Softbank Stays In As Meesho $606m Ipo Becomes India’s First Major E-commerce Listing

Meesho, an Indian e-commerce rival to Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, is group to motorboat a astir $606 cardinal IPO marked by token sell-downs from early backers and nary income from large names specified arsenic SoftBank and Prosus, signalling investor condemnation successful India’s booming online unit marketplace astatine a clip erstwhile tech shareholders globally person been cashing retired astatine listings.

The ten-year-old startup plans to value its shares astatine ₹105–111 each, raising ₹42.50 cardinal (about $475 million) successful caller superior and a mini remainder done secondary sales, giving Meesho a post-issue valuation of astir ₹501 cardinal (around $5.60 billion). The startup was last weighted astatine astir $5 billion successful nan backstage markets successful 2021.

Meesho is group to go nan first awesome horizontal e-commerce level successful India to spell public, pinch rival Flipkart expected to prosecute an IPO adjacent year and Amazon reportedly exploring a imaginable spin-off of its India operations, perchance for a early listing.

Some of Meesho’s early shareholders are trading successful nan IPO, pinch Elevation Capital offloading conscionable complete 4% of its stake, Sequoia Capital spin-off Peak XV Partners trading astir 3%, and Y Combinator trimming astir 14%, per nan prospectus (PDF). Larger backers — including SoftBank, Prosus, and Fidelity — are not trading immoderate shares.

Meesho’s offer-for-sale information has been trim by astir 40% from nan draught prospectus revenge successful October to 105.5 cardinal shares, worthy ₹11.7 cardinal (roughly $131 million) astatine nan apical of nan value band. The co-founders, Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Kumar, are, however, trading much than they had planned successful nan draught prospectus, pinch their mixed connection rising to 32 cardinal shares from astir 23.5 cardinal earlier, helping dress up for reduced information from different shareholders.

Founded successful 2015, Meesho began arsenic a societal commerce level that targeted first-time online shoppers done WhatsApp earlier evolving into a full-fledged marketplace. It has since carved retired a fast-growing niche pinch a low-cost exemplary tailored to India’s price-sensitive consumers and mini merchants — an attack that has progressively pressured larger rivals Amazon and Flipkart. The Bengaluru-based institution uses a commission-light model, earning chiefly from logistics fees, advertising, and different services, while charging commissions connected products sold done its abstracted Meesho Mall channel.

Meesho reported gross from operations of ₹55.78 cardinal (about $624.0 million) for nan six months ended September 30, up from ₹43.11 cardinal (around $482.0 million) a twelvemonth earlier, per its prospectus. Net merchandise worth roseate 44% year-over-year to ₹191.94 cardinal (roughly $2.15 billion). However, its losses widened, pinch Meesho posting a restated nonaccomplishment earlier taxation of ₹4.33 cardinal (around $48.4 million) for nan September 2025 half-year, compared pinch ₹0.24 cardinal (about $2.7 million) a twelvemonth earlier.

In nan past 12 months, Meesho recorded 234.20 cardinal transacting users — unsocial consumers who purchased astatine slightest 1 merchandise connected nan platform. Over nan aforesaid period, nan institution had 706,471 yearly transacting sellers, defined arsenic sellers who received astatine slightest 1 bid successful nan year.

Meesho besides uses a sprawling creator web for merchandise discovery, pinch much than 50,000 progressive contented creators generating astatine slightest 1 placed bid done their contented complete nan past year.

“Many Indians are only experiencing e-commerce for nan first clip connected Meesho, and overmuch for illustration nan remainder of us, complete nan adjacent decade, they will bargain much and much things and much and much often connected this platform,” Mohit Bhatnagar, managing head astatine Peak XV Partners, told TechCrunch. “That’s why semipermanent condemnation is nan logic to clasp connected to arsenic overmuch of our liking arsenic we tin clasp connected to.”

Peak XV — which first invested successful Meesho successful 2018 during its Sequoia Capital India era and holds astir 13% crossed its 2 vehicles — is trading astir 17.38 cardinal shares successful nan IPO.

Meesho has positioned itself arsenic a value-focused level — dissimilar Amazon and Flipkart, which it sees arsenic convenience-led players. In that respect, nan institution compares itself pinch different value-driven marketplaces specified arsenic Pinduoduo successful China, Shopee successful Southeast Asia, and Mercado Libre successful Latin America.

“If you look astatine nan value-focused bucket, here, you are trying to entreaty to wide marketplace consumers trading each kinds of products and categories successful a marketplace business model, which tends to beryllium plus light,” Aatrey told reporters during Meesho’s property convention connected Friday. “And nan logic group travel backmost is because they want entree to much and much action pinch nan affordability worth proposition.”

Meesho besides sees nan IPO improving its expertise to pull talent and strengthening assurance crossed its wider ecosystem, CFO Dhiresh Bansal told TechCrunch. He said a nationalist listing boosts nan company’s marque pinch occupation candidates — including those coming from large tech firms — and has a affirmative knock-on effect connected consumers, sellers and logistics partners by reinforcing Meesho’s governance standards.

The IPO will unfastened for nationalist subscription connected December 3, pinch nan anchor book scheduled for December 2. About 75% of nan connection is reserved for qualified organization buyers, 10% for unit investors and 15% for non-institutional investors.

SoftBank did not respond to a petition for comment.