New-Age Tech Stocks In 2024: Bad Year For Honasa, But Who Gained The Most?

It was an eventful year for new-age tech companies on the IPO front, with 13 startups going public in 2024. These companies cumulatively raised a staggering INR 29,000 Cr ($3.4 Bn). 

However, the going wasn’t all easy for the 19 new-age tech companies which listed on the bourses before 2024. While the shares of eight out of these 19 companies gained this year on the back of improving financials, sectoral tailwinds, and strength in the broader market, 11 ended the year in the red. 

Zomato emerged as a multi-bagger this year, while Paytm made a remarkable turnaround. Four stocks – PB Fintech, Zaggle, Zomato and CarTrade Tech – ended the year with gains in excess of 100%.

The losers this year included Nykaa, ideaForge, Delhivery, MapmyIndia, among others, as they were impacted by varied reasons ranging from lackluster financials to sector-specific issues. 

Overall, the market sentiment was positive throughout the year on account of large inflows into the domestic mutual funds and strong economic activity. However, the benchmark indices saw a decline towards the end of 2024 as selloff by foreign institutional investors (FII) and the US Fed’s outlook of fewer rate cuts in 2025 triggered a slump. 

Notwithstanding the volatility, which is expected to persist till at least Budget 2025, listed Indian startups emerged from the shadows in 2024 and investors will keep a keen eye on them in 2025. 

As we near the end of the year, let’s take a look at the top gainers and losers among the listed new-age tech companies in 2024 as part of Inc42’s ‘Year In Review’ series.

Now, let’s deep dive into the performance of some of the top new-age tech companies on the bourses this year. 

The Gainers Of 2024

PB Fintech

PB Fintech, the parent entity of insurtech major Policybazaar, emerged as the top gainer among the 19 new-age tech stocks which went public before 2024. Its shares surged over 170% to surpass the INR 2,000 mark from around INR 800 at the end of 2023.

The upswing came on the back of the company’s profitability streak, starting from the December quarter (Q3) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), and its foray into the healthcare space.

As a result of this, PB Fintech’s market cap zoomed to $11 Bn by the end of 2024 from $4.2 Bn a year ago.

The company posted a net profit of INR 50.98 Cr in Q2 FY25, with operating revenue zooming over 43% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 1,167.2 Cr.

Zaggle

Shares of fintech SaaS company Zaggle jumped over 150% in 2024 on the back of strong financial performance and strategic acquisitions to expand offerings. 

While the stock was on an uptrend since the beginning of the year, it saw a spike in early September after the company bagged an order from HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company. The uptrend continued as Zaggle announced two acquisitions in the same month.

While it announced acquiring a 98% stake in Span Across IT Solutions for approximately INR 32 Cr, it bought a 26% stake in Mobileware Technologies (now ‘86400’) for INR 15.6 Cr.

In Q2 FY25, the company posted a net profit of INR 20.29 Cr as against INR 7.58 Cr in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

While the company continued to bag contracts from enterprises throughout 2024, it also partnered with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to facilitate the issuance of prepaid payment instruments to customers.

In its Q2 earnings release, Zaggle said it is actively seeking more strategic alliances and M&As with a combined strategy of small tuck-ins and larger investment opportunities in the SaaS fintech sector, including areas like NBFC and payments.

The company raised nearly INR 595 Cr through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) in December and is eyeing three more investments and acquisitions by March 2025.

Zomato

Zomato continued the momentum of 2023 into 2024, with its shares surging 136% to touch almost INR 300 mark.

It was an eventful year for the Deepinder Goyal-led company, as it took a number of new initiatives to strengthen its position in the competitive market. While it bolstered its quick commerce business Blinkit amid intensifying competition, it launched ‘District’ to further strengthen its ‘going-out’ vertical. As part of this, Zomato acquired the entertainment ticketing business of Paytm.

The company not only managed to retain its leading position in the food delivery and quick commerce markets but also saw an increase in its profits.

Zomato posted a consolidated net profit of INR 176 Cr in Q2 FY25. Though it was a decline of 30% from INR 253 Cr in the preceding June quarter, it was 389% higher year-on-year (YoY).

The company ended the year with its inclusion in the benchmark index BSE Sensex.

