SoftBank Trims Meesho Stake, Sells Shares Worth Rs 1,650 Crore in a Block Deal
Japanese investment giant SoftBank has sold 8 crore shares of e-commerce platform Meesho for around Rs 1,650.4 crore through a block deal on the NSE, with its investment vehicle SVF II Meerkat offloading the shares at Rs 206.30 apiece.
Here's what the numbers mean. The transaction represents roughly a 1.73% stake in Meesho. SVF II Meerkat held an 8.60% stake as of June 2026, and following this sale along with additional ESOP-related share allotments by Meesho, SoftBank's remaining holding now stands at approximately 6.84 to 6.87% of the company's expanded equity base.
The buyer list reads like a who's who of global institutional money. Shares were picked up by Societe Generale, Motilal Oswal Large and Midcap Fund, funds managed by Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and Manulife, along with Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Canara Robeco Mutual Fund and Bank of America Securities.
This isn't happening in isolation. This sale comes right after a genuinely active month for secondary market activity in Indian new-age companies, in August alone, investors executed 17 block and bulk deals worth Rs 26,337 crore across 12 companies, including Meesho, Groww, Eternal and Lenskart. Meesho specifically has seen a steady stream of exits, early investors Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners sold a combined stake worth Rs 1,949 crore, followed by Y Combinator's Rs 970 crore sale, and now SoftBank's Rs 1,650 crore exit. SoftBank has also been trimming its Lenskart holdings, worth roughly Rs 2,888 crore in August and Rs 2,873 crore back in June.
The market's reaction says something important here. Despite the sale, Meesho shares actually gained over 3% to close at Rs 216.67, pushing its market capitalization past Rs 96,000 crore, as investors focused on the company's underlying performance instead. In Q1 FY27, Meesho's operating revenue grew 48% year-on-year to Rs 3,713 crore, while its net loss narrowed 54% to Rs 133 crore from Rs 289 crore a year earlier.
When early backers keep selling but the stock keeps climbing, it usually means the market believes the business story is only getting started.
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— Sandeep Raiza