This will make FirstCry only the second Indian vertical ecommerce company to go public after Nykaa, which listed in 2021. Here are key things to know.
Pre-IPO Round
In the draft IPO (initial public offering) papers, the firm said that it might consider a private fundraise of up to Rs 363 crore prior to the filing of the red herring prospectus (RHP).
On December 25, ET had reported that SoftBank Vision Fund, the company’s largest shareholder, sold additional shares, paving the way for more family offices and individuals to pick up stakes in the firm. Last valued at under $3 billion in the private market, FirstCry is likely to float its public issue at a valuation of around $4 billion.
Use of proceeds
Discover the stories of your interest
From the funds raised through the proposed IPO, FirstCry said it will use Rs 648 crore to pay leases for existing stores and open new stores and a warehouse in India. It will use Rs 155 crore to set up stores and warehouses in Saudi Arabia, and invest Rs 170 crore into its unit Globalbees Brands. Beyond this, it will also spend Rs 100 crore in sales and marketing initiatives, and around Rs 58 crore in technology and data science costs.Cofounders look to sell over 10 lakh shares
FirstCry’s four cofounders Supam Maheshwari, Sanket Hattimattur, Amitava Saha and Prashant Jadhav are the only individual shareholders selling over 10 lakh shares each as part of the offer for sale (OFS). Ahead of the IPO, they hold stakes of 5.95%, 0.58%, 1.99%, and 1.44% respectively. Maheshwari is selling over 18 lakh shares, Jadhav and Hattimattur are selling over 14 lakh shares each, while Saha is selling over 13 lakh shares.
SoftBank leads institutional sellers
SoftBank is divesting over 2 crore shares as part of the OFS, the most of all institutional sellers. Premji Invest is at a distant second, offering up over 86 lakh shares for sale. SoftBank owns over 25% of the firm pre-IPO, while Premji Invest owns 4.9%. Other institutional sellers include TPG, NewQuest Asia, Apricot Investments, Valiant Mauritius Partners and TIMF Holdings, among others.
Quick financials
FirstCry reported an operating revenue of Rs 1,406 crore for the quarter ended June 30, while incurring a loss of Rs 110 crore in that period. In FY23, the firm saw its operating revenue more than double on-year to Rs 5,632 crore, even as its total loss widened by more than six times to Rs 486 crore.
Size of business
As of June 30, 2023, FirstCry had 8.25 million annual unique transacting customers. In the year ended March 31, 2023, the firm’s sales in gross merchandise value (GMV) terms reached Rs 7,257 crore, up 25% from the previous year. It also reported an average order value (AOV) of Rs 2,342 in the fiscal, up from Rs 2,170 in FY22, which went up to Rs 2,482 in the quarter ended June 30, 2023.
As on June 30, the firm says it offers over 1 million stock keeping units (SKUs) from over 6,800 brands. It also runs 936 FirstCry and BabyHug stores in 465 cities in 27 states and four union territories across India. Beyond that, products from FirstCry’s home brands like BabyHug and Pine Kids are sold in over 1.2 lakh third-party stores in 1,099 cities.
