Karthik Reddy on preparing startups for IPOs, Blume’s track record and future prospects

On the morning of August 14, as we sat down with Karthik Reddy, co-founder and managing partner of venture capital (VC) firm Blume, the obvious topic of conversation was the surge in startup IPOs—a hot topic in the country’s startup ecosystem.

Three of India’s new-age technology companies, all backed by the globally aggressive tech investor SoftBank, had recently debuted on the country’s stock exchanges. Two of these—Ola Electric and FirstCry—were the largest initial public offerings in India this year, and all three companies saw their stock prices soar post-listing after garnering positive responses from public market investors.

The successful IPOs have rekindled confidence in exits, a long-standing challenge in India. Few investors have managed to achieve significant returns from their portfolio companies in the country, unlike, say, in the US.