Ali Hasan
Beauty startup Nykaa is planning for an IPO which could raise their valuation up to $3 billion. The company was started in 2012 by Falguni Nayar who worked as an investment banker. The startup is currently preparing for the IPO with its advisors and promoters. The firm is looking for a domestic listing, but an overseas listing might also be on the cards.
Although the news of an IPO is out but there isn’t an official confirmation on the details of the offering including the size or timeline. There are speculations that the IPO could happen by the end of 2021 or early 2022. The IPO by Nykaa will be the first IPO by an online beauty marketplace in India.
Nykaa’s website which logs 55 million monthly visits, lists over 1,200 brands ranging from makeup, skincare to health supplements, and hair dryers. In India, Nykaa has 6 warehouses across India, which receives over 13 million orders each month.
Nykaa will most likely look at achieving overall profitability this year before going public. The startup is among companies that have benefited as Indian consumers increasingly shop online due to the lockdown which happened because of coronavirus.
Nykaa counts TPG and Indian tycoon Sunil Munjal’s family office Hero Enterprise among its backers. In November, Fidelity Management and Research Co. invested an undisclosed amount in Nykaa’s latest funding round. The deal valued the company at a little over $1.8 billion.
The company crossed a billion dollars in valuation in March 2019 when it raised Rs 166 crores in a primary transaction from Steadview Capital at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
After the Fidelity transaction in November, Nykaa had said it clocked a revenue of Rs 1,860 crores for the year to March and was expecting a 40% growth in consolidated revenue this fiscal.
Indian companies managed to raise more than Rs 32,000 crores via IPOs in 2020 and market watchers believe 2021 might even be bigger to raise capital in the primary market.
