Infibeam aims for $1 billion valuation after IPO

Funding and investment in the Indian ecommerce space is nothing new to us now. However, the names and figures and the resulting valuations are something to keep looking out for. While we have heard many a funding news about Flipkart, Snapdeal and the others, Infibeam is one name that has so far not cropped up in the funding related news.

But latest developments indicate that the Ahmedabad-based online marketplace is eyeing an IPO. Infibeam has approached Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank to lead the IPO and raise $100 million (Rs 600 crore) through sale of 10 percent of its promoter stake.

“E-commerce companies have gained acceptance and we believe that investor interest will continue in the listed market, as well,” said Munish Aggarwal of Equirus Capital. “Recent changes proposed by Sebi will further open capital markets for e-commerce companies and we are witnessing an increased interest to evaluate IPOs by companies in the sector,” he added.

In November 2014, Yourstory carried an interview of Vishal Mehta, Founder & CEO of infibeam, who shared the plan of IPO listing by March 2015.

Infibeam’s ecommerce journey

Since inception in 2007, Infibeam has come a long way in the ecommerce space. With an annual turnover of around Rs 250 crore, various services come under the company:

• Infibeam.com, online retail platform

• Buildabazaar.ooo, platform for merchants to create their own online stores

• Indent, platform for music labels and digital content

• Incept, travel and ticketing platform

• ILPL, logistics service

• Picsquare, online platform for photo-printing

Infibeam’s plans after IPO

With the proceeds raised from IPO, infibeam plans to hire more and expand into West Asia and Africa. For this, the ecommerce portal will extend its platform to local languages like Arabic to connect with consumers.