On March 17, 2026, the day six-month pre-IPO lock-ins expired on Urban Company, SBI Mutual Fund bought ₹632 crore worth of shares in a single session, even as three early backers simultaneously sold ₹734 crore, per BSE bulk-deal disclosures. That one transaction defines what is happening across India’s new-age equity market: domestic institutional money is now the active buyer when foreign venture capital heads for the exit.
BSE shareholding data for Q4 FY26 shows mutual funds raised stakes in five unicorn-turned-listed companies, Urban Company, Ather Energy, Lenskart, Meesho, and PhysicsWallah, and were net buyers across all five in every week of the March quarter.
Urban Company: The Lock-In Trade
The lock-in expiry on March 17 released approximately 66% of Urban Company’s outstanding equity, around 94.1 crore shares, into the market, per Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research. DF International Partners II, ABG Capital, and Wellington Hadley Harbor sold a combined ₹734 crore through block deals. SBI MF absorbed the supply, raising its stake from 1.89% to 6.72%. Total mutual fund holdings more than doubled from 3.84% to 8.98% in a single quarter per BSE filings.
Urban Company was listed at a 64% premium in September 2025 after a 103.63x subscription. It holds over 60% of India’s online home services market, per Whalesbook, but posted a net loss of ₹21.3 crore in Q3 FY26 as it invested in scaling its InstaHelp vertical. Revenue rose 33% year-on-year to ₹382.7 crore in the same quarter, per BSE filings.
Ather Energy: Tesla Thesis, Flat Market Share
Mutual fund holding in Ather Energy rose from 18% to 20.5% in Q4, per BSE. Emkay Global projects Ather will turn EBIT/PAT positive in H2 FY27 and FCF positive by Q1 FY28, drawing a direct parallel to Tesla’s 10x stock move in CY20 after hitting the same inflection. Ather’s net losses have already narrowed sharply from ₹1,059 crore in FY24 to ₹812 crore in FY25 and to ₹84.6 crore in Q3 FY26, a 57% year-on-year improvement, per Screener.in.
The risk is unresolved: Ather’s market share has stayed flat at 10.7–11.5%, the PM E-drive subsidy has no guaranteed extension, and the company depends on imports from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea for seven critical EV components, per Groww IPO data.
Lenskart, Meesho, PhysicsWallah: New Entrants, Steep Targets
Lenskart attracted four first-time MF buyers in Q4: Quant MF, Tata MF, Motilal Oswal, and UTI, lifting aggregate holdings from 5.6% to 6.4%, per BSE. Jefferies forecasts 50%-plus EBITDA CAGR for Lenskart over FY25–28. The stock listed flat in 2025, and as of December 2025, it traded just 0.7% above the issue price, per Business Standard, the weakest debut in the cohort.
Meesho saw SBI MF and Nippon India MF initiate positions, nudging MF holdings from 4.6% to 4.9%. Axis Capital assigns a Buy with a target of ₹195, forecasting 29% GMV CAGR through FY30. Meesho was India’s best-performing major IPO of 2025, rallying 95% post-listing per Bloomberg, after being subscribed 81.76 times overall. The risk: PAT dropped 1,103% between FY24 and FY25 even as revenue grew 26%, per its RHP.
PhysicsWallah saw SBI MF and Mirae buy 24 million shares in Q4, lifting MF holdings from 4.8% to 5.6%. JM Financial initiates with a Buy at ₹110, projecting 28% revenue CAGR through FY28 but assigns a 70x FY28 PE multiple, leaving zero margin for execution error on EBITDA margins expanding from 3.2% to 13% in three years.
The Number Behind All Five Bets
As of March 31, 2025, domestic institutional investors overtook foreign institutional investors in NSE-listed company shareholding for the first time, with DIIs at 17.62% versus FIIs at 17.22%, per Kotak Securities. The macro shift is real. But 8 of the 15 startups that listed in 2025 were trading below their issue price by December 2025, per Groww, a 53% below-issue-price rate that no brokerage initiation note in this cohort has acknowledged.
The brokerage notes say 70x PE multiples and Tesla-style inflections are justified. The 53% failure rate on listing-price retention says execution will decide who is right.
Also Read: China, India Cut Fossil Electricity Generation for First Time This Century
FAQ
Which mutual funds bought Urban Company in March 2026?
SBI MF bought ₹632 crore on March 17, 2026, lock-in expiry day, raising its stake from 1.89% to 6.72%. Total MF holding rose from 3.84% to 8.98%, per BSE.
When does Ather Energy turn profitable?
Emkay Global projects EBIT/PAT positivity in H2 FY27 and FCF positivity by Q1 FY28. Losses have narrowed from ₹1,059 crore in FY24 to ₹84.6 crore in Q3 FY26.
Is Meesho profitable after its IPO?
No. PAT dropped 1,103% between FY24 and FY25. Axis Capital forecasts an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 3% only by FY30.
Which unicorn IPOs are coming in 2026?
PhonePe, Zepto, Infra.Market, Zetwerk, boAt, Shiprocket, and Moneyview are among 20+ companies preparing to list, per Entrackr. Five have already debuted in 2026, per Inc42.
