Sasmita Jena
Bengaluru, 8 August 2024
Ecommerce firm focussed on baby and kids’ products, FirstCry’s IPO (initial public offering) sailed through with decent response from investors. On its closing day, the IPO was oversubscribed 12.22 times, with investors cumulatively bidding for 60.64 crore shares versus 4.96 crore shares on offer.
While QIB (qualified institutional buyer) quota was oversubscribed by 19.30X, the portion reserved for employees saw 6.57 times subscription. The non-institutional investors (NIIs) portion saw an oversubscription of 4.68X, while the retail investors’ quota was subscribed 2.31X.
The company had fixed a price band of Rs 440-465 per share, where investors could bid for 32 shares in one lot. The startup’s IPO comprised a fresh issue of shares worth up to Rs 1,666 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 5.4 crore equity shares worth up to Rs 2,527 crore.
Under the OFS, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) had a plan to sell up to 28.06 lakh shares and SoftBank-operated SVF Frog would sell 2.03 crore shares. Others participating in the OFS include PI Opportunities Fund, TPG Growth and NewQuest Asia, Apricot Investments, Satyadharma Investments, Schroders Capital, Sage Investment and Pratithi Investment.
In the prospectus, the SoftBank and Premji Invest-backed firm had said that it would utilize net proceeds from the IPO towards setting up new modern stores under the brand ‘BabyHug’, investment in subsidiary Digital Age, overseas expansion, and sales and marketing initiatives.
The parent company of FirstCry, Brainbees Solutions is the largest omnichannel retailing platform for mothers, babies, and kids’ products. It has also expanded in select international markets. The company’s FirstCry platform provides products for all parenting needs that include commerce, content, community engagement, and education among others.
