E-Commerce Unicorn Meesho Seals A $250-270 Mn Round, Reports Suggest

Ecommerce powerhouse Meesho has allegedly completed another $250-270 million in investment, with new investors entering the captable, including Tiger Global, Think Investments, and Mars Growth Capital, with the majority of the funding in secondary.

Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal founded Meesho in 2015, and the company claims to have over 15 lakh retailers on its ecommerce platform across India. The firm also claims to have over 140 million yearly transactional users.

According to sources familiar with the subject, the current capital offering has increased the round’s total to over $550 million (around INR 4,750.9 crore).

Related : Flipkart Internet Receives INR 1,421 Cr Boost from Singapore Parent

While Flipkart and Amazon are more popular in metropolitan and suburban areas, Meesho’s competitive advantage is Tier II and III cities. More than 80% of the company’s revenue comes from these cities.

Meesho is one of the rare companies that does not charge commissions for its platform. It is dependent on advertising and marketing revenue from merchants.

The firm claims to have over 15 lakh retailers on its platform from across India and over 140 million annual transacting users. So far, it has raised more than $1.08 billion.

Earlier this year, the business planned to raise approximately $600 million, of which it closed approximately $275 million through a combination of main and secondary share sales.

According to one of the sources, Peak XV and WestBridge Capital were among the existing investors who participated in the funding round, with the primary capital raise potentially being used to offset the tax outgo on the reverse merger.

“Yes, the round concluded with a majority in secondary. “The company and the board had previously discussed that the primary capital raise is largely to account for the merger, as it does not want to dip into its existing cash reserve,” the source said.

According to insiders, the sale is projected to value Meesho at roughly $3.9-4 billion, a 20% reduction from its previous estimate of $4.9 billion.

In May 2024, the ecommerce platform closed a $275 million fundraising round that included a mix of main and secondary share sales.

Meesho’s investors include DST Partners, Elevation Capital, Facebook, and Prosus.

To summarize, Meesho reduced its net loss by 81.8% to INR 304.9 Cr in fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 1,675 Cr the previous year. Its operating revenue increased 32.8% to INR 7,614.9 crore in FY24, from INR 5,734.5 crore the previous year.

Furthermore, after a year of speculation about the ecommerce unicorn’s return to India, Meesho filed an application with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Bengaluru to shift its domicile to its Indian unit Fashnear Technologies, clearing the way for its upcoming IPO plans, according to sources.

According to sources, the Bengaluru-based firm is now planning to file draft IPO papers in the second half of 2025 and perhaps list in 2026, depending on the speed of NCLT approval.