Meesho Looking To Go Public In The Next 12-24 Months: CEO Vidit Aatrey

Social ecommerce startup Meesho is planning to list on the bourses in the next 12 to 24 months, its chief executive officer (CEO) and cofounder Vidit Aatrey said.

However, there is no clarity if the startup is looking to list on Indian stock exchanges or in the US.

In an interview to Business Today TV, Aatrey said that the startup plans to turn profitable during the same period. 

“In the next one to two years, we would be cash flow positive, which means we would be adding more and more money in the bank,” he said, adding that unlike other companies, Meesho has never lost money. 

Aatrey said Meesho always had positive unit economics, and it’s just a matter of choice for the startup to choose between growth and profitability.

“We don’t want to invest so much in growth, we can really get close to profitability which can happen in the next one to two years. A lot of things that we are doing right now is scaling revenue in that direction. We are very confident that we can get there in the next 12 to 24 months,” Aatrey was quoted as saying. 

Inc42 had previously reported that the Facebook-backed platform was targeting an initial public offering (IPO) by early 2023. Reuters also reported that the startup’s chief financial officer (CFO) Dhiresh Bansal was likely to oversee the task of ‘getting books in order and plug any gaps in the finances’.

The startup was founded in 2015 by IIT-Delhi graduates Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal. Meesho is a social ecommerce platform that allows resellers on its platform to sell a variety of unbranded products with a major focus on Tier-2, 3 cities and towns.

Meesho last raised $570 Mn as part of its Series F funding round led by Fidelity Management and B Capital Group. The startup turned unicorn in April last year after raising $300 Mn in its Series E round led by investors such as SoftBank, Prosus Ventures, Facebook, among others. The ecommerce unicorn has so far raised $1.1 Bn in funding across 11 rounds. 

The startup grew its transacting user base by 5X to more than 100 Mn users in FY22. The company’s gross merchandise value (GMV) also grew threefold during the same period. Meesho claims to sell more than 40 Mn products on its platform with deliveries to over 26,000 pin codes across 4,800 cities in India. 

Even as it looks to list on the bourses, it has been plagued by a slew of controversies in the past few months. In April, Inc42 reported that the company laid off 150 full-time employees in a restructuring exercise at its grocery delivery service business.

Earlier this month, the social ecommerce unicorn also sent out legal notices to certain social media influencers for orchestrating a smear campaign against it.

Meesho reported a loss after tax of INR 498.6 Cr in FY21 on a revenue of INR 792.8 Cr. 

According to a report, the Indian social commerce industry is expected to record a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $8.2 Bn in 2022. The number is expected to rise to $143.5 Bn by 2028, at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 62.4% during the period.

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