According to persons with knowledge, omnichannel retailer FirstCry is planning to submit its draft initial public offering (IPO) papers in the next few days, having postponed its public listing owing to unstable market conditions last year.
According to these insiders, the company hopes to raise $500–600 million at a $4–5 billion value.
Before December 29, the draft red herring prospectus, or DRHP, is probably going to be submitted to the markets regulator Sebi. The listing is anticipated to occur after the general elections, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke anonymously.
Following Nykaa’s IPO in 2021, FirstCry will be the second vertical e-commerce platform in India to go public. The company, which has its headquarters in Pune, specialises in selling items for moms and children in both online and offline markets.
Three family investment offices from India Inc. have recently acquired shares in FirstCry for approximately Rs 435 crore, ahead of the company’s August IPO. The company was primarily funded by purchases of shares from its largest investor, SoftBank, by the MEMG Family Office of Ranjan Pai (Manipal Group), Sharrp Ventures, the investment office of Harsh Mariwala (Marico), and the DSP family office of Hemendra Kothari.
According to the nation’s FDI regulations for e-commerce, FirstCry is required to maintain a foreign shareholding below 51 percent. Specifically, SoftBank has been trying to reduce its ownership to less than 26 percent in order to avoid being labelled as the company’s booster.
According to people with knowledge, Ola Electric, another portfolio firm of Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Corp., will also be filing its DRHP in the coming days.
ETtech has contacted FirstCry to inquire about their IPO file.
Previously in October, sources close to Moneycontrol said that billionaire investor Ranjan Pai planned to invest between Rs 60 and Rs 70 crore to buy JSW Ventures’ interests in Purplle, an online retailer of cosmetics and personal care products.
In the preceding five months, JSW Ventures would have sold Purplle stock twice. When it sold Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) a share of the company in May, it made an 18X return on its original investment.
Pai had also begun making active investments in startups, acquiring stakes in businesses like jewellery player BlueStone, children’s store FirstCry, and edtech company Byju’s, among others.
