Shadowfax IPO To Open Next Week, Targets INR 7,400 Cr Valuation

Logistics startup ShadowFax is reportedly set to open its initial public offering (IPO) next week. The company would be aiming for an IPO valuation of around INR 7,400 Cr (about $890 Mn), lower than earlier estimates of about INR 8,500 Cr (about $1 Bn).

As per PTI, the company’s IPO size would be pegged at INR 1,900 Cr. This includes a fresh issue of shares worth INR 1,000 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of INR 900 Cr by existing shareholders. This would translate to a small cut from the proposed IPO size in the company’s updated DRHP, which outlined an IPO size of INR 2,000 Cr. The proposed DRHP highlighted equal parts of both fresh issue of shares and OFS components. 

As part of the OFS, investors such as Flipkart, Eight Roads Ventures, NewQuest Asia Fund, Nokia Growth Partners, IFC, Mirae Asset, Qualcomm Asia Pacific and Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal will sell part of their holdings.

Important to mention that the company had filed its draft IPO papers with SEBI in June last year via the confidential pre-filing route and received regulatory approval in October. Consequently, the logistics major filed its updated DRHP in October. 

Founded in 2015 by Abhishek Bansal, Vaibhav Khandelwal, Gaurav Jaithliya, and Praharsh Chandra, Shadowfax provides logistics services to ecommerce, quick commerce, food delivery and on-demand mobility companies. It operates across more than 14,700 pincodes in India.

For the first half of FY26, Shadowfax’s operating revenue grew 68% to INR 1,800 Cr on a profit of INR 21 Cr. 

For FY25, its total operating revenue stood at INR 2,485 Cr, up 32% YoY. Shadowfax also turned profitable in the fiscal year, reporting a net profit of INR 6 Cr, as against a net loss of about INR 12 Cr previously.

Notably, ecommerce express parcel delivery remains Shadowfax’s largest business, contributing around 60-70% of overall revenue. 

In FY25, express logistics generated INR 1,716 Cr, serving clients like Flipkart, Meesho and Nykaa through forward deliveries, reverse logistics and return-to-origin shipments.

However, the company’s fastest-growing segment is hyperlocal and quick commerce delivery. Launched in 2022, this vertical caters to instant delivery platforms and food delivery players. While quick commerce currently contributes about 20-21% of operating revenue, management sees it as the main growth engine post-IPO.

In the first half of FY26, hyperlocal deliveries generated INR 359.4 Cr in revenue, up 83% from INR 196.8 Cr a year earlier. 

In an earlier conversation with Inc42, CEO Abhishek Bansal had said the company has scaled its quick commerce operations to nearly 50 Lakh orders per day, despite the segment still being at an early stage. The company is expecting that the hyperlocal logistics will grow faster than overall ecommerce through FY30, outpacing the broader online retail growth rate of 20–25%.

A large portion of the IPO’s fresh proceeds will be used to support this expansion. More than half of the capital raised will be deployed towards network expansion, with around INR 562 Cr earmarked for building infrastructure and leasing new first- and last-mile centres.