New Delhi, Aug. 17 -- The Indian arms of American venture capital firms Accel and Bessemer Venture Partners are harvesting multibagger returns from a common India portfolio company they first backed more than a decade ago.
The two investors, along with global technology investment firm Vy Capital, have offloaded part of their stakes in Mumbai-listed home services provider Urban Company. The three investors divested shares worth almost Rs 599 crore ($62.6 million) of Urban Company via open market transactions last week, stock-exchange data show.
Accel, which last week announced raising $550 million for its ninth India-focused fund, held a 6.84% stake via its fourth India fund in the company. It sold about 20 million shares, reducing its stake by 1.27% and pocketing Rs 272 crore, according to back-of-the-envelope calculations.
Urban Company is a tech-driven platform connecting consumers with home service providers. It went public in September 2025 at nearly a third below its peak valuation of $2.5 billion (Rs 22,000 crore) that it commanded in its previous fundraise from private market investors. It also reduced its IPO size.
At the time, Accel had divested shares worth Rs 390 crore in the offer-for-sale, cutting its holding in the company by about a fourth. Urban Company's share price has since jumped, with the latest sale occurring at a 33% upside compared to the IPO price of Rs 103 apiece.
Accel also participated in a few secondary transactions before the IPO, and pulled out Rs 466.5 crore through multiple secondary deals since 2019. It sold Rs 70 crore worth of shares to Steadview Capital and ABG Capital in August 2019. In 2021, it offloaded a stake worth Rs 116.4 crore to Prosus. In November 2024, it sold Rs 194 crore worth of shares to Think Investments. In August 2025, it divested shares worth Rs 87 crore to Prosus.
Accel had first invested Rs 36 crore in Urban Company in April-July 2015. It doubled down on its investment in November 2015 as part of a Series B round, infusing another Rs 19.5 crore. In June 2017, it again put in Rs 16 crore, and also participated in a small secondary round the same year with another Rs 2.93 crore. Overall, the VC firm invested nearly Rs 74.5 crore in the company.
The latest sale takes Accel's overall harvest from Urban Company to Rs 1,128.5 crore, about 15x of the capital it invested in altogether. Its remaining stake is estimated to be worth over Rs 1,267 crore. This would take its multiple on invested capital (MOIC)-including its unrealized gains-to around 32x, as per VCCircle's estimates.
On the basis of the first-in, first-out methodology, Accel's MOIC from the latest tranche of share sale would be around 42x in rupee terms and 28x in dollar terms. Its internal rate of return (IRR) would be close to 40% in rupee terms and 35% in dollar terms, per VCCircle estimates on FIFO basis. That comfortably beats the 20% benchmark in rupees and 15% in dollars.
Bessemer, Vy Capital
Bessemer, which is currently investing out of its second India-dedicated fund with a corpus of $350 million, was also one of the early backers of the Gurugram-based company. The VC firm sold a stake worth Rs 170.2 crore in the latest partial exit, or about 0.8% of the shareholding.
At the time of IPO, Bessemer had pocketed Rs 173 crore. Like Accel, Bessemer has been involved in multiple secondary rounds in 2021 and 2024, where it has already encashed Rs 370 crore. Combining the harvest from the latest sale and the IPO, Bessemer has pocketed Rs 713 crore so far, about 7.5x times the capital it infused.
Bessemer had invested in two tranches-leading the startup's Series B round, infusing Rs 87.6 crore in November 2015, and Rs 6.43 crore in June 2017. It currently holds about a 4.2% stake that is worth about Rs 949 crore. This means Urban Company is likely to turn into an 18x outcome at the current prices for Bessemer.
VCCircle estimates based on the FIFO methodology show that Bessemer's MOIC from the latest tranche of share sale would be around 20x in rupee terms and 14x in dollar terms. Its IRR would be close to 32% in rupee terms and 28% in dollar terms, beating the benchmarks, the estimates show.
Vy Capital, set up in 2013 by former DST Global partner Alexander Tamas, had taken out nearly Rs 216 crore at the time of IPO. It has now divested shares worth Rs 156.4 crore via two of its affiliates-VYC11 and VY EM2 Ltd.
VYC 11 had first invested in Urban Company in 2017. It infused Rs 274 crore into the startup across multiple primary and secondary rounds. It has already reaped Rs 347 crore. Vy Capital holds Rs 1,500 crore worth of stake via VYC11 and another Rs 442 crore via VYC23, according to estimates based on stock-exchange data. This could be higher as the shareholding data for entities with small quantities of shares aren't disclosed.
Founded in December 2014, Urban Company operates a technology-driven, full-stack online marketplace for home and beauty services. It operates in multiple cities across India, the UAE, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia. Its offerings include cleaning, pest control, electrical and plumbing services, carpentry, appliance repair, painting, skincare, grooming and massage therapy-all delivered by independent service professionals.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.