The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Meesho’s reverse flip may conclude this week; likely to file IPO papers this month, say sources

    Synopsis

    The Bengaluru-based ecommerce marketplace is eyeing a $700-800 million IPO, but the issue size and the timelines could change depending on the market conditions. Meesho is likely to file the papers under Sebi’s confidential route.

    Meesho’s reverse flip may conclude this week; likely to file IPO papers this month, say sourcesAgencies
    Ecommerce marketplace Meesho could see the process of its redomiciling from the US to India conclude as early as this week, paving the way to file draft papers for its initial public offering (IPO) this month, people in the know said.

    The Bengaluru-based company is targeting a $700-800 million IPO, but the issue size and the timelines could change depending on the market conditions, one of the persons said, adding that Meesho is likely to file under the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) confidential route.

    “Meesho’s flip back process will close in a few days, and it will be ready to file its IPO papers as early as next week, but that could get stretched to sometime later this month,” the person said.

    The company, which is backed by the likes of SoftBank, Tiger Global, and Prosus, earlier this week converted itself to a public entity – a key step that firms take on their path to going public. Once the redomiciling is completed, Bengaluru-based Meesho Ltd will become the parent entity.

    Meesho had applied to seek the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) approval for a reverse merger in January. Meanwhile, it closed a $550 million funding round that saw new investors such as Tiger Global, Mars Growth Capital and Think Investments join its cap table. This transaction, which was largely a secondary deal, valued the company at around $3.9-4 billion, which was a slight discount from its peak valuation of $5 billion.

    Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citi, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley as merchant bankers for Meesho’s public issue.

    Meesho declined to comment on the development.

    The company’s ecommerce sector rival, Walmart-owned Flipkart, is also working on its redomiciling from Singapore to India ahead of a planned IPO in 2026.

    Once it files, Meesho will join a list of new-age companies that are looking to go public this year. This includes edtech platform PhysicsWallah, at-home services firm Urban Company, ecommerce shipping startup Shiprocket, wearables brand Boat and wealthtech company Groww. Shiprocket, Boat, and Groww have filed their papers under Sebi’s confidential route, which allows companies to delay the public disclosure of certain information, such as the company’s latest financials and details of the issue.

    The development of Meesho’s plan to file its prospectus was first reported by Bloomberg.

    In March, Meesho released its annual report, saying it recorded a 34% year-on-year (YoY) growth in orders during the April-December 2024 period, at 1.3 billion. This equalled the number of orders it clocked over the whole of fiscal year 2024.

    As of December 31, the company had 187 million unique annual transacting users — a 26% increase from the same period in the previous year.

    A March report by brokerage CLSA noted that Meesho is currently at a gross merchandise value (GMV) run rate of $6.2 billion, and is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26% for the next six years. The research note estimated Meesho’s market share at 37% in terms of the number of orders for the calendar year 2024. However, in terms of GMV, its market share was around 8.5%, CLSA said.

    Over the last 12-18 months, it also introduced Meesho Mall—a brand-focussed offering where it charges a commission from listed firms on the marketplace. It doesn't charge any fee from sellers on its main marketplace and generates revenue through advertising and offering logistics services.

    It has also scaled up its in-house logistics offering, Valmo, which now accounts for more than 50% of the orders on Meesho’s marketplace.
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in