Meesho In Talks To Rake In $300 Mn From Tiger Global, SoftBank, Others

Ecommerce unicorn Meesho is reportedly planning to raise $300 Mn (around INR 2,499 Cr) in a fresh funding round from a host of investors, including Tiger Global and SoftBank.

The fundraise will also see participation from existing and other investors, including Peak XV Partners and Mars Growth Capital, Moneycontrol reported.

As per the report, the $300 Mn funding round, which is rare in the current funding climate, not only signifies Tiger Global’s return to investing in India but also marks the investor’s first major round since Scott Shleifer, head of private equity, stepped down in November last year. 

Once finalised, Meesho’s funding round will be one of the few large rounds to have materialised over the past one year.

Meesho’s latest round will be led by Tiger Global and Peak XV Partners, which are together putting in $150 Mn. Besides, Peak XV, along with some of its limited partners (LPs), aims to invest around $70 Mn, the report further said, quoting sources close to the 

While Tiger Global will be the new joinee on Meesho’s cap table, Peak XV had invested in the ecommerce company in 2018.

The current funding round values Meesho at $3.9 Bn, which is 20% lower than its previous valuation of $4.9 Bn in 2021. This decrease follows a valuation cut by Fidelity to $3 Bn, as reported by Moneycontrol in January.

The remaining $150 Mn will be provided by SoftBank, contributing $30 Mn, along with Singapore’s Mars Growth Capital, UK’s Think Ventures, and other investors. SoftBank, an existing investor, will increase its investment to maintain its stake in the company, while Mars and Think will be first-time funders for Meesho.

“Meesho is in the process of flipping its base back to India from Delaware and a bulk of the fresh capital will be used to pay the relevant taxes ahead of its planned IPO,” as per the report.

The report further added that Meesho’s $300 Mn round will largely consist of primary capital but also have a small portion of secondaries which will be used to buy out early investors. Venture Highway, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Y Combinator are a few of Meesho’s early backers, as per Tracxn, a private markets data provider.

Founded in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho claims to have over 15 Lakh sellers on its ecommerce platform from across India. The startup also claims to have more than 140 Mn annual transacting users.

Earlier this month, the ecommerce startup launched an INR 200 Cr (about $25 Mn) employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) buyback programme. The startup claimed it is the largest such ESOP buyback programme undertaken by it and would benefit around 1,700 past and current employees.

Meesho counts DST Partners, Elevation Capital, Facebook and Prosus among its investors. Its parent Fashnear Technologies reported a 48% fall in its net loss to INR 1,675 Cr in FY23 from INR 3,248 Cr in the previous fiscal year.