From labs to listings: IIT start-ups ride the IPO wave

Nothing demonstrates the proverb “Nothing succeeds like success” more vividly than the accomplishments of educational institutions. This is particularly evident in premier institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology. The recent initial public offerings (IPOs) from new wave of companies highlight how these nationally important institutions have expanded their influence beyond education and into the world of entrepreneurship. It was Sir Ardeshir Dalal from the Viceroy’s Executive Council who triggered a thought process to establish Indian Institutes of Technology. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru established Indian Institutes of Technology to provide trained technical personnel of international class to the nation who would act as leaders in technology. IIT expansion According to Council of Indian Institute of Technology, the institutions were to be designed with the necessary dynamism, flexibility of organisation and capacity to adapt in the light of expanding knowledge and changes in the socio-economic requirements of modern society. IIT-Kharagpur was the first to be launched in 1950-51 and within a decade four more were established: IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and IIT Delhi. Currently, there are 23 such high-profile institutions, serving in various engineering and science fields. Prestigious IITs have produced top global CEOs, including Sundar Pichai (Google, IIT Kharagpur), Arvind Krishna (IBM, IIT Kanpur), Aravind Srinivas (Perplexity AI, IIT Madras), Nikesh Arora (Palo Alto Networks, IIT-BHU), George Kurian (NetApp, IIT Madras), Revathi Advaithi (Flex, IIT Bombay), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron Technology, IIT Bombay) and Vimal Kapur (Honeywell, IIT Delhi). Tech incubation The recent IPO market has highlighted IITs and similar institutions in a dynamic new role, driven by the strength of their incubation cells — emerging as leading hubs for deep-tech start-ups. These incubation centres bring together the institute’s strengths in innovation and entrepreneurship, supported by advanced research and strong industry collaborations. They empower students, faculty, staff, alumni, and external entrepreneurs to build disruptive deep-tech ventures that reshape industries and create meaningful societal impact. These efforts are beginning to pay off well. The IPO of Sedemac Mechatronics Ltd that closed today was established by IIT Bombay. Founded in a lab at the IIT Bombay, in 2007, Shashikanth Suryanarayanan, Amit Arun Dixit, Manish Sharma and Anaykumar Avinash Joshi have built on their technical expertise to place Sedemac amongst the top players in the Integrated Starter Generator Engine Control Unit (ISG ECU) market for 2W and 3W (combined) and the largest supplier of genset controllers in India. In 2008, the promoters (alumnus of IIT) gave 7 per cent of their company’s equity to IIT Bombay’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE). Of which, SINE sold 2.04 lakh shares amounting to around ₹28 crore in the IPO. Sedemac’s ₹1,087.45 crore was entirely an offer-for-sale and came out with a price band of ₹1,287 and ₹1,352 per share, valuing the company around ₹6,000 crore. Similarly, IITM Incubation Cell and IITMS Rural Technology and Business Incubator sold 31,050 shares and 4,191 shares in Ather Energy IPO last year. They had held a combined 15.58 lakh shares in Ather Energy, which was founded in 2013 by IIT Madras alumni Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. They had allotted about 5 per cent in Ather to these incubators. The current market cap of Ather Energy stand around ₹26,000 crore. A report in The Hindu states that IIT Madras plans to monetise about half of its ₹140-crore holding in the upcoming IPO of Indo MIM Ltd, a leader in end-to-end precision engineering components for the automotive, aerospace, defence, and consumer sectors using metal injection molding (MIM) technology. The company’s promoter, Krishna Chivukula, an alumnus of IIT Madras, had gifted the institute a 1 per cent stake in recognition of the role the institution played in the company’s journey to becoming the world’s largest manufacturer of MIM precision components. This new development is a welcome change for prestigious institutions. As alumni express their gratitude by allocating shares, the institutes are able to monetise these stakes to support and nurture future generations of entrepreneurs. One can only hope that this cycle continues, strengthening the value chain across the board. Published on March 6, 2026