Meesho Marks First Close Of Larger Funding Round At $275 Mn

Ecommerce platform Meesho has reportedly closed a $275 Mn funding round through a mix of primary and secondary share sales.

As per an ET report, a regulatory submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also disclosed a share transfer within Meesho’s US parent company without providing further details.

This marks the first tranche of a larger financing round of $600 Mn that the Bengaluru-based company aims to conclude, the report said.

“The details are still being worked out for the broader round on valuation. It would be up to $3.9 Bn but will be finalised once the round closes,” a person close to the matter told ET.

Inc42 has reached out to Meesho for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

Meesho “has closed the first part of the funding round with existing investors and with new investors also joining the round. It (Meesho) is still finalising the allocation for the rest of the funding round”, the report added citing sources.

This comes a month after reports suggested that Meesho was looking to expand the size of its upcoming funding round to $500-$650 Mn from the previously set $300 Mn.

Earlier in March, reports indicated that Meesho was planning to raise $300 Mn (around INR 2,499 Cr) in a fresh funding round. This investment involved a consortium of investors, including Tiger Global and SoftBank. 

However, there has been an increase in the size of the overall round with a primary component being added, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Since 2015, Meesho has raised a total of $1.36 Bn, including funds from secondary sources, reported ET.

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.

Meesho counts DST Partners, Elevation Capital, Facebook and Prosus among its investors. 

Meanwhile, Meesho is actively engaged in discussions to reverse flip its US parent company, a move linked to its plans for an IPO in India. However, the company has not finalised its plans yet.

Besides, fintech firm Groww announced that it has completed the process of moving its domicile back to India as of March 2024. With this, Groww has become the second major startup after PhonePe to shift domicile to India. 

Several other Indian startups, including Zepto, RazorPay, and Pine Labs, are also looking to reverse flip.