Source: Entrackr
Venture capital company Auxano Capital has completed its exit from Wiom, a Delhi-based internet services start-up, by achieving a 7x return on its investment through a secondary share sale. The exit was made through an SPV established by Auxano prior to the fund launch and is Auxano’s second full exit.
Wiom started in 2015 under the name i2e1 and was rebranded in 2021. They become India’s largest Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA) licensed by the government of India under the PM-WANI framework. The PM-WANI scheme has been established to try to provide inexpensive and widespread internet access across the country with special emphasis on people who want to or can’t have broadband connections, which may simply not be available, or simply too expensive to consider.
Wiom employs an asset-light model. It buys unused internet bandwidth from local cable operators and then sells it using their own router software and back-end centralized system. This model helps provide low-cost internet in parts of the country with underserved broadband, such as low-income urban neighborhoods and remote rural areas, and keeps the costs down associated with laying down broadband for traditional service providers.
Auxano Capital was one of the earlier investors in Wiom, having invested in 2017 and subsequently in 2021. With Auxano investing in Wiom at both the seed and pre-seed stage, the organization supported Wiom through key stages of growth and product development, and assisted with scaling the organization and improving the product. Auxano primarily invests at the seed stage for early-stage startup organizations exhibiting some guerrilla tendencies, especially those pursuing opportunities in fintechs, healthtech, sustainability and Industry 4.0.
In recent years, Wiom has also experienced strong investor demand. In July 2023, it raised $17 million in a Series A funding round led by RTP Global, and, more recently, in June 2025, it raised $40 million in a growth funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments and Accel. These proceeds will be used to further develop its operations, enhance infrastructure, and reach more users throughout India.
The successful exit by Auxano Capital demonstrates the increasing possibilities in the Indian startup ecosystem, particularly in the space focused on infrastructure or even digital access. It’s also an indication of how early-stage investors’ chance of realising a return on investment has become more reliable for secondary share sales, even earlier than the typical IPO or Acquisition exit strategy.
