WestBridge Capital In Talks To Acquire Stake In Meesho To Bolster Ecommerce Play

WestBridge Capital is reportedly in advanced talks to purchase shares of ecommerce unicorn Meesho in the secondary market.

Sources aware of the development told TechCrunch that the global investment firm is engaging with many Meesho investors, including Venture Highway, to buy out their stake in Meesho.

As per the report, the terms of the deliberation currently value Meesho at a discount of over 20% to 25% over its previous valuation. One of its investors, Fidelity Investments, recently upped the valuation of its holding in the company at $43.24 Mn as of the month ended July 31.

Meesho was not immediately available to respond to an email sent by Inc42. WestBridge Capital also did not respond to our query on the matter till the time of publishing the article.

The development comes at a time when the startup is looking to expand its ecommerce play. Meesho recently expanded its presence in the branded products space just ahead of the festive sales season with Meesho Mall.

Founded in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho operates an ecommerce platform that largely operates on a 0% commission model. The startup is backed by several marquee investors, including SoftBank, Peak XV, Fidelity Investments, Prosus & Naspers, and Meta. 

Venture Highway first backed Meesho eight years ago. It invested about $100,000 at the time, valuing the startup at about $1 Mn. 

Overall, Meesho has raised over $1 Bn to date. 

Like most loss-making Indian startups, Meesho is also aggressively working towards turning profitable.

Last month, Meesho said it turned profitable at a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) level as of July 2023. As per the startup, it accomplished this industry-first feat well ahead of the expected timeline. 

Meesho reported a net loss of INR 3,247.8 in FY22, up 550% year-on-year (YoY). 

Meanwhile, WestBridge Capital is also an investor in social commerce startup DealShare, which is currently grappling with severe uncertainty and has seen multiple restructuring exercises over the last few months.