FirstCry IPO: Issue Subscribed 30% On Day 2, Retail Portion Fully Booked

The volatility in the global markets seems to have impacted the initial public offering (IPO) of kids-focused omnichannel retailer FirstCry, as its public issue continued to see a tepid response from investors on the second day of bidding as well.

At the end of the second day, the IPO was subscribed 30%. According to the BSE data, the public offer received bids for 1.47 Cr shares as against 4.96 Cr shares on offer.

The portion reserved for employees saw the highest subscription, receiving bids for 2.45 Lakh shares as against 71.2K shares on offer. This translated to a 3.4X subscription for the employee quota.

Meanwhile, the retail individual investors’ quota was fully subscribed on the second day, closing the day with 1.06X subscription. Retail investors placed bids for 95.49 Lakh shares as against 90.12 Lakh shares on offer. 

Non-institutional investors (NIIs) bid for 40.19 Lakh shares as against 1.36 Cr shares reserved for them, translating to a subscription of 30%.

Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) continued to show the least interest in the public issue. They bid for just 9.29 Lakh shares versus 2.7 Cr shares on offer, marking a subscription of just 3%. 

FirstCry’s IPO was subscribed 11% on Day 1. A day ahead of the opening of the IPO, the startup raised INR 1,885.82 Cr from 71 anchor investors.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth up to INR 1,666 Cr and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of up to 5.4 Cr equity shares worth up to INR 2,527 Cr. FirstCry has set a price band of  INR 440 to INR 465 per equity share for the IPO. At the upper end of the band, FirstCry parent Brainbees Solutions intends to raise INR 4,193 Cr. 

On the financial front, FirstCry posted a consolidated net loss of INR 321.5 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), down almost 34% YoY. Operating revenue stood at INR 6,480.8 Cr during the year under review compared to INR 5,632.5 Cr in FY23.

It is pertinent to note that amid the IPO boom in the Indian stock markets, a number of startups are also looking to go public this year. Besides FirstCry, Ola Electric and Unicommerce are expected to list on the exchanges within a week.

EV startup Ola Electric’s IPO was subscribed 4.27X on the last day of bidding on Tuesday (August 6). Meanwhile, the public issue of ecommerce focussed SaaS startup Unicommerce was subscribed 12.23X at the end of second day of bidding today.