Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Date(s): Tuesday, 6 October 2026
Time: 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Venue: 308 Auditorium
Participants 13 students of the PGDM Finance batch
Faculty Coordinator CA Ankit Bajaj
Judges CA Ankit Bajaj
Organizer FinX Club, Dr. D. Y. Patil B-School, Pune
Objectives:
1. To give students a practical understanding of how a company moves from its founding stage to a public listing on the stock exchange.
2. To explain the roles of founders, venture capital investors, merchant bankers and SEBI at each stage of the IPO process.
3. To contrast a completed IPO (Lenskart) with one that received regulatory approval but has not yet listed (boAt), and the factors behind each outcome.
4. To build familiarity with key concepts such as the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP), fresh issue versus offer for sale, SEBI ICDR eligibility routes, book building and listing.
Detailed Report:
On Tuesday, 6 October 2026, the FinX Club conducted “From Founding to Listing”, a role-play activity in which members of the PGDM Finance batch enacted the life cycle of two Indian companies, boAt (Imagine Marketing Limited) and Lenskart Solutions Limited, from their founding to the IPO stage. Each member represented a stakeholder in the process, while a presentation running behind the performance displayed the key facts, figures and timelines for each scene.
Cast: The narrator was Akshat. The boAt team comprised Deeksha, Rashmi, Khushi and Arpit, and the Lenskart team comprised Arpita, Anurag, Akash and Nandini; each team played the founders, company executives and venture capital investors. Hanshu (boAt) and Ravi (Lenskart) played the merchant bankers representing the book-running lead managers, and Abhishek and Aditya represented SEBI.
Format: Each company’s story was presented in seven scenes, from the founders’ introduction and a venture capital pitch to the merchant banker’s due diligence, the DRHP filing, SEBI’s review and the final outcome, with the narrator linking the scenes.
Act 1, BOAT: The first act traced the company’s journey from its founding by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, through its withdrawn 2022 IPO filing, to its second attempt in 2025 through SEBI’s confidential pre-filing route. In the SEBI review, the regulators questioned its falling revenue, mismatches in its financial statements and the change in the founders’ roles, which explain why boAt has deferred its IPO despite receiving approval.
Act 2, Lenskart: The second act followed the company from its founding by Peyush Bansal, through successive funding rounds, to the filing of its DRHP in July 2025. The SEBI review covered the company’s eligibility route, the founder’s share purchase shortly before filing and an Enforcement Directorate notice. The act closed with the IPO in November 2025, which was subscribed over 28 times but listed below its issue price.
Outcomes
• Students saw each stage of the IPO process, from early-stage funding to listing, through the eyes of the stakeholders involved.
• Participants gained clarity on the merchant banker’s responsibilities in due diligence and preparing the offer document, and on SEBI’s role in reviewing disclosures.
• The contrast between the two companies showed that regulatory approval does not guarantee a listing, and that strong subscription does not guarantee listing gains.
• Participants developed research, scripting, teamwork and presentation skills by preparing both cases from public filings and news reports.
Conclusion
The activity turned the IPO process from a classroom concept into an engaging, hands-on experience, and highlighted how disclosure, governance, financial performance and market conditions shape a company’s journey to the public market. The FinX Club thanks CA Ankit Bajaj, faculty coordinator, and all participants for their support and contribution.