Currently, 23 out of the 26 analysts covering the stock have a ‘buy’ or higher rating on it. The average price target (PT) for the stock is INR 302.58.

Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (research) at Mehta Equities, said he recommends investing more in Swiggy. However, both Zomato and Swiggy should be part of the portfolios of investors. 

“Having said that, the valuations are expensive because the sectors in which these companies operate are new and lots of money is coming in. Though Zomato has more than doubled this year, the performance wouldn’t be the same going ahead as it’s an index stock now,” Tapse added.

CarTrade 

CarTrade Tech, which saw its share price double on the D-Street this year, largely traded sideways throughout the year and saw a breakout only in October due to improving fundamentals.

The online classifieds and auto auction platform recorded a massive 509% YoY jump in its consolidated net profit to INR 30.72 Cr in Q2 FY25 from INR 5.04 Cr in the year-ago period. 

On the rise in its share price, JM Financial said in a research note that while increasing understanding of the company’s business model and its growth drivers, along with the operating leverage story, justifies the uptick, it has caught further strength with the company twice sharing guidance on Q3 FY25 – a 30% YoY growth in consumer group and 25-30% PAT growth sequentially. 

“While PAT growth guidance was in line with JM Financial’s estimate, 30% growth in New Auto considering the relatively muted auto sales environment was a positive surprise. We expect these to drive sharp upgrades in consensus estimates,” the brokerage said while reiterating its ‘buy’ rating and PT of INR 1,655 for CarTrade shares.

Paytm

Paytm arguably had the most happening year among the new-age tech companies. 

From hitting rock bottom in the early months of the year after a regulatory crackdown to scripting a successful turnaround, Paytm saw the worst and the best in 2024.

The horror for Paytm started when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on January 31 this year, clamped down on Paytm Payments Bank, barring it from taking any deposits or credit transactions or top-ups in any of its customer accounts. The central bank stopped Paytm Payments Bank from providing any other banking services, such as UPI facility and fund transfers.

Following this, shares of Paytm plummeted to around INR 300 from INR 800-INR 1,000 levels earlier. 

The Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company then decided to focus on its core payments and merchant lending business. Paytm has also been actively leveraging AI to save costs and time. As part of this, the company announced cutting more than 5,000 jobs this year.

The company also took some other steps like selling the entertainment ticketing business to Zomato and stock acquisition rights in Japanese digital payments firm PayPay Corporation to SoftBank to focus on its core business and boost cash reserves.

With the worst likely behind, shares of Paytm are expected to continue their momentum. 

Though there could be some profit booking, Mehta Equities’ Tapse believes that the stock can see another 20-30% growth if the company manages to post net profit in Q3 FY25 like it did in Q2. 

Paytm posted a consolidated PAT of INR 930 Cr in Q2, largely on the back of the sale of Paytm Insider to Zomato. 

Nazara 

Nazara Technologies doubled down on its acquisition spree in 2024. It started the year with the announcement that its subsidiary NODWIN Gaming will buy Comic Con India for INR 55 Cr. Soon NODWIN Gaming announced an investment of €8 Mn (around INR 71.8 Cr) in Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH, a German marketing services company for gaming and esports. 

Nazara also acquired a 100% stake in its subsidiary Nextwave. Its subsidiary Absolute Sports acquired Pennsylvania-based entertainment news site Soap Central for $1.4 Mn in an all-cash deal. Nazara also bought an additional 48.42% stake in Paper Boat Apps from its promoters Anupam and Anshu Dhanuka.

Most recently, its subsidiary NODWIN Gaming announced acquiring another 93% stake in gaming and esports media company AFK Gaming.

The acquisitions and market expansion this year were followed by Nazara raising funds from Zerodha’s Kamath Brothers, ICICI Prudential MF, and Plutus Wealth.

Despite major announcements, the stock didn’t see any significant growth. After a fall in the March-May period, the shares largely traded sideways. Overall, the stock gained 22% in 2024 and is currently trading at around INR 1,000 level.

The Losers Of 2024

EaseMyTrip

Despite its foray into new verticals, shares of traveltech platform EaseMyTrip remained under pressure throughout 2024. The stock fell more than 16% during the year. 

The company posted a loss of INR 15 Cr for the March quarter of 2024 due to a one-time expense. However, EaseMyTrip posted a net profit of INR 33.9 Cr in the next quarter – Q1 FY25. 

