New Delhi Consumer electronics brand BoAt is looking for a public listing to raise funds and is offering an exit to some of its investors, said three people familiar with the matter.
BoAt, one of the top sellers in the ear wear and wearables category in India, is looking at a valuation of around $1.4 billion (approx). ₹10,000 crore for an initial public offering (IPO) expected between March and June next year, said one of the three people requesting anonymity.
it would be a five-fold jump from ₹2,000 crore valuation at which BoAt earlier this year raised nearly $100 million in funding from US-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
A brand owned by Mumbai based Imagine Marketing Pvt Ltd. Ltd. is in initial talks with investment bankers for an IPO. “They are currently inviting pitches from bankers for the listing process,” the person said.
The other person cited above said that the IPO could involve the primary sale of shares and would also see the exit of some institutional backers. Qualcomm Ventures and Fireside Ventures have also invested in boAt. In April, BoAt received undisclosed funding from Qualcomm. An emailed query to BoAt did not elicit any response.
In February, the brand inducted Vivek Gambhir, who was the Chief Executive Officer of Godrej Consumer Products Limited till June 2020. BoAt was founded in 2016 by Sameer Mehta and Aman Gupta. The startup’s product range includes headphones, earphones, wearables, speakers and related accessories such as chargers and cables.
The company claimed 45.5 per cent market share in the earwear category and 26.9% in the wearable watch category in India, citing a report by market research firm International Data Corp in August.
Indian electronics brands usually do not have any local manufacturing units and are dependent on imports from China. However, BoAt is working towards building its own manufacturing facilities and a dedicated R&D department.
The company has forayed into the personal grooming category with its Misfit sub-brand and also launched the Immortal range of gaming headphones. It currently has around 250 employees in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
company generated ₹700 crore in net sales in FY20, latest available data, above ₹239 crore in FY19.
Profits jumped during the period ₹from 49.5 crores ₹8.7 crore according to VCCircle’s data intelligence platform VCCEdge.
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