Voting Closed

To find out who won, please stay tuned on our website. If you are interested in attending the 38th Annual AVCJ Private Equity Forum from 17-20 November in Hong Kong, please book your ticket now.

Exit of the Year – IPO

Hexaware Technologies (Carlyle)

Hexaware Technologies raised INR 87.5bn (USD 1bn) in February 2025, completing India’s largest sponsor-owned IPO. The IT services company sold 123.6m shares at INR 708 apiece. As of 10 October, it was up 1.2% on the IPO price with a market capitalisation of INR 436.4bn. Carlyle received the entire proceeds from the offering, reducing its holding from 95% to 74%. Since the private equity firm acquired Hexaware in 2021 at an enterprise valuation of USD 3bn, revenue has nearly doubled. Value creation efforts included helping the company broaden its customer base and introduce digitalisation and artificial intelligence to operations.

Horizon Robotics (5Y Capital, Baillie Gifford, EQT, Hillhouse Investment, HSG, YF Capital)

Horizon Robotics, a China-based provider of autonomous driving solutions, raised HKD 6.09bn (USD 780m) through a Hong Kong IPO in October 2024. The company sold 1.52bn shares for HKD 3.99 apiece. As of 10 October, the stock was up 127% on the IPO price with a market capitalisation of HKD 133bn. Horizon secured USD 2.36bn in private funding across multiple rounds, its valuation peaking at USD 8.7bn. Twelve pre-IPO investors were identified in the prospectus, including six financial sponsors. Of these, 5Y Capital and HSG were the earliest movers, backing a seed round in 2015 at a USD 60m valuation.

Insta360 (China Merchants Capital, CITIC Securities Capital, FreesFund, IDG Capital, Langmafeng Ventures, Shenzhen Co-Stone Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Zhuhai Huajin Capital)

Insta360, a China-based developer of 360-degree and action cameras, raised CNY 1.9bn (USD 265m) through an IPO on the Shanghai’s Star Market in June 2025. The company sold 41m shares at CNY 47.27 apiece. As of 10 October, it was up 488.8% on the IPO price with a market capitalisation of CNY 111.6bn. IDG Capital was Insta360’s earliest backer, providing seed funding in 2014. It was the largest external shareholder at time of IPO, with 11.9%, followed by Qiming Venture Partners and Langmafeng Ventures. Qiming, which first invested in 2015 and owns 8.4%, is sitting on a 302x unrealised gain.

Kioxia Holdings (Bain Capital)

Kioxia Holdings, a Japanese flash memory supplier, raised JPY 120.4bn (USD 797.2m) through a domestic IPO in December 2024. The company, formed through a Bain Capital-led carve-out from Toshiba in 2018 at a JPY 2trn valuation, known as Toshiba Memory, sold 82.7m shares for JPY 1,455 apiece. As of 10 October, the stock was up 323.4% on the IPO price with a market capitalisation of JPY 3.3trn. Bain, the only independent financial sponsor in the investor consortium, made a partial exit, receiving JPY 18.4bn of the IPO proceeds. Its position in Kioxia fell from 54.9% to 51.6%.

Vishal Mega Mart (Kedaara Capital, Partners Group)

Hypermarket operator Vishal Mega Mart raised INR 80bn (USD 944m) through an India IPO in December 2024. An investment entity controlled by Kedaara Capital and Partners Group sold 1.03bn shares for INR 78 apiece, reducing its holding from 96.5% to 74.3%. This fell to 54.4% in June following a INR 102.6bn block trade. As of 10 October, the stock was up 87.4% on the IPO price with a market capitalisation of INR 682.9bn. Since Kedaara and Partners Group acquired Vishal for INR 50bn in 2018, the store footprint has tripled in size while revenue and EBITDA have grown 55% and 60%.