FirstCry raisesRs 1,065 crore from SVF Frog

FirstCry, the largest retailer of baby products, has received the first tranche of Rs 1,065 crore out of the total committed fund of Rs 2,824.2 crore from SVF Frog (Cayman) Limited.

According to a report accessed from business intelligence platform Paper.vc, Brainbees Solutions Pvt Ltd, the holding company of FirstCry, on Friday issued Series 'E' equity shares having a par value of Rs 5 each at a premium of Rs 381 as partly paid shares to SVF Frog (Cayman) Limited.

The Pune-headquartered company was founded in 2010 by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha. It flourished in the past eight years despite heavy competition from Flipkart and Amazon India.

The company cemented its leadership position by acquiring the Mahindra Retail-owned Babyoye in 2016.

FirstCry has raised more than $100 million from Mahindra, IDG Ventures India (now Chiratae Ventures), New Enterprise Associates, SAIF Partners, Vertex Ventures and others.

The baby care company has also set up a network of more than 300 stores across the country. But the company's major revenue source is the online format.

The company is also in talks with China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, among others, to raise at least $100-$150 million as it seeks to cement its market leadership.

According to a report, the company reduced losses by 86% to Rs 54.55 crore in fiscal 2018 from Rs 393.24 crore in FY17.