New Delhi, Feb. 12 -- The initial public offering of non-bank lender Aye Finance Ltd, which counts a number of private capital and venture capital firms as its investors, was subscribed just 97% at the end of bidding on Wednesday.

The offering of 4.55 crore shares, excluding the anchor investors' portion, received bids for 4.42 crore shares at a price band of Rs 122 to Rs 129 per share, according to the data available on the stock exchanges.

The portion reserved for institutional investors was subscribed 1.50 times but the quota for non-institutional buyers was subscribed only 5% whereas the retail portion was subscribed 77%.

However, the Gurugram-based company's listing will go ahead as planned as the IPO crossed the minimum 90% threshold.

A company spokesperson clarified that the IPO attracted bids exceeding the issue size in value terms. The issue size was Rs 1,010 crore (about $111.5 million) and it received bids worth Rs 1,025 crore, the spokesperson said.

Nevertheless, the data show that investor interest was lukewarm.

The issue kicked off for subscription on February 9. A day before the opening of the issue, Aye Finance had raised Rs 454.5 crore from anchor investors.

The company reduced the IPO size since filing the draft documents in December 2024. The IPO now involves a fresh issue of shares by Aye Finance to raise Rs 710 crore, down from Rs 885 crore proposed earlier, while its investors and other shareholders offloaded shares worth Rs 300 crore, compared with Rs 565 crore earlier.

Global alternative investment firm Alpha Wave, Danish firm MAJ Invest, Google parent Alphabet's investment arm CapitalG, and alternative investor LGT Capital sold shares in the IPO.

Aye Finance's largest investor, multi-stage VC firm Elevation Capital, didn't take part in the IPO. Growth-stage VC firm A91 Partners, Singapore's ABC Impact and British International Investment also didn't sell any shares.

More importantly, the company reduced its asking valuation. At the upper end of the range, it commands a post-IPO valuation of Rs 3,173.5 crore. Its pre-money valuation would be Rs 2,473.5 crore ($274 million). That's a 26.6% drop from its valuation when it raised Series G funding in September 2024 from ABC Impact and BII.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.