Alphabet-backed Aye Finance raises Rs 454 crore from major investors ahead of its IPO; Goldman Sachs main investor

Alphabet-backed Aye Finance has raised Rs 454 crore from major investors ahead of its IPO, which opens for public subscription on February 9, lending strong institutional backing to the NBFC, focused on micro-SME lending.The company informed the stock exchanges that it had allotted shares to investors at Rs 129 per share, the top end of its price band. The anchor book saw participation from a group of global and domestic institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale, HDFC Life, BNP Paribas Financial Markets, Bay Pond Partners and Ithan Creek Master Investors (Cayman), according to the filing.

The anchor allotment comes days ahead of the Rs 1,010 crore IPO, which will open on February 9 and close on February 11, with a listing scheduled for February 16 on the BSE and NSE. The issue includes a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 710 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 300 crore by existing investors including Alpha Wave India I LP, MAJ Invest Financial Inclusion Fund II, CapitalG LP, LGT Capital Invest Mauritius and Vikram Jetley.Aye Finance has fixed the price band for the issue at Rs 122 to Rs 129 per share, with a face value of Rs 2 per share. Investors can bid for a minimum of 116 shares and in multiples thereafter. At the higher end of the price range, the retail application size works out to Rs 14,964.

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Established in 1993, Aye Finance is a mid-tier non-banking financial company focused on providing secured and unsecured business loans to micro-SMEs. Borrowers are spread across manufacturing, trading, services and related agricultural sectors. According to a CRISIL report, the company had 586,825 active customers across 18 states and three union territories and assets under management of over Rs 6,027 crore as of September 30, 2025.

The lender specializes in small loans, with an average disbursement size of around Rs 0.18 crore, and has built underwriting capabilities around assessing the cash flows of micro-enterprises clustered in different regions. This approach has helped the company maintain stable credit costs while scaling its loan portfolio, industry analysts said.

On the financial front, Aye Finance reported revenue from operations of Rs 843 crore for the six months ended September 30, compared to Rs 692 crore in the same period a year ago. For FY25, revenue stood at Rs 1,460 crore, while net profit rose to Rs 175 crore, a sharp increase from Rs 40 crore in FY23.

Axis Capital, IIFL Capital Services, JM Financial and Nuvama Wealth Management are the lead managers of the issue, while KFin Technologies is the registrar. The offering will be made through the bookbuilding route, with up to 75% reserved for qualified institutional buyers, and the remainder allocated to non-institutional and retail investors.

The strong anchor reaction is expected to add momentum to the IPO as it kicks off amid active primary market conditions and increasing investor appetite for profitable, scalable NBFC business models.

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