Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice-Chairman of Info Edge, said the company achieved a gross internal rate of return (IRR) of around 36 per cent.
“Since we started our financial investing activity in 2007, we have achieved an estimated 36 per cent gross IRR across all vintages put together,” he wrote in the FY25 annual letter to shareholders.
Info Edge gets a 9.3x return by investing in Indian startups
The Naukri. com-parent has invested Rs 3,959 crore across platforms like Zomato, Policybazaar, and Naukri. The portfolio is now valued at Rs 36,855 crore, delivering a gross internal rate of return (IRR) of 36 per cent, a staggering 9.3x return.
“Value creation through investing in tech-led and tech-enabled startups is scalable, sustainable and repeatable. It possibly gives us an edge as a tech operating company that very few others have in our field or otherwise,” Bikhchandani shared.
The company’s journey as a financial investor has played out over four distinct phases, beginning with its earliest bets between 2007 and 2012, laying the foundation for two of its biggest wins. [Source: MoneyControl]
“Zomato and PolicyBazaar have been breakout successes of this period from over half a dozen investee companies,” Bikhchandani noted.
The combined market capitalisation of these two startups now exceeds Rs 2.5 lakh crore, while Info Edge’s shareholding is valued at over Rs 31,500 crore as of March 31, 2025.
Info Edge held back in the phase (2012–2015) on new investments out of caution.
“We treaded cautiously in this period as the winners from Phase 1 were yet to emerge. We continued to support the existing portfolio wherever merited and needed, while not making investments into any new companies,” Bikhchandani wrote.
By 2016, with clear signals that Zomato and PolicyBazaar would be long-term winners, Info Edge resumed deploying capital. “Companies that we invested in during this period include Adda247 and Shipsy among others. These are all companies at varying stages of maturity, but we remain optimistic that some of these will emerge as multi-baggers for us,” the letter stated.
Many of these firms have since raised capital from top-tier investors such as Google, Westbridge, and Peak XV.
In 2019, the company institutionalised its efforts by launching the Info Edge Venture Fund (IEVF), along with Info Edge Capital and Capital 2B, under a SEBI-registered AIF vehicle – Info Edge Venture Fund.
The three funds have a combined corpus of Rs 3,422.94 crore, with Info Edge committing Rs 1,613.75 crore and Temasek’s MacRitchie Investments putting in Rs 1,593.75 crore.
Meanwhile, Sanjeev Bikhchandani’s company began placing deep-tech bets through its subsidiary Redstart Labs.
While these AIF-backed ventures are still early, the company said “several portfolio companies are already showing early promise with strong revenue growth, breakeven/profitability, leadership in their space and follow-on funding led by new external investors.”
These include companies like TrueMeds, Geniemode, Attentive.ai, Aftershoot, Mirana, Osfin, InPrime, among others, which have received follow-on investments from investors like Accel, Peak XV, Matrix, Westbridge, Tiger Global, Multiples PE, Fundamentum, Vertex, Left Lane and others.
Info Edge has backed 111 firms, excluding startups in sectors where it has operational businesses, with 76 of them raising capital from institutional co-investors.
Also read: ‘One of the biggest gaps I noticed after moving back to India from the US’: Anupam Mittal (startuppedia.in)
/startuppedia/media/media_files/2025/04/17/pWyNdOvVlQVfsWpnBlyG.jpg)
/startuppedia/media/media_files/2025/05/09/hUioB2aptx13Ieni2wmC.jpeg)