Meesho surges nearly 20%, tops 2025 IPO rankings in India

Meesho surged about 20% on December 17, bringing its gains since listing to roughly 95% and making it India’s top-performing major IPO of 2025.

The ecommerce platform, backed by SoftBank, debuted last week in Mumbai after raising US$603 million and now holds a valuation near US$11 billion.

Meesho’s stock rose after UBS Group initiated coverage with a buy rating, noting its asset-light model and ability to generate cash flow.

The company targets lower- and middle-income consumers in India’s tier-two and tier-three cities.

India has become the world’s fourth-largest market for IPOs this year, with tech startups seeing strong demand from both local and global investors.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

UBS bases its buy rating on Meesho’s “ability to generate cash flow” 1, yet it posted a net loss of Rs 3,914.7 crore in FY25 and Rs 701 crore in H1 FY26; excluding one-time IPO expenses, FY25 loss was Rs 108 crore 1.
An industry roundup says Meesho had positive free cash flow over ₹1,000 crore in last 12 months 2. Free cash flow is not standardized under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and the IPO filing warns about “measurement of non-GAAP metrics” 3.
Contribution margin improved to 4.95% of net merchandise value (the sales value of goods after cancellations and returns) in FY25 from 2.94% in FY23 3, yet margins remain thin at scale.

Meesho’s 79.03X oversubscription and 46.4% listing premium make clear strong demand for tech IPOs in India, which ranked fourth globally in 2025 1.
Upcoming listings feature Shiprocket (an ecommerce shipping and logistics platform) and Credila Financial Services (an education lender) 2. Shadowfax (a last-mile logistics provider) and Imagine Marketing (parent of consumer electronics brand boAt) target late 2025 or early 2026 2. Providers that map Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) filings can time outreach.
Meesho hired five book-running lead managers (the investment banks coordinating the IPO) including Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, J.P. Morgan India, and Morgan Stanley India 3. Banks and advisory firms can track who wins mandates for future deals.