Shares of Groww-backed Billionbrain Garage Ventures have staged a sharp post-listing rally, nearly doubling within a week of their market debut. Listed at ₹112 on November 12, the stock soared to a new high of ₹193.80 by November 18, pushing the firm’s valuation past ₹1 lakh crore and elevating Groww co-founder and CEO Lalit Keshre to billionaire status.
The surge, however, proved costly for short sellers who faced heavy losses as the stock moved sharply against their positions.
Groww's shares recently experienced a classic short squeeze after its IPO and explosive market debut in November 2025. The company listed at ₹112 per share, quickly surging nearly 90% above its issue price to ₹193.80 within just four trading sessions. This created intense buying demand but a severe supply shortage due to the company’s very low free float—only about 7% of the total shares were available for trading, while the remaining 93% were locked in via IPO investors and institutional restrictions.
Because of this scarcity, many retail investors and traders who engaged in short selling (selling shares they did not own, betting prices would fall) found themselves unable to buy the shares back to deliver on settlement dates as the share price kept rising. More than 30 lakh shares faced delivery defaults. The NSE intervened by moving these into the auction window, where the short sellers had to buy shares at a premium price, causing heavy losses for them. This auction market functions as a penalty zone for failed settlements, penalising short sellers with higher costs to fulfill delivery commitments.
The low liquidity, combined with soaring demand, created a sharp and volatile price rise, squeezing short sellers aggressively and driving the price spike even higher. This event was intensified by a limited availability of shares due to the one-month shareholder lock-in that ends December 10, after which more shares will become tradeable, possibly moderating prices.
Several factors contributed to the delivery squeeze phenomenon:
Billionbrains Garage Ventures Limited (Groww) reported a steady Q2 FY26 with Total Income of ₹1,160 crore and Revenue from Operations of ₹1,018.7 crore, growing 13% QoQ. PAT stood at ₹420.1 crore with a 44% margin, while Adjusted EBITDA reached ₹624.1 crore. User metrics continued to expand, with 19 million transacting users and total customer assets rising to ₹2.7 lakh crore. Groww also increased its NSE active client share to 26.3% despite an industry-wide decline.
Product diversification contributed to revenue stability, with gains in stocks, MTF, and interest-based income offsetting lower derivatives revenue. The MTF book grew to ₹1,668.3 crore, and LAS drove credit disbursement growth. Groww also pushed new products like commodities, the 915 terminal, and Bond IPOs. The acquisition of Fisdom for ₹961 crore and rising affluent user growth strengthened long-term strategy, even as CAC rose due to higher marketing spend.
With 149.2 million shares (~2% of outstanding equity) becoming tradable, the added supply may alleviate price pressures and reduce squeeze risk.
On Friday share price of Billionbrain Garage Ventures jumped over 7% as the company posted its Q2 results. As of 12:04 am the stock price was trading at ₹165.58 per share, up by 5.54%.
For android only