Initial public offerings (IPOs) by SoftBank-backed FirstCry, an omnichannel retailer with a focus on kids’ products, and Unicommerce, an e-commerce SaaS startup, have been given final approval by the Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
In December of last year, FirstCry submitted its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for the first time. Nevertheless, in response to regulator orders, the company was forced to resubmit the draft IPO documents in April of this year. Since FirstCry only gave investors financial information through the first quarter of the 2024 fiscal year, SEBI had expressed concerns about important metrics that the company had revealed.
The FirstCry IPO consists of an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 54,391,592 equity shares and a new issue of equity shares totalling up to Rs 1,816 crore. FirstCry reported that, as of Q3 FY24 (Q1, Q2, and Q3), its operating revenue was Rs 4,814 crore, and its net losses were Rs 278 crore in the refiled DRHP.
In the meantime, in January of this year, Unicommerce submitted its DRHP. Through an OFS of up to 2,98,40,486 equity shares, the company planned to raise money. There won’t be any new issues from the company for the anticipated IPO.
In the last few weeks, three companies backed by SoftBank have had their IPO applications approved by SEBI.
The IPO of Ola Electric, which aims to raise Rs 5,500 crore ($660 million) through the public listing, received approval from the market watchdog last month.
A significant number of internet-based businesses have gone public on the Indian stock exchange this year. Many more are about to go public very soon. For example, Mobikwik, Swiggy, and Avanse are still awaiting market regulator approval; in contrast, TBO Tech, Digit Insurance, Awfis, and Ixigo have listed.
Simultaneously, the online meat marketplace Zappfresh, the electric scooter manufacturer Ather, and the logistics startup Blackbuck became public companies and are expected to go public soon.
