Meta-backed e-commerce company Meesho is planning to list on stock exchanges around Diwali this year, aiming to raise around $1 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) at a valuation of $10 billion, Moneycontrol reported on Monday citing sources aware of the development. Listing at $10 billion would multiply the startup‘s valuation by 2.8x from $3.5 billion.
Fidelity in January this year had slashed Meesho’s valuation to $3.5 billion. The startup was valued at $4.9 billion as of September 2021. According to the report, the company has picked Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Kotak Mahindra Capital as advisers.
Email sent to Meesho for comments on this story didn’t elicit an immediate response.
Meesho had recently filed an application with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for a reverse merger of its Indian subsidiary, Fashnear Technologies, with its US-based parent entity, Meesho Inc.
Competing with Amazon and Flipkart in India, Meesho had reportedly raised $250-$270 million in new financing in January this year, with Tiger Global, Think Investments and Mars Growth Capital joining the round.
The company has so far around $550 million with the majority being secondary transactions.
Meesho’s operating revenue grew to Rs 7,615 crore in FY24 from Rs 5,735 crore while its adjusted loss declined by 97 per cent from Rs 1,569 crore to Rs 53 crore during the period. The company was the first horizontal e-commerce platform to generate an operating cash flow of Rs 232 crores for the full FY24.
Founded in 2015, Meesho has scaled significantly to compete against the older rivals Flipkart (launched in 2007) and Amazon (entered India in 2013) and would most likely list before them in the Indian market. The company also competes with Snapdeal, founded in 2010, in the e-commerce market for value-conscious consumers.