It also said it would enter the ebus manufacturing segment and announced its foray into the hospitality vertical with plans to build a five-star hotel in Ayodhya. It also acquired a non-controlling stake of about 13% in Eco Hotels and Resorts Limited. 

However, its shares slumped significantly after CEO Nishant Pitti sold shares worth INR 920 Cr. 

EaseMyTrip also made its third bonus share issue this year. Ex-bonus, currently its shares are trading at INR 16.6 on the BSE.

EaseMyTrip reported a 42.8% YoY decline in its consolidated PAT at INR 26.8 Cr in Q2 FY25. Analysts believe that significant competition in the traveltech market, with many unlisted companies also operating in the segment, and ixigo’s debut on the bourses are among the factors hindering EaseMyTrip’s growth.

Yatra

The year 2024 was not great for EaseMyTrip’s competitor Yatra as well. It slipped into the red and posted a consolidated net loss of INR 4.5 Cr in FY24 as against a net profit of INR 7.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

In October, Ezeego Travels & Tours Ltd filed an insolvency petition against Yatra’s subsidiary TSI Yatra. However, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) recently stayed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order to initiate a corporate insolvency resolution process against TSI Yatra.

Meanwhile, Yatra’s shares, which were on a downward trend since September, sharply declined to touch multiple all-time lows in October and November. The stock touched an all-time low at INR 102.4.

In the September quarter of FY25, Yatra swung back to profit and posted a consolidated net profit of INR 7.3 Cr. Its shares are down around 21% this year.

Mamaearth

Amid severe competition in the D2C beauty and personal care space and changes in its business model, Mamaearth faced massive pressure in scaling its business this year. This also impacted its share price.

The company also lost its unicorn status soon after it posted a consolidated net loss of INR 18.6 Cr in Q2 FY25. Mamaearth’s revenue from operations declined nearly 7% YoY to INR 461.8 Cr during the quarter.

Mamaearth parent Honasa’s cofounder and CEO Varun Alagh said in an analyst call that the company did not anticipate the high impact on margins from the renewed offline distribution strategy under ‘Project Neev’, introduced in November 2023.

Emkay Research downgraded Honasa to ‘sell’ from a ‘buy’ rating and gave a PT of INR 300. 

“Limited offline presence and slower growth in the core brand may pave the way for the competition, where recouping in the long term would be daunting,” the brokerage said. “We await proof of execution as the management aims for a business turnaround.”

Though JM Financial maintained its ‘buy’ rating, it said, “More work needs to be done to sharpen the focus in core categories, increase allocation to hero SKUs (salience of top-10 SKUs is 40-45% for Mamaearth vs 70-75% for other HPC brands), improve product superiority/proposition and execute better in 200K outlets (80% of weighted distribution for mass-premium brands).”

Honasa’s shares fell over 40% this year and are trading at around INR 250-INR 260 levels. Of the 12 analysts covering the stock, 4 have a ‘sell’ rating currently and 6 recommend ‘buy’.

Yudiz

Shares of NSE Emerge-listed blockchain and IT development company Yudiz Solutions took the biggest hit this year.

After listing at a 12% premium to its IPO price in August last year, shares of Yudiz touched INR 150-INR 160 level in January this year. However, amid its weak financials, the stock slumped over 50% in 2024 and was trading at around INR 70 level by the end of the year.

In between, the company also saw HDFC Bank freezing its bank account in which it stashed its IPO proceeds. The account was unfreezed after over a month.

Yudiz slipped into the red in FY24 with a net loss of INR 2.9 Cr, hurt by a slump in its revenue in the second half (H2) of the fiscal year and a sharp rise in employee costs.

In H1 FY25, the company reported a standalone net profit of INR 5,000 as against a profit of INR 1.34 Cr in the year-ago period.

While the year was a mixed one for new-age tech stocks listed before 2024, the 13 new entrants on the bourses largely had a positive 2024.

Most of the new-age tech stocks that went public this year listed at a premium to their respective IPO price. By the end of the year, only FirstCry and Unicommerce were trading below their listing price. Now, it remains to be seen what 2025 has in store for them.

[Edited By Vinaykumar Rai]