Snapdeal Parent AceVector Files Confidential Draft IPO Papers

AceVector, the parent company of ecommerce major Snapdeal, has confidentially filed draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with markets regulator SEBI for its INR 500 Cr initial public offering (IPO). 

In a public announcement today, Acevector Limited said it has submitted the pre-filed DRHP with the SEBI for a proposed IPO for its equity shares on the main board of the BSE and the NSE. The equity shares will hold a face value of INR 1 apiece.  

The IPO will largely consist of a fresh issue and most likely CLSA and IIFL are set to be the bankers for the public issue. 

Apart from Snapdeal, AceVector is also the parent entity of listed ecommerce platform Unicommerce and house of brands platform Stellaro Brands. The three entities were consolidated and brought under one roof in 2022. 

Cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, along with SoftBank and Nexus Venture Partners, are the biggest shareholders of the consolidated entity. It is pertinent to note that this is not Snapdeal’s first attempt to get listed on the bourses. 

The ecommerce platform filed its DRHP in 2021 as well to raise INR 1,250 Cr from its public issue. But due to the funding winter and turmoil in the domestic and global markets, Snapdeal pulled back on its IPO plans a year later. However, its subsidiary Unicommerce made its public listing last year. 

Ahead of its IPO plans, AceVector also announced two key appointments earlier this year. Achint Setia was appointed as the chief executive of Snapdeal and Himanshu Chakrawarti took charge as the CEO of Stellaro Brands. 

Founded in 2010 by Bahl and Bansal, Snapdeal was once seen as a biggest contender to Flipkart. However, the brand lost its shine and was on the verge of a shutdown. Further, the startup also tried a potential merger with Flipkart but the deal did not materialise. However, Snapdeal’s shift to value ecommerce proposition made it stand up on its feet again. 

While Unicommerce is an enterprise tech SaaS platform which provides solutions across order and inventory management, Stellaro Brands sells ethnic wear under the Rangita label and Indo-Western apparels under the Urban Mark brand. 

AceVector has joined the ranks of growing startups who have opted to take the confidential route for their proposed IPO. Groww, boAt and Shiprocket also filed their pre-filed DRHP paper taking the confidential way this year.

The development comes at a time when a host of new-age startups are going for public listing. As per Inc42’s IPO tracker 2025, 19 new-age tech companies have filed their DRHPs with SEBI for a listing and many of them have also got a go-ahead from the market regulator. But as of now only three new-age startups have made it to the bourses this year–Ather, ArisInfra and Smartworks.