Honasa Consumer Private Ltd, the first unicorn of 2022 and the parent firm of brands such as Mamaearth, The Derma Co and BBlunt has filed draft papers with Sebi for listing to raise funds through a combination of a fresh issue and an offer-for-sale.
The fast-growing D2C (direct to consumer) firm, present in the beauty, babycare and skincare segment, was co-founded in 2016 by the husband-wife duo of Varun and Ghazal Alagh (of ‘Shark Tank’ fame.) It attained the unicorn status when it raised $52 million at a valuation of $1.2 billion in a fundraising round in January led by top VC firm Sequoia Capital.
The fresh issue size is up to Rs 400 crore and the OFS component by a clutch of external investors and individual shareholders is up to 46,819,635 equity shares, according to the draft red herring prospectus reviewed by Moneycontrol.
The shareholders who will dilute their holdings include the Alaghs, Sofina Ventures SA, Evolvence, Fireside Ventures, Stellaris Venture Partners, Snapdeal founder Kunal Bahl, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Rishabh Harsh Mariwala and Rohit Kumar Bansal. Sequoia Capital is not participating in the OFS.
“The combined size of the IPO could range between Rs 2,400 crore and Rs 3,000 crore, though the exact quantum at the time of listing would depend on final valuations,” said one of the persons cited above.
“The plan is to launch the deal in March next year but that timeline is subject to market conditions,” a second person told Moneycontrol.
A third person elaborated that a combination of strong brand and product management and the right hybrid model had helped Honasa Consumer to scale up its business.
All three spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity. An email query has been sent without any response from Honasa Consumer till time of filing this story. This article will be updated once we hear from the firm.
The net proceeds of the IPO will be used for advertisement expenses to improve brand visibility and awareness, setting up new exclusive brand outlets, investment in BBlunt for setting up new salons, general corporate purposes and inorganic growth.
Mamaearth’s filing with the market regulator comes on the back of another filing back in January by a peer in the bustling D2C space – Warburg Pincus backed boat. The audio focused electronics brand is looking to raise around Rs 2,000 crore.
Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial, Citi and JP Morgan are the investment banks working on the IPO and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, IndusLaw and Khaitan & Co are the legal advisors.