E-commerce giant Meesho submitted its revised draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP) a few days ago after choosing the private initial public offering (IPO) route for its $1 billion public float in July.  In addition to raising INR 4,250 Cr in new funding, the IPO will enable Meesho backers, including Y Combinator, Elevation Capital, Venture Highway, and Peak XV, to partially exit the firm. 

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Cofounders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal (legal name: Sanjeev Kumar) will also sell 1.2 Cr shares apiece as part of the offer for sale (OFS) component, which totals 17.6 Cr shares.

A closer examination of the 667-page UDRHP reveals that the promoters and cofounders collectively own 78.8 Cr equity shares, or 18.51% of the business.  Up to 2.3 Cr shares, or 3% of this total, will be offered for sale (OFS) as part of the first public offering (IPO). 

The business will adopt a SEBI-approved process whereby certain institutional investors holding at least 5% of the post-IPO capital can be counted towards the MPC, as Meesho’s promoters will hold less than 20% post-IPO due to the offer-for-sale (OFS).  This guarantees that the promoters’ and these institutional investors’ combined holding will reach the 20% threshold, and all of these shares will be locked in for a period of 18 months.

As a result, the shares of Peak XV Partners, Elevation Capital, Prosus, SoftBank, and Aatrey and Barnwal will be locked in for 18 months after the date of allocation. 

It is noteworthy that earlier this year, the cofounders were also granted additional shares through bonus and scheme allotments.  On June 22, Aatrey and Barnwal were given 37.2 Cr and 28.3 Cr shares as part of an allocation made in accordance with a company plan, while on June 1, they received 9.7 Cr and 3.1 Cr equity shares as bonuses, respectively.

Elevation Capital V Limited is the largest stakeholder among institutional investors, holding 13.61% of the shares, followed by Peak XV Partners (12.81%) and Naspers Ventures B.V. (12.34%).  Aatrey owns 11.10% of the company, while Kumar owns 7.41%. 

Other well-known investors include Y Combinator (1.2%), Astrend India Investment Limited (2.28%), WestBridge (3.92%), and SoftBank (9.31%). 

Together, these and other shareholders own 80.76% of Meesho’s fully diluted pre-offer equity share capital.

Elevation Capital would sell up to 5.54 Cr shares as part of OFS, followed by Venture Highway with 1.57 Cr shares and Peak XV Partners with 3.05 Cr shares.  Man Hay Tam, Golden Summit, and VH Capital will sell 0.83 Cr, 0.80 Cr, and 1.33 Cr shares, respectively, while Y Combinator will sell 1.26 Cr shares. 

Meesho is aiming for an INR 850 Cr pre-IPO placement round prior to publishing its red herring prospectus (RHP).  The sum would be subtracted from the company’s new issue if it raised a pre-IPO round.

With the money raised from the IPO, the business intends to invest INR 1,390 Cr in cloud infrastructure, pay INR 480 Cr to its tech, AI, and machine learning teams, and invest INR 1,020 Cr in marketing and brand-building projects.  The remainder will be used to finance key projects, acquisitions, and other business needs. 

Meesho’s operating revenue increased 23% year over year to INR 9,389 Cr in FY25.  However, one-time expenses related to its IPO process, such as reverse flip tax and perquisite tax, caused its net loss to increase 12X to INR 3,914.7 Cr in FY25.  The cost of the reverse flip alone was INR 3,883 Cr.  The loss in FY25 would have been INR 108 Cr if these costs hadn’t been incurred.

With operational sales of INR 2,503.9 Cr in Q1 FY26, the company reported a net loss of INR 289.4 Cr.

Now, let’s examine PW’s C-suite and board of directors in more detail.

Vidit Aatrey

Aatrey, a cofounder, serves as Meesho’s managing director, chairman, and CEO.  He directs the executive team, establishes the company’s strategy, spearheads important projects, and manages operations and expansion in his capacity.  In FY25, he was compensated INR 5.4 Cr.

Sanjeev Barnwal

As a full-time director and CTO, cofounder Barnwal is in charge of carrying out the business’s technological strategy and making sure its infrastructure is effective, safe, and scalable.  Kumar was paid INR 4.9 Cr in total during the previous fiscal year.

Mohit Bhatnagar

Since 2018, Bhatnagar, the managing director of Peak XV, has been a non-executive non-independent director on the board of Meesho.

Mukul Arora

Since May 2018, Arora, a co-managing partner of Elevation Capital, has served as Meesho’s non-executive non-independent director.

Rohit Bhagat

Since 2023, Bhagat, the chairman of the board of IPO-bound PhonePe, has been an independent director for Meesho.  Bhagat’s compensation in FY25 was INR 2.1 Cr.

Hari Shanker Bhartia

Since July 2024, Bhartia, co-chairman of the Jubilant Group, has served as an independent director of Meesho.  He is the full-time director of Jubilant Ingrevia Ltd., co-chairman of Jubilant Pharmova and Jubilant FoodWorks, and co-founder and co-chairman of the Jubilant Bhartia Group.

In the most recent fiscal year, Bhartia was paid INR 82 lakh.

Surojit Chatterjee

In March 2024, former Coinbase CPO Chatterjee became an independent director on Meesho’s board.  He currently serves as the founder and CEO of Ema, an AI business based in the United States.  Chatterjee earned INR 1.8 Cr in remuneration in FY25.

Kimsuka Narasimhan

In June 2025, former Kimberly-Clark CFO Narasimhan became an independent director on Meesho’s board.  In addition to Meesho, she is a member of the Airtel board.

Dhiresh Bansal

Since November 2021, Bansal has served as Meesho’s chief financial officer (CFO).  He oversees corporate governance, investor relations, financial strategy, planning, and operations in his capacity as the company’s CFO.  In FY25, Bansal was compensated INR 3.2 Cr.

Rahul Bhardwaj

Bhardwaj is the compliance officer and company secretary for Meesho.  He started working for the company in February 2022.  He is in charge of making sure that corporate governance procedures and securities and corporate legislation are followed.  Bhardwaj worked with Ola Consumers for almost five years before switching to e-commerce.

His compensation for FY25 was INR 35 Lakh.

Ashish Kumar Singh

Since December 2020, Singh has served as Meesho’s CHRO.  He oversees the company’s hiring practices, employee experience, and personnel strategy in his capacity as talent head.  He was paid INR 2.4 Cr during the previous fiscal year.

Megha Agarwal

For the previous five years, Agarwal has served as Meesho’s general manager for business.  Through category management and marketplace levers including quality, selection, seller growth, and discovery, she is in charge of boosting top line growth.  She received INR 2.3 Cr in salary in FY25.

Milan Partani

Since April 2024, Partani has served as Meesho’s general manager for content commerce and user growth.  He worked for the company from April 2019 to December 2023 before his most recent assignment.  He withdrew INR 1.4 Cr in pay in FY25.

Prasanna Arunachalam

Since December 2020, Arunachalam has served as CPO for Meesho.  He is in charge of spearheading the strategy and overall product vision, which includes new product development and user experience.  He received a salary of INR 1.3 Cr in FY25. 

Sourabh Pandey

Since August 2021, Pandey has been the company’s general manager of experience and fulfillment.  He is in charge of promoting operational excellence, delivery experience, and supply chain efficiency throughout Valmo.  His total compensation for FY25 was INR 2.4 Cr.