the highly anticipated IPO of Meesho, scheduled for early December.
Together, these two listings have effectively set the tone for what global analysts are calling India’s “Exit Supercycle.”
For over a decade, the Indian unicorn story was about entry—funding, valuations, and minting billions on paper. Late 2025 marks the definitive shift to exit—delivering tangible liquidity to investors and proving that Indian tech giants can survive the scrutiny of the public markets.
The “Twin Pillars” of the 2025 Market
While they operate in vastly different sectors—EV manufacturing versus social commerce—Ola Electric and Meesho share a narrative that has defined investor sentiment this year: The Pivot to Public Reality.
- Ola Electric (The Torchbearer): Listing earlier in the cycle, Ola Electric broke the ice for new-age manufacturing. Despite facing post-listing volatility and operational scrutiny in Q3 2025, its debut proved that Indian retail investors have an appetite for capital-intensive, hardware-first stories. It effectively “opened the gate” for deep-tech and manufacturing IPOs, moving the needle beyond just software.
- Meesho (The Grand Finale): Set to hit the bourses in December 2025 with a target valuation of ~$6 Billion, Meesho represents the “mass market” consumption story. Its journey from high cash burn to “profitability-first” metrics (reported in its DRHP) is the blueprint that late-stage investors were waiting for.
“2021 was about FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). 2025 is about JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)-on the bad deals. Investors are only backing unicorns like Meesho that have fixed their unit economics,” notes a lead analyst at JP Morgan India.
Delivering the “Liquidity Event”
The most critical signal sent by these IPOs is to Global Limited Partners (LPs)-the entities that fund VCs.
For years, LPs asked, “Can India return capital?” The combined market cap unlock of Ola Electric and Meesho answer that with a resounding “Yes.”
- Secondary Exits: The “Offer for Sale” (OFS) components in these IPOs have allowed early backers (like SoftBank and Prosus) to finally realize returns, rotating capital back into the early-stage ecosystem.
- The “Lock-In” Effect: With Ola Electric’s pre-IPO lock-in period expiring in August 2025, the market absorbed a massive supply of shares without a crash, signaling deep maturity and depth in domestic institutional buying (DII).
What This Means for 2026
The success of this “Exit Event” has cleared the runway for the next cohort. With the Ola-Meesho benchmark set, the IPO pipeline for 2026-rumored to include fintech giants and SaaS leaders—looks robust.
The message to founders is clear: Build for the BSE, not just for the Boardroom. The public market is open, but only for those who can deliver governance alongside growth.