JOIN USSoftBank-backed Snapdeal weighs Rs 2,900-crore IPO
By Baiju Kalesh and Anto Antony,
Indian e-commerce retailer Snapdeal Pvt is considering an initial public offering that could raise about $400 million, joining a growing list of startups preparing to tap capital markets as the nation’s digital economy booms.
The company, which counts SoftBank Group Corp. among its investors, is speaking with advisers about a potential listing in Mumbai that could value it at as much as $2.5 billion, the people said. An IPO could take place as soon as next year, they said, asking not to be identified because the details aren’t public.
Discussions are still at an early stage, and the firm could decide not to proceed with the plan, the people said. Representatives for Snapdeal and SoftBank declined to comment.
Snapdeal, based in the New Delhi suburb of Gurgaon, was once one of the country’s top three e-commerce firms along with Flipkart Online Services Pvt. and the Indian unit of Amazon Inc. Founded in 2010, it offers more than 60 million products across 800 categories on its platform and delivers to more than 6,000 cities and towns across the country, according to its website.
Four years ago, Snapdeal walked away from a potential merger with Flipkart, which would have united the two local-e-commerce companies against Amazon. Since then, Flipkart sold a controlling stake to Walmart Inc. and is now progressing towards its own IPO.
The amount raised through IPOs in India so far in 2021 has already surpassed the total gathered in the last three years. The pipeline for the rest of the year includes payments service provider Paytm, online insurance platform Policybazaar and e-commerce beauty startup Nykaa.