Business
Market responds to fundamentals, says Vijay Kedia as his latest SME IPO pick doubles money
In a post on X, Kedia said that when fundamentals are strong, the market responds decisively. He highlighted that his deep-tech investment received a record subscription of 947 times and listed at a near 100% premium, calling it a reminder that quality technology stories continue to attract overwhelming demand despite broader market noise.
Exato Technologies made its debut on the BSE SME platform with a sharp rally, listing at a gain of about 90% over its issue price. The strong listing followed robust demand during the book-built IPO, which closed on December 2 and set a new benchmark for subscription levels in the SME segment.
Following the listing, the shares are seeing a one-way rally, currently trading at Rs 356 as against an issue price of Rs 140.
Investor interest in the issue was broad-based and aggressive across all categories. The IPO was subscribed 947.21 times overall, driven primarily by non-institutional and retail investors. The non-institutional investor segment emerged as the biggest driver, with bids worth 1,488.72 times the shares on offer. Retail investors also piled in heavily, subscribing to their portion 1,068.74 times, reflecting strong participation from smaller investors betting on the company’s growth prospects.
Institutional investors were not far behind. The qualified institutional buyer segment saw subscriptions of 327.08 times, signalling confidence among institutions in Exato’s business model, financial performance and long-term scalability. Such across-the-board demand is rare even in buoyant primary market phases and underlines the strength of the investment narrative.
Exato Technologies operates in the technology transformation space, offering AI-led customer experience solutions, analytics, automation, unified communications and cloud-driven services. The company serves a wide range of industries, including banking and financial services, healthcare, retail, telecom, manufacturing and IT services. Its solutions are designed to help enterprises modernise customer engagement, improve operational efficiency and leverage data-driven decision-making.The company has built a team of more than 60 engineers and has expanded its footprint beyond India, with active engagements in the US and Singapore. Its client list includes well-known names such as MakeMyTrip, RBL Bank, WNS and IGT Solutions, providing it with a mix of domestic and international enterprise exposure.
On the financial front, Exato has reported strong growth. The company posted an 84% jump in profit after tax to Rs 9.75 crore in FY25, alongside steady growth in revenue. Profitability metrics remain healthy, with return on equity at 28.13% and return on capital employed at 26.38%, levels that are considered strong for a growing technology services firm.
Proceeds from the IPO will be used to support the next phase of growth. The company plans to deploy around Rs 15.73 crore toward working capital requirements, Rs 6.80 crore toward product development, Rs 2.53 crore for partial repayment of debt, with the remainder earmarked for general corporate purposes.
Kedia’s comment comes at a time when investors have become increasingly selective, particularly in the SME IPO space.
