New Delhi, Aug. 5 -- Homegrown venture capital firm Elevation Capital, which recently closed its ninth flagship fund, raising $500 million to back early-stage AI-focussed startups in India, has further monetised its stake in a company in which it first invested nearly two decades ago, taking its total harvest from the bet past the $1-billion mark.
The VC firm, which monetised multiple bets last year, including travel-tech platform ixigo, home services marketplace Urban Company, fintech lender Axio and e-commerce marketplace Meesho, has sold another 13.9 million shares of digital payments company One97 Communications Ltd, which operates Paytm, in an open-market transaction, exchange data shows. It divested about a 2.17% stake through two of its investment vehicles and pocketed Rs 1,899 crore ($200 million), according to VCCircle's estimates.
The move comes less than three months after Elevation trimmed its stake by 1.35% and encashed Rs 963.6 crore (about $100 million) in May this year. Earlier, in November 2025, it sold shares worth Rs 1,670 crore ($186 million) through another secondary market transaction. Its stake in the Noida-based company now stands at about 9.8%.
In the latest sale, Elevation (formerly SAIF Partners) sold 9.7 million shares through its vehicle SAIF III Mauritius. The vehicle realised Rs 1,332.7 crore, clocking an 89x multiple on invested capital (MOIC) based on the weighted average cost of acquisition disclosed in Paytm's 2021 initial public offering (IPO) red herring prospectus (RHP). Elevation made this investment through its third fund, a 2008 vintage vehicle.
In May this year, SAIF III Mauritius sold shares worth Rs 630 crore. Earlier, in November 2025, the vehicle generated Rs 1,092.3 crore through a secondary share sale. It had also offloaded shares worth Rs 442.3 crore in October 2024. At the time of Paytm's IPO in November 2021, the vehicle realised Rs 1,327.7 crore. Before that, it had harvested at least Rs 1,540 crore through a secondary share sale to SoftBank, based on its annual report and the share price at the time.
Overall, SAIF III Mauritius has harvested around Rs 6,365 crore ($793 million) from its investment and continues to hold shares worth about Rs 6,444 crore.
Elevation sold the remaining shares in the latest tranche through its fourth fund, SAIF Partners India IV. The fund, raised in 2010, invested nearly Rs 1,212 crore in Paytm across multiple rounds, according to VCCircle's estimates.
In the latest transaction, the vehicle realised Rs 566 crore ($60 million), clocking a 4.5x MOIC on its weighted average cost. Earlier in May, the same vehicle sold shares worth Rs 268 crore. Including the latest sale, the May transaction, previous open-market sales worth Rs 463.7 crore, the Rs 563.6 crore realised during the IPO, and Rs 628 crore from a secondary sale in 2017, the vehicle has cumulatively generated about Rs 2,488 crore ($311 million).
Its remaining 2.9% stake is valued at about Rs 2,735.7 crore.
Elevation also held a stake in Paytm through its fifth fund, while a co-investment vehicle linked to the fifth fund also owns shares. However, neither has disclosed any share sales so far.
Overall, Elevation has harvested about Rs 8,853 crore ($1.1 billion) from its investment in Paytm over 19 years, according to VCCircle's estimates. It continues to hold shares in the company valued at at least Rs 9,180 crore, based on VCCircle's estimates.
The firm has been investing in India since 2002 and has backed technology companies such as Acko, FirstCry, MakeMyTrip, NoBroker, ShareChat, Spinny, Swiggy, Unacademy, and Xpressbees. It invests across consumer products and services, technology, media, education, telecom, financial services, healthcare, travel and tourism, and manufacturing.
While its latest flagship fund will continue to invest in seed and Series A startups, as its predecessors did, the firm has also expanded into late-stage investing by launching a dedicated $400-million vehicle to back companies expected to go public within the next one to three years.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.