ixigo Brushes Past Other New-Age Tech Stocks With 25% Gains In First Four Sessions

After making a stellar debut on the Indian bourses on Tuesday (June 18), online travel platform ixigo has left behind its listed new-age tech peers in terms of gains in the first four trading sessions.

Shares of ixigo rallied over 25% from the listing price in the first four trading sessions. The stock listed at INR 135 on the BSE, a premium of 45.16% to its issue price. It soared from there to end the week at INR 169.18, registering a 25.3% gain in four trading sessions.

For comparison, PB Fintech, which listed on the bourses on November 15, 2021, saw its shares rise 15.7% in the first four trading sessions from its listing price. Similarly, Zomato rallied 14.4% from its listing in four sessions after its listing on July 23, 2021.

Beauty ecommerce platform Nykaa gained 14% in the first four trading sessions after its listing on November 10, 2021. Paytm, on the other hand, declined 10.3% in the same number of sessions after its public market debut on November 18, 2021.

Others like Nazara Technologies, MapmyIndia, and even Awfis, which listed just before ixigo, saw their shares go below their listing price by the end of the fourth trading session since their debut. 

It is pertinent to note that the market was highly bullish about ixigo’s initial public offering (IPO). Its public issue was oversubscribed 98.34X, with qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) showing the highest interest. The portion reserved for non-institutional investors (NIIs) and retail investors were also oversubscribed. 

On the listing day, shares of ixigo were locked in the upper circuit by rallying 20%. The day next, the stock again touched the upper circuit on the BSE by gaining 20% but ended the day 14.4% higher at INR 185.25.

On Thursday (June 20), ixigo shares declined over 9% to INR 167.75, which was about 24.2% higher than its listing price. The shares gained slightly by about 0.9% during Friday’s trading.

Ahead of ixigo’s IPO, coworking space provider Awfis also saw high interest in its public issue. Its IPO was oversubscribed 108.56X, higher than ixigo’s. However, its shares listed at a lower premium than ixigo’s. At INR 432.25, shares of Awfis listed at a 12.8% premium on the BSE.

Before these two startups, insurtech startup Go Digit made its market debut last month. Among the recently listed new-age tech stocks, Go Digit’s IPO saw the most lacklustre response from the public market investors.

Meanwhile, ixigo’s market cap increased from INR 6,275.87 Cr ($752.2 Mn) on the day of listing to INR 6,554.43 ($784.4 Mn) by the end of this week.

Earlier this week, Riyank Arora, technical analyst at Mehta Equities, said that ixigo’s risk-reward ratio was unfavourable at current levels. He pegged INR 160 as a strong support for the stock.

However, he added that the stock could move further towards INR 200 and INR 225 levels.

Founded in 2007 by Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, ixigo offers travel services like flights, trains, bus tickets, and hotel bookings, and holiday packages. Its listed competitors are EaseMyTrip, Yatra, and MakeMyTrip.

ixigo has been able to mark its niche in the train ticketing segment and differentiate itself from the other OTAs with a major focus on Tier 2 and beyond markets. These factors largely helped the company witness a massive demand for its IPO.

Surge In Startup IPOs

It is pertinent to note that at least 10 new-age tech startups are expected to get listed on the Indian exchanges this year. Of these, four mainboard IPOs have already taken place.

Last week, Ola Electric got the approval from SEBI to launch its INR 5,500+ Cr IPO. It is among the most-awaited public market debuts this year given its large issue size, coupled with factors like it is a loss-making entity and the first Indian EV startup to go public.

Market experts believe that strong fundamentals will play a crucial role in making the public offers of startups attractive to investors. Besides, elements like first-mover advantage in a particular industry and clear differentiating factors are also getting increased importance.

After the listing of Go Digit, Awfis, and ixigo, all focus is expected to shift towards Ola Electric from here on.

Meanwhile, the IPOs of Swiggy, FirstCry, Unicommerce, Ola Cabs, PayU, and MobiKwik are also awaited this year.

Earlier this month, Unicommerce added SoftBank-backed Starfish I Pte Ltd and Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Kumar Bansal as its promoters in its IPO documents.

With the pick up in IPOs after the slump in 2022 and 2023, a  number of startups are now preparing for listing on the Indian bourses,

Recently, Flipkart-backed logistics unicorn BlackBuck converted itself into a public company as it eyes a public listing in FY25.

Meanwhile, fintech unicorn Pine Labs is said to be eyeing an IPO of $1 Bn in the country. However, the timeline for its IPO is not clear yet.

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